Mining a bitcoin costs about as much as buying one these days

[TitanAI]

Bitcoin's profitability wasn’t a problem when the cryptocurrency was heading “to the Moon,” as enthusiasts were fond of putting it, but since late last year, Bitcoin has largely been heading in the other direction.
Calculating mining costs is not so hard, the cost of the computers themselves, as the mathematical problems get progressively harder over time, miners need to keep upgrading their rigs, another issue is energy, making loads of incorrect guesses uses a lot of it. And then there’s cooling ... all that energy use throws off a lot of heat.
The current break-even point for Bitcoin mining is $8,038.
That said, whether or not mining still makes sense, depends a lot on where you are.
And let's not forget that Bitcoin is terrible for the environment.

[ManaMan]

Bitcoin's profitability wasn’t a problem when the cryptocurrency was heading “to the Moon,” as enthusiasts were fond of putting it, but since late last year, Bitcoin has largely been heading in the other direction.
Calculating mining costs is not so hard, the cost of the computers themselves, as the mathematical problems get progressively harder over time, miners need to keep upgrading their rigs, another issue is energy, making loads of incorrect guesses uses a lot of it. And then there’s cooling ... all that energy use throws off a lot of heat.
The current break-even point for Bitcoin mining is $8,038.
That said, whether or not mining still makes sense, depends a lot on where you are.
And let's not forget that Bitcoin is terrible for the environment.

Mining is huge business and if it's not profitable or if miners thought they couldn't earn for the long run they wouldn't be mining. We can conclude then that no matter if it is profitable at this moment people are gonna mine it. Even before you couldn't pay off the power bill from mining and selling your coins right away, mostly what miners do is hold because that's how they can accumulate and get more value if market plays right for them.

 Your statement "Bitcoin is terrible for the environmen." is true but not many people care about it as long as they can earn money, and since btc is using Proof of Work to sustain it's network there is nothing much you can do about it and simply telling it is bad, well you can't stop it. It might consume a lot of electricity but that's how it is and there are many other businesses around the world that may consume even more.

[louisLavery]

"And let's not forget that Bitcoin is terrible for the environment."

Yes, but what's the cost to the environment of the alternatives?  With out knowing that I don't see that the above statement tells us much.

[Bolt Brownie]

Bitcoin's profitability wasn’t a problem when the cryptocurrency was heading “to the Moon,” as enthusiasts were fond of putting it, but since late last year, Bitcoin has largely been heading in the other direction.
Calculating mining costs is not so hard, the cost of the computers themselves, as the mathematical problems get progressively harder over time, miners need to keep upgrading their rigs, another issue is energy, making loads of incorrect guesses uses a lot of it. And then there’s cooling ... all that energy use throws off a lot of heat.
The current break-even point for Bitcoin mining is $8,038.
That said, whether or not mining still makes sense, depends a lot on where you are.
And let's not forget that Bitcoin is terrible for the environment.

Your claim is not entirely correct. The price for bitcoin mining varies to much from country to country. It can go from as low as $600 to as high as $24k. So mining is still very profitable if you are in the right place (and miners usually are). Here is a link from cnbc that covers just that. Of course that the mining price changes a lot, because of difficulty increase, and electricity cost, but the data provided in the video should be accurate enough.

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/01/12/heres-how-much-it-costs-to-mine-one-single-bitcoin-in-115-different-countries-across-the-world.html

Finally Bitcoin mining is not terrible for the environment... The electricity costs to mine gold and maintain it secure are way bigger, and I don't see anyone bashing gold...

[Za1n]

I have seen those reports too in the news recently and think that their estimate of a $8,000 break-even point is a bit high. I would actually like to see their formula, as to what they factor in.

Once thing that is worrisome though is that I know they factor in the cost for the hardware, so if the price falls a lot more, say to the $3,000 - $4,000 range for any length of time, how much more is this going to shift the bulk of mining to Bitmain type companies that do the manufacturing?

[eduvacation.net]

Bitcoin miners make their work their hobby but the hobby can generate some money or profits when they manage to get some coins from the mining process. The cost of electricity they have to spend today is not worth the income they get from the mining process because of the mining difficulties every time it keeps rising but the miners are not at a loss to deal with the problem of energy consumption because now they have started to switch to using solar energy to make Their rigs work solving the algorithm codes.

[HeRetiK]

The current break-even point for Bitcoin mining is $8,038.

Based on what?

As you already put it:

whether or not mining still makes sense, depends a lot on where you are.

