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Bitcoin Mining and its Energy Footprint

Bitcoin Mining Hardware – Is it Still a Smart Investment?

Bitcoin Mining Hardware – Is it Still a Smart Investment?

Mining cryptocurrency has become extremely popular over the last 5 years as Bitcoin has seen a considerable price hike. This popularity has contributed to a flood of new mining rigs being developed at a record pace. The ever-changing landscape of the mining sector can leave interested parties confused as to the future value of Bitcoin mining hardware and if purchasing this equipment is still a smart move.

A quick search of mining forums and you can see that these concerns really became an issue in mkning when CPU (Central Processing Unit) miners were superseded by GPU (Graphic Processing Units) mining rigs and then later eclipsed by ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) models. Manufacturers are reaping huge bounties from these products. Hence, the continued development of more powerful mining equipment.

What is Mining?

Mining is the process in which a network computer (node) adds the next block to the blockchain after completing a difficult math equation known as the Proof-of-Work. In the early stages of mining, this could be accomplished with nothing more than your home PC’s CPU.

Bitcoin Mining Rig

It wasn’t long before miners realized that GPUs were far more efficient Bitcoin mining still worth it 2013 handling the repetitive nature of the Proof-of-Work algorithms and by the end of 2013, GPUs were the mining standard. This had some serious ramifications as it increased both the cost of obtaining mining equipment, as well as the overall difficulty of the mining sector.

Increased Difficulty

Part of the proof-of-work algorithm is a difficulty adjustment. As more computing resources enter the mining pool, the proof-of-work algorithm makes the mining math syill more difficult to solve. In 2016, the mining sector saw an explosion in both the bitcojn of cryptocurrencies and the difficulty of mining. Up until this time, the majority of mining was still GPU-based but the introduction of far more efficient ASIC mining rigs quickly made mining BTC an expensive endeavor to begin.

GPU Life Expectancy – Bitcoin Mining Hardware

The chart below indicates just how quickly GPU Bitcoin mining hardware has suffered since the introduction of ASIC rigs. In 2011, an average GPU miner could expect anywhere from 100-200 Bitcoin mining still worth it 2013 for their efforts. Only one year later, these results were reduced to around 30 BTC and by 2013, you would have been lucky to mine 3 BTC using this hardware. This data reveals that by 2014, the number of BTC you could expect to mine using a GPU dropped below 1 BTC; making GPU miners practically obsolete when used alone.

Chart Showing GPU Difficulty Over Time

Delivery Date of Your Equipment

Due to the overwhelming demand for BTC mining hardware, there is now a stiill associated with purchasing gitcoin products. ASIC miners can have waiting periods that can extend for months. It is important to consider difficulty Bitcoin mining still worth it 2013 during this time. Basically, if you have to wait too long Bitcoin mining still worth it 2013 your mining equipment, it may not be worth it by the time it arrives.

Electricity Costs

Electricity costs should be one of your main concerns when deciding on what type of mining rig to purchase. You may find that you are losing money if you go with a high-powered mining rig in an area where electricity is expensive. Today’s mining equipment is focused on efficiency as older mining rigs are unable to produce a profit in today’s difficult mining ecosystem.

Bitcoin Energy Consuption Chart via CNBC

Bitcoin Prices

The overall price of BTC (or any other mineable crypto) is another determining factor to consider when deciding on purchasing a mining rig that will stand the test of time. When the value of BTC goes up, so does the profitability of mining this crypto. Bticoin was stated before, a single GPU miner could produce over 100 BTC in 2011. While the number of dorth that a single GPU can mine has reduced, the value of BTC has appreciated nearly 1000% since those days.

Future Transaction Fees

The reward for mining a block is scheduled to half every 210,000 blocks. This means that around May 2020, BTC mining rewards will drop from 12.5 BTC down to 6.25 BTC. While this seems like it could crush the mining industry, you must consider that there will only ever be 21,000,000 BTC mined and of that 17,048,151 have already been mined. This means you can expect Bitcoin mining still worth it 2013 see some serious price increases as the number of BTC that are available to be mined diminishes in the coming years.

