Ask HN: What equipment's/setup do I need to mine Bitcoin at home?
34 comments
Bitcoin miners use specialized hardware designed for mining. There is no special algorithm to make mining faster or more efficient and that is by design. Bitcoin is meant to take a lot of work to mine. Bitcoin also adjusts itself automatically so that each mined block takes roughly 10 minutes to find. There is no avoiding this.
The specialized mining rigs are very expensive and they have facilities with thousands of them running in parallel. It hasn't been feasible to mine bitcoin as an individual since around 2012. You can still do it though, but the odds of you finding a block are so infinitesimally slim that you're basically wasting all your time and money. You could join a pool, but with so little computing power your share of any reward will be incredibly slim. Sadly, I do not recommend trying to mine any cryptocurrencies.
The specialized mining rigs are very expensive and they have facilities with thousands of them running in parallel. It hasn't been feasible to mine bitcoin as an individual since around 2012. You can still do it though, but the odds of you finding a block are so infinitesimally slim that you're basically wasting all your time and money. You could join a pool, but with so little computing power your share of any reward will be incredibly slim. Sadly, I do not recommend trying to mine any cryptocurrencies.
What about mining other coins .. ? Doge ?
Doge uses hashcash with scrypt instead of double SHA256 as PoW. So you need scrypt ASICs to mine Doge (and Litecoin at the same time, as they can be merge mined).
This is why we have seen so many new altcoins popping up, it's like rewinding time so you get most of the coins instead of Satoshi getting them first.
> 3) Is it possible to create "smart" algorithm to reduce computing cost per bitcoin?
I think this is equivalent to the problem: "how can I calculate SHA-256 hashes more efficiently?"
This is an open problem in cryptanalysis. Is it "possible"? I think so, but it's a very complex computer science question. I would say: "it is probably possible, but extremely difficult to the point that it might be impossible."
I think this is equivalent to the problem: "how can I calculate SHA-256 hashes more efficiently?"
This is an open problem in cryptanalysis. Is it "possible"? I think so, but it's a very complex computer science question. I would say: "it is probably possible, but extremely difficult to the point that it might be impossible."
Occasionally I see people talking about how eventually quantum computers will be able to mine coins much faster than anyone can with the current technologies in use.
Maybe. But how much does a Quantum computer costs to a) buy and b) run?
Maybe. But how much does a Quantum computer costs to a) buy and b) run?
The biggest problem you'd have is energy cost. Bitcoin (and proof-of-work cryptocurrency in general) mining is very competitive which means the profit margins are super-thin and you're competing with people who get their energy very cheap, possibly even illicitly.
About the only way at this point is to find as much free power as possible. Failing that, $0.07 seems to be about what hydro costs. But going any where near there, you'll find other miners and MSFT and AMZN and Google are already there.
My understanding is this isn't really feasible these days. Bear in mind that the 6.25BTC block reward is currently worth about $300,000. There's a lot of competition and most of it will be investing enough to get economies of scale not obtainable for garage-scale miners.
To mine one Bitcoin per day, you would probably need double-digit million dollar worth of equipment and use as much energy as a 30,000 people town.
Is this surprising when a single coin is almost $51k? Perhaps a better question is how much equipment does it take to mine a single coin over the course of 6-12 months.
700 th/s will get you about 1.25 btc a year. That at say 13 th/s a miner asic, at a cost of $800 per asic works out to ~$44k upfront and then each asic burns at least 1k/hour for about another $37k if you get power at 7 cents/kw. Then add cooling and data.
Which, multiplied by 365, equals around 17 million USD.
My guess was correct! :-D
My guess was correct! :-D
Bitcoin mining has a "variable" difficulty. If many are mining, the difficulty rises a lot. Any many many are mining Bitcoin.
See https://www.nicehash.com/profitability-calculator in order to figure out whether your investment (buy the mining equipment, pay for electricity) would be able to break even.
See https://www.nicehash.com/profitability-calculator in order to figure out whether your investment (buy the mining equipment, pay for electricity) would be able to break even.
If you're located someplace where electric power is not close to free, you're guaranteed to lose money mining Bitcoin.
I tried all this before, it's good for a hobby but it would of worked out better for me profit wise if I just bought a bitcoin
I did this in 2018. I bought an Antminer S9 and power supply. It's not worth it as an individual. In order to earn anything at all, your cost of power needs to be ludicrously low and you still need to join a mining pool.
And these things are LOUD. After a year of mining I broke even.
And these things are LOUD. After a year of mining I broke even.
1 year ROI isn't too shabby
"broke even" = 0% ROI (meaning there was no return on the investment)
In fact, breaking even after a year is losing money because of inflation.
If they had put the same money in an index fund, they'd have made 10% at least.
In fact, breaking even after a year is losing money because of inflation.
If they had put the same money in an index fund, they'd have made 10% at least.
Fair point. I should have said pay back period, I had the term confused
Interestingly, I was just looking at the requirements for mining ETH.
But I still don't know why I'd ever need a ETH coin (other than as a store of value). Why would someone buy a ETH coin from me?
I may be talking nonsense, but if for example, my employer decided to switch from paper wageslips to an ETH contract, would I need ETH to execute that contract and receive my wage?
But I still don't know why I'd ever need a ETH coin (other than as a store of value). Why would someone buy a ETH coin from me?
I may be talking nonsense, but if for example, my employer decided to switch from paper wageslips to an ETH contract, would I need ETH to execute that contract and receive my wage?
Maybe, that would depend on whether you or your employer is initiating the transaction. It would cost ETH to execute though, yes.
Legacy coal power plant in a developing world to get cheap electricity.
It would be less expensive to buy Bitcoin than to mine it from your home.
Drawing large amounts of electricity can raise suspiciouns. Such as law enforcement suspecting you run a marihuana/hemp operation.
I recommend against mining for different primary reasons though. It is speculation and bad for the environment.
I recommend against mining for different primary reasons though. It is speculation and bad for the environment.
First, be in 2011...
The "trick" is finding a good spot where you can build a small hydroelectric power generator. Then you just convert the electricity into money. I'm not sure about the current conversion rate, but it's generally the average price of electricity that is used to mine bitcoin.
Build a nuclear power plant in your backyard. Of course if you can master that, who needs bitcoin. The cheaper the electricity the more profitable the mining, but at the current cost it's almost pointless without access to a massive power station.
The only point to mining Bitcoin yourself is tax avoidance. You can make back the cost of power and equipment over time, basically hiding your income. I suspect this is the main reason that people mine crypto. You won’t make a profit. It’s the tax you save through tax evasion.
The fan noise is far too loud. You need a garage that is detached from your house and very far from your neighbors or you will get noise complaints.
1 BTC/day is 200,000 TH. ~15k ASIC miners.
1 BTC/day is 200,000 TH. ~15k ASIC miners.
Now is definitely the time to jump into crypto. Tesla just stop excepting it. It cost $8000 dollars in electricity to mine each coin. Using cheap coal fired generated electricity seems to be the way to go. Who cares if the world chokes on the CO2 as long as you're rich right?
Well, for starters, your own nuclear power plant
Photovoltaic panels would be really useful
2) Anyone did this setup at home/ "here in my garage"?
3) Is it possible to create "smart" algorithm to reduce computing cost per bitcoin?
4) How do I locate all locations in the world who are mining right at this moment? heat signature? power surge?
5) How do I "VPN/mask" my mining so no one can know that I doing bitcoin mining "here in my garage"?
Thanks :)