Why are you still mining?

[ValtteriRyhtila]

http://blockchain.info/charts/hash-rate?timespan=180days&showDataPoints=false&daysAverageString=1&show_header=true&scale=0&address=

I don't get it, why are people mining like crazy, even tough it's not profitable even with free energy?

It's time to pack up your gpu's and head home guys!

[mjc]

Who says it is not profitable?  In most cases the rigs running today are paid for.  So every BTC earned is additional profit.  When ASIC's hit, then the GPU or FPGA Rigs might not be profitable unless they get free energy. 

The other concept to keep in mind is that the your mining rig is generating BTC not USD or EUR or the such.  So, if you mine, in hopes that the BTC will go up, then you could cash out in the future at much higher exchange rates.

I hope this helps. :-)

[Foxpup]

it's not profitable even with free energy

Say what? Last time I checked, bitcoins were worth something. Free energy costs nothing. How does something - nothing = not profitable?

[super3]

A) I don't have to pay for electricity, so as far as I'm concerned I'm generating free money
B) In the long term, if Bitcoin gets increasingly used, a Bitcoin will be worth significantly more than it is now

[Kuusou]

Even with my low hashrate and the risk of burning out my cards, it's worth it for me because I don't pay the electric bill.

I do pay for some things around here, and there will come a time (pretty much when ASICs come, and I have ordered one of those so I'm fine in that regard) when what I make in coins will not be worth it even with the electricity costs because I'm using my personal card and it could break or start to malfunction in the games that I play or I may be asked to pay part of the electric bill and that would put me in a position where I didn't care to pay that extra 5 - 10 bucks a month or whatever for my few dollars in coins. But that time has not come yet.

You also have to realize that as long as you pretty much break even, you can still mine. Most people made enough from their farms to pay for the electricity more than double, so they can still mine at a gain. It's not reasonable to turn off a card that might not have even paid for itself yet, just because it's only make a few cents on top of paying for the electricity bill. You are still making something... And the cost of coins fluctuates a good deal. You might mine at a loss for a bit and then start mining at a gain for a bit, back to loss, and so on.. yet overall always be making coin and in the end have a nice stockpile that is worth far more than you paid in. Bitcoin should also always go up in price over time, don't forget that.

You don't have to factor in the cost of your mining equipment once you are already mining, and if anything, if you do include the costs you paid then you need to keep them on as long as you can pay the electric bill and get a few more coins after that or you lose out completely.

I wouldn't tell someone that it was reasonable to buy new equipment in order to mine if that is what you are talking about. But that has nothing to do with why the total hashrate is still the same.

There is also something to be said about the ease of mining over using any of the Bitcoin buying services. The easy ones always give to a good deal less.

[ValtteriRyhtila]

Who says it is not profitable?  In most cases the rigs running today are paid for.  So every BTC earned is additional profit.  When ASIC's hit, then the GPU or FPGA Rigs might not be profitable unless they get free energy. 

Well if someone has hard to sell stuff, then it's profitable, but people should always think about economic opportunity costs. For example I have a 600mhas rig that I can sell easily for 200€. To mine that 200€ at current difficulty if nothing breaks down would take around 8 months, and if something breaks it's one month for a gpu fan, three months for a psu etc.. And most people have to pay for electricity, so the margin is even worse. Basically I think that people are ruining their hardware for less than nothing.

The other concept to keep in mind is that the your mining rig is generating BTC not USD or EUR or the such.  So, if you mine, in hopes that the BTC will go up, then you could cash out in the future at much higher exchange rates.

You can always buy coins and support economy that way.. I was expecting difficulty to drop in few weeks around 20-30%, so that this would be profitable for even some of us.

[greyhawk]

With all these people out their yelling about how they have free electricity, I think I'm beginning to understand why I pay so much for electricity. And I'm not even mining.

[ValtteriRyhtila]

With all these people out their yelling about how they have free electricity, I think I'm beginning to understand why I pay so much for electricity. And I'm not even mining.

The electricity is paid in the rent, so "free" is actually "paid by other tenants" .