ASIC Miners – Things to Consider

While ASIC mining rigs are far more efficient at mining than their Bitcoi counterparts, you should remember that these chips are only able to mine SHA-256 cryptocurrencies and therefore serve no additional purpose once these tasks are Bitcoin mining still worth it 2013 This is in stark contrast to GPU chips that can still be utilized for graphically-intense applications such as gaming long after the last BTC has been mined.

Should I Invest in Some Itt Mining Hardware or Not?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. If you live in an area that is privy to low, or even free electricity, you may find that your mining hardware’s lifespan outlasts other regions of the Bitcoin mining still worth it 2013 due to your low overhead. Mining is a crucial part of the cryptocommunity and you should expect to see manufacturers continue to produce more powerful mining rigs over the coming years.

What do you guys think? Is mining worth it in your area? Let us know on Twitter and be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on all of the latest developments in the cryptocommunity.

Bitcoin Mining In 2013

How much Bitcoin did I mine in December 2013?

You can go to https://en. bitcoin. it/wiki/Non-specialized_hardware_comparison for a table of mining performance of many different CPUs and GPUs. The GT650M is reported as doing 17.8 Mhash/s; let's round it up to 20. There is a range of values for various Core i5 CPUs from 5 to 20 Mhash/s; let's Bitcoin mining still worth it 2013 generous and call it 20 also. So you were mining at a combined rate of say 40 Mhash/s; in scientific notation that's 4.0e7 hash per second. You mined for 28 days which is 2.4e6 seconds, so you performed a total of 9.6e13 hashes.

Next we need to know the mining difficulty around that time. There is a chart at Blockchain. info. It was increasing rapidly during that time but in early December it was around 707,000,000, or 7.1e8. Each 1 unit of difficulty corresponds to 2^32 = 4.3e9 hashes needed to mine one block. So at that time, it took about 3.0e18 hashes to mine one block.

As such, you would expect to have mined 9.6e13 / 3.0e18 = 3.2e-5 blocks. The block reward at that time was 25 BTC per block (see https://en. bitcoin. it/wiki/Controlled_supply) and Bitcoin mining still worth it 2013 you would have earned, on average, BTC 8e-4, or in other words BTC 0.0008.

At today's exchange rate of USD 6149 per bitcoin, that is worth just under USD 5.00.

This is of course an average, or expected value. If you were mining for a pool, this may or may not have been enough to actually earn a payout. If you were solo mining, you would have had to mine a full block worth BTC 25; the probability that you did so is about 3.2e-5.

Bitcoin mining still worth it 2013 answered Oct 21 '17 at 14:32

Nate EldredgeNate Eldredge

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This Is What Happens When Bitcoin Miners Take Over Your Town - POLITICO Magazine

Most people are bamboozled by Bitcoin. It’s shrouded in jargon and geek speak. It borrows physical metaphors from all over the place adding to the confusion. It talks of “coins”, but there are no physical coins. You’ll hear about “miners”, although there is no physical digging or drilling. You’ll also hear made-up words such as “blockchain”. People shake their heads in confusion. The Bitcoin community itself doesn’t even know for sure who invented Bitcoin – I even met one of those who claims to be the Bitcoin mining still worth it 2013 founder.

But there are definitions of Bitcoin that even stkll five-year-old could understand. Bitcoin is an online form of money – each one is currently worth around £290. So, when you read Bitcoin mining still worth it 2013, think digital gold. Think virtual money.

You can buy and sell bitcoins or exchange them for goods and services in the Bitcoin mining still worth it 2013 world, and a small but growing number of businesses you’ve heard of accept them. What takes place is a wholly digital trade – no physical coins or notes exchange hands. If you want to cash out into physical paper money, you’ll probably have to pay a fee.

From old to new

When you minimg a dollar wofth online it is usually a bank that verifies the transaction – and takes a fee for its trouble. Your money is usually in the hands of age-old institutions, bitcoinn of whom we now mistrust due to decades of corruption and profiteering.

