Bitcoin Forum

Hi guys! I wonder why do people buy block erupters? They are very weak and you need hundreds of them to make bitcoinBTC. I'd never buy a block erupter. Why do people buy them? ??? Sorry, I'm new in the bitcoin business.

People don't buy them.  They are really old by today's standards.  But the were the first freely available ASIC that you didn't have to pre-order and wait over a year to receive.

They are still good to tinker with for one who wants to experiment.  They are cheaper to run than a GPU will be.  Most newbies still want to start with CPU's and GPU's which is just a waste of electricity.

But your right you would need a bunch of them to do serious mining and they just aren't efficient enough to break even.  I'm still running some of mine solo mining.  I don't expect to crack a block, but who knows.

I think people buy them for mostly fun. Just to probably learn about bitcoins.
I bought one last year as well.

You can't buy new ones, can you?  They aren't being made anymore.

if your looking for a usb asic your better off getting the twinfury miners, they hash at 4-5ghs

I own a block erupter blade (basically 32 usb block erupters on one board, uses 100W, 10 GH/s), and managed to break even with it after about 5 months mining last year.

At this point they just dont pack enough hash to make roi.  They are a fun thing for someone learning mining, but not really something you do for a profit.

Agree, they sucks. But most people buy it to try mining and not for profit. So if you are looking for ROI and profit, please stay away from any USB miners.

I too have one solo mining. It's better than trying to use it to mine in a pool. Maybe I'll get lucky one day..

I bought some for quite cheap and intended to mine with them, but never got around to doing it. Now that I have free electricity, I could really use them but sadly, I left them at my parents' house and I won't be returning until June 2015. :'( I always assumed that they were more for fun than serious mining. You won't make a profit with one but you'll learn quite a bit about mining and Bitcoin in general by mining with them so they can be worth it.

Also they might be worth it if you're planning on launching your own SHA-256 altcoin too. Solo mine with your block erupters and other low-power SHA-256 miners while the difficulty is still low, then announce your coin to the forums and see the value of your new coins skyrocket! ;D

I think it was efficient, cheap and profitable when it was first released. It is way underpowered at current difficulty and belongs in a museum. They do make a cool keychain.