Is Bitcoin mining a profitable business?

[ColdLava40]

Introduction
In the ever-busy world of business, profits and losses are key components experienced by those in it. However, from a very tender age until this minute, I have not come across anyone who chooses to make losses. Certainly, everyone loves to make profits through any means possible.

In a case where I happen to be the only one that sells a particular brand within a region or state, it is expected of me to make profits. But if there are other competitors that sell the same brand as me within the same region, the tendency of making profits is likely not to happen due to the competition.

I tried to apply a similar scenario to Bitcoin mining. We all know that several miners around the world compete to solve a difficult mathematical problem, which aids the creation of a block. After the successful creation of a block, the miner is rewarded with some Bitcoin. Sadly, I can't tell the exact number of miners globally, but I think their population is enough to make the reward process very tough.

Questions
1. With the large population of miners around the world, could every miner earn a reward at least once a month?
2. If it's impossible for every miner to earn at least once a month, does that mean that mining is not a profitable business?

Note: I am asking these questions based on a miner's perspective, considering the cost of power supply consumed and the fixing/replacement of faulty mining machines.

[Charles-Tim]

Questions
1. With the large population of miners around the world, could every miner earn a reward at least once a month?
2. If it's impossible for every miner to earn at least once a month, does that mean that mining is not a profitable business?

You can be a solo miner or join a mining pool.

Solo miner

If you are a solo miner, that means if you mine a block, you will earn the mining reward alone. But the chance will be small if you do not have enough money to get yourself miners and setup mining farms. To be a solo miner may not be gone for because even you need huge amount of money to buy miners to join a mining pool, not to talk of being a solo miner and mining alone. But if you are rich enough like a multimillionaire, you may decide to begin a mining business without joining any mining pool. You can even become a mining pool.


Joining a mining pool

If you join a mining pool, you will use your miner to contribute to the hash rates that the mining pools are generating. There are other miners like you that also join the pool. The mining reward would be distributed to miners that contribute to the hashrates the pool is generating. Miners today are not solo miners but prefer to join a mining pool and earn a steady reward because mining pool mine new block often and distribute the reward to miners that join their pool in accordance to the hashrates they are contributing.

Some of the pools have a mining calculator or you can get yourself a mining calculator online to calculate if mining would be profitable for you. You will be able to also use the calculator to calculate the electricity cost.

Mining is still profitable if you get the right miners and also if you are in a country with cheap electricity.

[hg_away]

Being a solo miner is a bet on luck, and it cannot be sustainable. If you are very lucky, you will get $200,000 once, and then you may continue to operate the machine for several weeks or years without achieving anything. You may not be so lucky and lose everything.

The majority will choose to join a mining pool, and then you will have the options of PPS, FPPS, PPLNS, PPS+, and then, with the expenses of electricity, maintenance, and depreciation, you will determine whether mining is profitable for you or not.

[TheUltraElite]

Consider the following factors:
1. Number of ASICs - the more you have them the better cumulative hashpower
2. Electricity costs - less is better.
3. Maintenance costs - less is better.
4. Cooling costs - less is better.

Now as a solo miner, you need to have a hashpower to be able to counter the combined hashpower of the all the miners in the world to be able to generate enough coins to either ROI and break-even or profit beyond break even point.

You can do the math yourself, I am not an expert in mining, but after 2013, mining on your own or even on a pool will cost you more than you can make.

[stompix]

I tried to apply a similar scenario to Bitcoin mining. We all know that several miners around the world compete to solve a difficult mathematical problem, which aids the creation of a block. After the successful creation of a block, the miner is rewarded with some Bitcoin. Sadly, I can't tell the exact number of miners globally, but I think their population is enough to make the reward process very tough.

Yeah, you've started the wrong way on almost every single aspect of it!

Miners are not taking turns at finding blocks, the number of miners is meaningless, it's the hashrate they control,  the reward process is not "tough" is just math on splitting the reward, just like it's economics in running a mining business!
So your questions are just 101% wrongly worded, there is no asnwerign them!

Now as a solo miner, you need to have a hashpower to be able to counter the combined hashpower of the all the miners in the world to be able to generate enough coins to either ROI and break-even or profit beyond break even point.

 

Actually this is not true as it's not really a hashrate competition but how much that hashrate costs.
You stared well but got sidetracked, if of course we're not talking about usb sticks , a miner who buys his gear cheap, is paying 1 cent per kwh and he runs his own farm alone will manage even with solo mining to out profit in the long term any other miner or even mining company even if he has a few dozns of petahashs not exahash.
He will only get a block once a month but long term as randomness starts giving away his lower costs will have the final word and he will be more profitable even with 1/100of the hashrate!

[FP91G]

Questions
1. With the large population of miners around the world, could every miner earn a reward at least once a month?
2. If it's impossible for every miner to earn at least once a month, does that mean that mining is not a profitable business?

If you are a novice investor with several ASIC containers, then you will use a mining pool and not try to mine solo. When you have 1-2 megawatts per hour of energy consumption, then you will not play the solo mining lottery
Bitcoin mining is a very profitable business, because mining companies pay back their investments in 1 year.

[God bless u]

Introduction
In the ever-busy world of business, profits and losses are key components experienced by those in it. However, from a very tender age until this minute, I have not come across anyone who chooses to make losses. Certainly, everyone loves to make profits through any means possible.

