Difficulty climbing fast

[caperjoe]

I only started a mining a month ago and difficulty has gone from 12 to 19.3 in that short period.

Will difficulty rise so quickly that single GPU miner's  like me will have no profit all? Especially when ASICS become widely available. I only started as an experiment.

Soon only the rich will be able to mine - Ah capitalism!

[DannyHamilton]

Will difficulty rise so quickly that single GPU miner's  like me will have no profit all?

I would certainly expect so.

A more interesting question is: "How long until the fastest and most efficient ASIC today are no longer profitable to run?
I'd guess less than 5 years.

[surebet]

Will difficulty rise so quickly that single GPU miner's  like me will have no profit all?

I would certainly expect so.

A more interesting question is: "How long until the fastest and most efficient ASIC today are no longer profitable to run?
I'd guess less than 5 years.

5 year... yeah, no.

[DannyHamilton]

Will difficulty rise so quickly that single GPU miner's  like me will have no profit all?

I would certainly expect so.

A more interesting question is: "How long until the fastest and most efficient ASIC today are no longer profitable to run?
I'd guess less than 5 years.

5 year... yeah, no.

How many years did it take for CPUs to become unprofitable?

Once CPUs were unprofitable, how much longer did it take for the early GPUs to become unprofitable?

Now that GPUs are becoming unprofitable why would you think it would take more than 5 years for today's ASIC to become unprofitable?

[niko]

I only started a mining a month ago and difficulty has gone from 12 to 19.3 in that short period.

Will difficulty rise so quickly that single GPU miner's  like me will have no profit all? Especially when ASICS become widely available. I only started as an experiment.

Soon only the rich will be able to mine - Ah capitalism!

Your thinking is flawed. If I invest 500 dollars into mining hardware, I might realize X% return over say one year. If I invest 5000 dollars into same hardware, I will be realizing the same X% return over the same period. Sure, vendors provide a certain discount for higher-priced hardware, but this is insignificant compared to other variables and unknowns, plus is easily addressed by buying shares in a large  mining operation.

Mining is currently a level field for all, rich or poor. Even if and when Bitcoin becomes big enough to spawn specialized mining firms who develop proprietary ASICs for exclusive self-mining, you could still participate by means of a mining co-operative or a publicly traded company, or a partnership...

[gigahasher]

This is a natural result of the appearance of mining ASICs.  ASICs are so much faster than GPUs that soon GPUs will be unprofitable.  I would not buy a GPU specifically for bitcoin mining any more, you need FPGAs or ASICs to compete in this bitcoin economy.

[🏰 TradeFortress 🏰]

Your thinking is flawed. If I invest 500 dollars into mining hardware, I might realize X% return over say one year. If I invest 5000 dollars into same hardware, I will be realizing the same X% return over the same period. Sure, vendors provide a certain discount for higher-priced hardware, but this is insignificant compared to other variables and unknowns, plus is easily addressed by buying shares in a large  mining operation.

No, you realize x - difficulty increase of your new hardware% return.

[legitnick]

I only started a mining a month ago and difficulty has gone from 12 to 19.3 in that short period.

Will difficulty rise so quickly that single GPU miner's  like me will have no profit all? Especially when ASICS become widely available. I only started as an experiment.

Soon only the rich will be able to mine - Ah capitalism!

Yep, watch in 3 years all mining is going to be done by big corporations.

[Obama]

Yep, mining difficulty rises exponentially.

[Idoru]

Could go up or down.
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Difficulty

estimated difficulty: 19425017.67711388

[J35st3r]

Mining is currently a level field for all, rich or poor. Even if and when Bitcoin becomes big enough to spawn specialized mining firms who develop proprietary ASICs for exclusive self-mining, you could still participate by means of a mining co-operative or a publicly traded company, or a partnership...

Except for ASICMiner, Avalon, BFL, (possibly KNCMiner, Bitfury in future). The companies that developed the first ASIC chips are doing very well for themselves. The old adage remains true, in a Gold Rush only the shovel sellers make good.

[silebe]

Hi,
Is it still worthy for a new comer to invest in mining. I'm thinking about ASIC (not GPU or FPGA). But will I make any return on investment, let alone profit?
Any estimates on what difficulty will be in the next few months - early next year ?

[sabahgamemaker]

Hi,
Is it still worthy for a new comer to invest in mining. I'm thinking about ASIC (not GPU or FPGA). But will I make any return on investment, let alone profit?
Any estimates on what difficulty will be in the next few months - early next year ?

What I read from somewhere is if you get into mining now, and you have an ASIC, you will probably get back your money in 6 months, maybe more...

[silebe]

So, by the time I can get an ASIC miner (several months of queueing), then difficulty would have already doubled, making the ROI time like a year....  :-(

[naphto]

So, by the time I can get an ASIC miner (several months of queueing), then difficulty would have already doubled, making the ROI time like a year....  :-(

Maybe, investing in mining rig is pretty stupid imo.

[gillespies]

So, by the time I can get an ASIC miner (several months of queueing), then difficulty would have already doubled, making the ROI time like a year....  :-(

hate to spoil the party, but difficulty would be more than doubled.

I bookmarked this http://organofcorti.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/914-asic-earnings-23-april-2013.html (back in April) as a constant reminder of this fact

[silebe]

Ouch... thanks for sharing ... Ouch

[sabahgamemaker]

So, by the time I can get an ASIC miner (several months of queueing), then difficulty would have already doubled, making the ROI time like a year....  :-(

Erm, more like a year and a half...    :-(

[temporary anomymous]

I only started a mining a month ago and difficulty has gone from 12 to 19.3 in that short period.

Will difficulty rise so quickly that single GPU miner's  like me will have no profit all? Especially when ASICS become widely available. I only started as an experiment.

Soon only the rich will be able to mine - Ah capitalism!

Yep, watch in 3 years all mining is going to be done by big corporations.

They would start now,and years from now it would be revealed to the bitcoin community.

[IYFTech]

Mining will cease sooner or later anyway, once the maximum available coin has been mined....