Looks like the network speed has dropped 20% since I started this topic, so it just took longer than I expected. The next difficult is already ruined, but maybe it's possible still to mine for  a week or so before the asic's start to make a difference.

[AndrewBUD]

With all these people out their yelling about how they have free electricity, I think I'm beginning to understand why I pay so much for electricity. And I'm not even mining.

What's the problem? I pay for my electricity at my house. I run 1 rig at home. I have multiple other rigs running at my friends house.

He pays for his rent with inclusive electricity....



Send me some rigs.. I'll host some for ya.. 50/50 split on the profits.. so everything it mines

[greyhawk]

With all these people out their yelling about how they have free electricity, I think I'm beginning to understand why I pay so much for electricity. And I'm not even mining.

What's the problem? I pay for my electricity at my house. I run 1 rig at home. I have multiple other rigs running at my friends house.

I'm just kidding about Germany's huge rises in electricity costs. 

[AndrewBUD]

With all these people out their yelling about how they have free electricity, I think I'm beginning to understand why I pay so much for electricity. And I'm not even mining.

What's the problem? I pay for my electricity at my house. I run 1 rig at home. I have multiple other rigs running at my friends house.

I'm just kidding about Germany's huge rises in electricity costs. 

A lot of places pay ridiculous amounts for electricity. 

[Akka]

With all these people out their yelling about how they have free electricity, I think I'm beginning to understand why I pay so much for electricity. And I'm not even mining.

What's the problem? I pay for my electricity at my house. I run 1 rig at home. I have multiple other rigs running at my friends house.

I'm just kidding about Germany's huge rises in electricity costs.  

A lot of places pay ridiculous amounts for electricity.  

Year, but due to our bolt plan to get rid of nuclear power and focus on renewable energy we will face an increase of average 32% next year.

And we already have high costs.

I still hope that this will pay off in a view years, when we have advanced technology renewable energy sector due to this plan in the and are able to sell this to other countries.

[greyhawk]

With all these people out their yelling about how they have free electricity, I think I'm beginning to understand why I pay so much for electricity. And I'm not even mining.

What's the problem? I pay for my electricity at my house. I run 1 rig at home. I have multiple other rigs running at my friends house.

I'm just kidding about Germany's huge rises in electricity costs.  

A lot of places pay ridiculous amounts for electricity.  

But they don't see a 30% increase across the board all thanks to idiots voting "Oh, that Fukushima thing was pretty bad. I know, let's turn off all our nuclear reactors. That'll solve all our problems".  

[AndrewBUD]

Yeah that would be nuts..... How cheap is natural gas for you guys? Were I live in Canada it's DIRT cheap.. 

Would it make sense to run a natural gas generator to run your home?

[ValtteriRyhtila]

It's crazy that they are shutting down completely safe and profitable hardware. I'm not sure if it's wise at this point to invest at new reactors with all these renewables and stuff coming soon, but they should generate with the old hardware as long as they can.

In Finland electricity is so expensive partly because they have to fund those new reactors somehow.

[greyhawk]

Yeah that would be nuts..... How cheap is natural gas for you guys? Were I live in Canada it's DIRT cheap.. 

Would it make sense to run a natural gas generator to run your home?

Innnnteresting idea. I'm already on the gas mains. Let me get back to you on that.

[AndrewBUD]

Yeah that would be nuts..... How cheap is natural gas for you guys? Were I live in Canada it's DIRT cheap.. 

Would it make sense to run a natural gas generator to run your home?

Innnnteresting idea. I'm already on the gas mains. Let me get back to you on that.

My neighbor has a huge 24kw Natural Gas generator... It's pretty cool.  Not loud at all for how large it is.

[Akka]

Its already relatively wide used here.

6.1% of our country wide power consumption came from bio gas this year and increasing.

It's still relativity cheap, but with the current development it wouldn't be a save investment.

[btctalk]

when people have the hardware and been mining for a while, what should they do if they stop mining? they prefer to do what they have been doing rather that just sit and see others doing the same thing they've been doin! u know?

[firefop]

In my case I'm covered by solar in the summer... and micro hydro in the winter.

But also, I use mining to heat my house and garage.