The break-even Bitcoin price is different for each mining operation as it largely depends on cost of 1) hardware, 2) infrastructure, 3) maintenance and 4) electricity. Those 4 parameters vary wildly from operation to operation so there's no singular break-even point for Bitcoin mining.

As long as the hashrate of the Bitcoin network increases beyond mere hardware improvements one can assume that Bitcoin mining is still largely profitable. Only once the network hashrate stagnates and adjusts itself to a decreasing Bitcoin price we'll see where the effective "break-even point" of Bitcoin lies.

[dothebeats]

I'd like to know what factors were used in calculating the average mining cost of a single bitcoin these days, because back in the days of sub-$1000, difficulty is slightly lower than where it stands today yet people were still mining and profiting off of their schemes. Also, if you're talking about the rigs being used, BITMAIN adjusts their pricing depending on the current price of 1 bitcoin on their batches, so you also need to consider that factor knowing that they're the only one creating these ASICs and where most of the miners get their machine. $8000 on average is a high breakeven point IMO, and it can vary greatly depending on where one operates their machines. Also, if profitability isn't good looking for bitcoin, some miners switch to other coins in the meantime until it is profitable to mine bitcoin again.

Oh and mining bitcoin don't have "terrible effects" on the environment as what they want to let you guys know in the media. Harnessing oil and processing gold take a lot of resources and have negative effects on the environment, but they aren't reporting that lol.

[krishnaverma]

Bitcoin's profitability wasn’t a problem when the cryptocurrency was heading “to the Moon,” as enthusiasts were fond of putting it, but since late last year, Bitcoin has largely been heading in the other direction.
Calculating mining costs is not so hard, the cost of the computers themselves, as the mathematical problems get progressively harder over time, miners need to keep upgrading their rigs, another issue is energy, making loads of incorrect guesses uses a lot of it. And then there’s cooling ... all that energy use throws off a lot of heat.
The current break-even point for Bitcoin mining is $8,038.
That said, whether or not mining still makes sense, depends a lot on where you are.
And let's not forget that Bitcoin is terrible for the environment.

You should not forget the fact that a lot of setups had already recovered the initial investment mad. I agree that there are still some regular expenses like electricity bills but they will always in profit once the setup costs is invested. I am not involved with bitcoin mining yet but it is way more profitable in trading in long term. You should think about the future prices of coins being generated instead of calculating returns based on current cost.

[stompix]

The current break-even point for Bitcoin mining is $8,038.
That said, whether or not mining still makes sense, depends a lot on where you are.

You managed to contradict yourself in two lines.
If we have a certain break-even point that is situated at x value then it matters not where you live.

As the other have pointed out, there are regions in this world where it makes no sense to mine, and that is what it drives that median value up. Besides, not all mine with the same stuff, not everybody has paid the same price for their miner.
So, those average numbers mean nothing.

Bitcoin miners make their work their hobby but the hobby can generate some money or profits when they manage to get some coins from the mining process. The cost of electricity they have to spend today is not worth the income they get from the mining process because of the mining difficulties every time it keeps rising but the miners are not at a loss to deal with the problem of energy consumption because now they have started to switch to using solar energy to make Their rigs work solving the algorithm codes.

What a useless commentt, thanks for letting us know that mining rigs solve algorithm codes...yeah
And you're wrong.

If you have solar, and while you mine you spend more energy (in $ value ) than what you receive in BTC as a reward then it makes no sense to mine. You're better sending that energy back to the grid and get paid directly for it.

Oh and mining bitcoin don't have "terrible effects" on the environment as what they want to let you guys know in the media. Harnessing oil and processing gold take a lot of resources and have negative effects on the environment, but they aren't reporting that lol.

Well...till a few months ago there were more cars in the US than all the transactions in the chain, so it's not really a good comparison. Until the LN is active and used, we should compare it with industries that benefit only 200 000 a day.
Like yak cheese production  

Besides, a lot of power that feeds the grid comes from oil, and a lot of it is used by mining...so...

[hype]

it is allowed to use cp in mining or advisable using mobile phone for mining?   thanks for the help

[Svelto]

it is allowed to use cp in mining or advisable using mobile phone for mining?   thanks for the help

I don’t think you can mine bitcoin using mobile phone. For mining bitcoin, you will need powerful mining equipment such as antminer or similar. I suggest you to read more in the mining section of this forum.