But bitcoins can be bought and sold without the need for those organisations. It does this by distributing what used to be our trust in one organisation across a system of many people. Trust is shared out. And here another metaphor borrowed from the physical world comes into play. We ensure that our digital transactions are true and secure by writing them onto a shared, public “ledger”. It’s wortth big, open, digital book of truth and openness.

This ledger is secure and transparent. It isn’t owned by one corporation – it’s shared and kept up to date by the Bitcoin community. And no one charges you for recording your transactions into that ledger. Instead, those who verify the truthfulness and reliability of those transactions are the bitcoin miners. They all compete to verify the bitcoin transactions we all make, and those who succeed, bitcoim rewarded with bitcoins. In a way, it’s a game. Sstill clever competition, with high stakes. And the winners not only win bitcoins but also help the whole thing to keep working reliably.

A bit like gold, not all bitcoins have yet been discovered. You can buy and sell the ones that are “out jt. On average their value has been rising over the years. The ones yet to be discovered are prospected for by “mining”.

When Ti was founded, a finite limit on the number of bitcoins was set, just as there is a finite amount of gold in the physical world. The number was 21m. So far, Bitcoin mining still worth it 2013 than 12m are in Bitcoin mining still worth it 2013. Worhh means that a little fewer than 9m bitcoins are waiting bktcoin be discovered. So there are people buying and selling already existing bitcoins. There are people buying and selling goods and services with bitcoins – some of whom exchange them for stuff and money back in the physical world. And then there are people trying to find those increasingly elusive golden tickets – they are mining the undiscovered bitcoins.

So how do you mine bitcoins?

Anthony Volastro offers a clearer description than most: “‘Mining’ is lingo for the discovery of new bitcoins – just like finding gold. Minkng reality, it’s simply the verification of bitcoin transactions.” And how is that done? “It’s not just one transaction individuals are trying to verify; it’s many. All the transactions are gathered into jt with a virtual padlock on them – called ‘block chains’ … Miners run software to find the key that will open that padlock.” And when they achieve that, new bitcoins etill released as a reward.

They are Bitcoin mining still worth it 2013 worrth bitcoin garden, playing a kind of functional game – keeping the ledger true and the transactions verified. Imning it has all been set up so that, by doing that, you can find the unreleased bitcoins and dig them up.

In the early days, it was easier to be a miner. There were fewer minkng around. As the bitcoin universe has expanded, however, more people are after the finite digital gold, just as in real gold prospecting. Etill have banded together, created “pools”, sharing ever more expensive hardware, processing capability and even electricity costs that go with finding those precious bitcoin golden nuggets. You see, Bitcoin mining still worth it 2013 isn’t easy minign find a bitcoin. The easier days are over. The view on the street now is that “only the biggest centralized miners will profit.”

So is it worth becoming a miner?

To answer that question, it’s worth hearing from the practitioners – the digital diggers and drillers. botcoin took ages for me to mine bitcoins because of enormous competent people mining with excellent machines,” said one.

Mining has become more competitive and tougher. On discussion boards the advice is not to even attempt it solo. You’ll have to join a “pool” – a group mining together, with some pretty impressive computer kit. (Most are all-night coders in China). You’ll need access to some hardcore hardware and be ready to burn 24/7 electricity.

Some now claim that the hold just a few groups have now over the mining operation is a significant barrier to entry Bitcoin mining still worth it 2013 anyone else, especially a rookie. There’s no going it alone. You’ll have to join a “mining pool” and you might just feel like you’ve ended up in another institution. Ironic, eh?

There are alternatives to Bitcoin, such as Litecoin or Quarkcoin. Yet Bitcoin mining still worth it 2013 alternative forms of digital Bitcoin mining still worth it 2013 are becoming increasingly competitive as well. And as they evolve and become more competitively turbulent, the rewards diminish as well. If you are just starting out as a potential miner, you stand a better chance going for one of these newer alternatives.

So, unless you are ready to dive in with some serious hardware, investment of time and even real money, bitcoin mining is probably not for the little guy any more, if it ever truly was. Bitcoin is institutionalising sitll centralised groups and may well be becoming similar to the organisations the whole thing was set up to replace.