[alyssa85]

Bitcoin's profitability wasn’t a problem when the cryptocurrency was heading “to the Moon,” as enthusiasts were fond of putting it, but since late last year, Bitcoin has largely been heading in the other direction.
Calculating mining costs is not so hard, the cost of the computers themselves, as the mathematical problems get progressively harder over time, miners need to keep upgrading their rigs, another issue is energy, making loads of incorrect guesses uses a lot of it. And then there’s cooling ... all that energy use throws off a lot of heat.
The current break-even point for Bitcoin mining is $8,038.
That said, whether or not mining still makes sense, depends a lot on where you are.
And let's not forget that Bitcoin is terrible for the environment.

If it is genuinely uneconomic, we should start to see miners drop out and the hash rate drop.

But the hashrate is still pretty high.

[bubu4845]

i think rightnow Mining is not worth it, you can see bitcoin is down rightnow and the price mining rig is so expensive, rightnow trading is more profitable than mining.

[TitanAI]

The current break-even point for Bitcoin mining is $8,038.
That said, whether or not mining still makes sense, depends a lot on where you are.

You managed to contradict yourself in two lines.
If we have a certain break-even point that is situated at x value then it matters not where you live.

As the other have pointed out, there are regions in this world where it makes no sense to mine, and that is what it drives that median value up. Besides, not all mine with the same stuff, not everybody has paid the same price for their miner.
So, those average numbers mean nothing.

Bitcoin miners make their work their hobby but the hobby can generate some money or profits when they manage to get some coins from the mining process. The cost of electricity they have to spend today is not worth the income they get from the mining process because of the mining difficulties every time it keeps rising but the miners are not at a loss to deal with the problem of energy consumption because now they have started to switch to using solar energy to make Their rigs work solving the algorithm codes.

What a useless commentt, thanks for letting us know that mining rigs solve algorithm codes...yeah
And you're wrong.

If you have solar, and while you mine you spend more energy (in $ value ) than what you receive in BTC as a reward then it makes no sense to mine. You're better sending that energy back to the grid and get paid directly for it.

Oh and mining bitcoin don't have "terrible effects" on the environment as what they want to let you guys know in the media. Harnessing oil and processing gold take a lot of resources and have negative effects on the environment, but they aren't reporting that lol.

Well...till a few months ago there were more cars in the US than all the transactions in the chain, so it's not really a good comparison. Until the LN is active and used, we should compare it with industries that benefit only 200 000 a day.
Like yak cheese production  

Besides, a lot of power that feeds the grid comes from oil, and a lot of it is used by mining...so...

I don't see the contradiction, I just made a point about mining, the line after the breakpoint wasn't about it. The breakpoint was just math, something that I might have done wrong or maybe not, but we can discuss more about that if you want.

[dreamteam17]

now the main problem bitcoin is the bans of the authorities, the prohibitions of social networks, and its unstable existence, that is, a frequent fall!

[Rotsor]

The price of Bitcoin is correcting currently and hasn't corrected completely yet. And regarding the break even point, the ones who aren't able to generate a profit are going to stop their miners and thus reduce the hash power which would reduce the competition and lower the cost to mine bitcoins.

[HeRetiK]

The current break-even point for Bitcoin mining is $8,038.
That said, whether or not mining still makes sense, depends a lot on where you are.

You managed to contradict yourself in two lines.
If we have a certain break-even point that is situated at x value then it matters not where you live.

I don't see the contradiction, I just made a point about mining, the line after the breakpoint wasn't about it. The breakpoint was just math, something that I might have done wrong or maybe not, but we can discuss more about that if you want.

You made two assertions that are in direct conflict:

1) The break-even point is the same for each miner. ("The current break-even point for Bitcoin mining is $8,038.")

2) The break even point is different for each miner. ("That said, whether or not mining still makes sense, depends a lot on where you are.")


So which one is it?

[pitiflin]

GPUs have become so damn costly because of mining. Even if you're mining its fine, but individual idiots don't know what shit they are doing in the name of mining. Just buying mining equipment won't do shit. You're only increasing the prices of hardware. Individuals don't look at the difficulty of mining and they just do for the sake of it. Come on man take a look at the mining difficulty.

[MakeMoneyBtc]

Mining equipments are very expensive these days but ypu surely get in profit with them if you know how to set up everything and use them correctly because otherwise why would everyone buy some much equipment if there isnt any profit in mining? Probably it costs more than a bitcoin to buy everything but after some time you will get those money back because you will be able to mine 5 or 10 bitcoins, I dont really know how it works and how luch profit will you get but you surely get more than you invest.