In a case where I happen to be the only one that sells a particular brand within a region or state, it is expected of me to make profits. But if there are other competitors that sell the same brand as me within the same region, the tendency of making profits is likely not to happen due to the competition.

I tried to apply a similar scenario to Bitcoin mining. We all know that several miners around the world compete to solve a difficult mathematical problem, which aids the creation of a block. After the successful creation of a block, the miner is rewarded with some Bitcoin. Sadly, I can't tell the exact number of miners globally, but I think their population is enough to make the reward process very tough.

Questions
1. With the large population of miners around the world, could every miner earn a reward at least once a month?
2. If it's impossible for every miner to earn at least once a month, does that mean that mining is not a profitable business?

Note: I am asking these questions based on a miner's perspective, considering the cost of power supply consumed and the fixing/replacement of faulty mining machines.

I am not a miner. and my opinions are not as good as any mining expert. but I can tell you one simple thing which is true for every business. if something is not profitable there wouldn't be people doing that. so if Mining was not profitable then there wouldn't be that many miners all over the world mining.
now coming to your questions:
1: Yes. Every Miners earn some rewards at some points. it is very difficult and time-consuming. but they eventually get their share of the rewards. (it is different for solo and pool miners) one thing you must know is that Miners don't only earn from mining new blocks. their most of their earning come from transaction fees.
according to Binance News: In 2023 Miners earned $2 Million Daily only in Transaction fees. https://www.binance.com/en/feed/post/2023-12-25-bitcoin-miners-collect-daily-average-of-2-million-in-transaction-fee-revenue-in-2023-1853616466441
2: Mining is a profitable business . if done properly.

[Cricktor]

He will only get a block once a month but long term as randomness starts giving away his lower costs will have the final word and he will be more profitable even with 1/100of the hashrate!

Let's do the math how much hashrate power you need to statistically win the hash lottery for one block a month (to sustain a reliable income you should better join a decent mining pool, one with enough combined hashpower to generate blocks at some steady and somewhat predictable rate and fair conditions):

• current assumed cumulative hashpower worldwide ~529 EH/s (MA according to https://mempool.space/graphs/mining/hashrate-difficulty
  
• assuming on average 2016 blocks per two weeks --> (2016 times 26) divided by 12 equals 4368 blocks per month on average
• ~529 EH/s divided by 4368 equals ~121,108 TH/s that such a miner needs to have roughly to generate one block per month on average

Let's further assume this miner has quite recent and efficient gear like Bitmain Antminer S19 XP: ~140 TH/s @ 3010W per device. Such a miner would need a mining farm of ~865 (121,108 divided by 4368) of such devices and as cheap as possible access to power delivery of at minimum 2.6 MWh for the ASICs alone (not accounting for power losses of distributing the power internally, operating the mining farm facility, cooling, ...).

That's serious business and investment for one block per month on average and I'm already assuming ideal operating conditions. And due to general trend of development of Bitcoin's mining difficulty this won't be a steady state block generation rate. To keep the rate of one block per month on average this miner would need to add ASICs roughly at the rate the difficulty adds up. The long term trend is usually rising...

[JustineCollins09]

can we buy and connect multiple ASIC's? to already working mining grid?

[stompix]

• assuming on average 2016 blocks per two weeks --> (2016 times 26) divided by 12 equals 4368 blocks per month on average

You actually went though multiply and dividing rather than go straight for 144*30?  

Such a miner would need a mining farm of ~865 (121,108 divided by 4368) of such devices and as cheap as possible access to power delivery of at minimum 2.6 MWh for the ASICs alone (not accounting for power losses of distributing the power internally, operating the mining farm facility, cooling, ...).

He would need the same if he would be mining in a pool, yours till need the same thing, asics, power, land, technicians, there is no difference in it, the only difference would be like for for a farm to sell it's products to a chain of grocery stores or do it themselves, all the manufacturing process is the same.

That's serious business and investment for one block per month on average and I'm already assuming ideal operating conditions.

Let's replace your 865 S19 with 605 S21, that would be 2.4 mils but you're looking at ‎7.364 BTC (last block revenue per month)
Now you could get that hashrate and mine at Viabtc and get 0.00000198 BTC per th/s so 0.23979384 BTC  a day, 7.1938152 a month!
See? No real difference in revenue, it's just that it won't be a daily payout and you risk both getting a low block fee but also hit the jackpot.

You can make that a block every two months or a block every one week, the revenue and investment model is the same!
It's all about how deep your pockets are!

[Cricktor]

You actually went though multiply and dividing rather than go straight for 144*30? 

It's all some sort of approximation. You certainly noticed that not all months are just 30 days long, nor are 52 weeks a full year (~1.25 days missing, that's already on average worth 180 blocks). Your 144*30=4320 is also different from my estimate of around 4368 blocks per month. Doesn't matter, we're roughly in the same ballpark...

The crucial point (for others) is: if you're interested in mining, DO the math!

[snuffman8]

it's not game over. Mining's like surfing big waves; it's intense, and not everyone catches the perfect ride. Some months, the rewards might be sweet, other times not so juicy. It's a rollercoaster. But, and it's a big but, profitability is a tricky beast. Costs like power bills and fixing up your mining rig can take a bite out of the gains. It's like trying to balance on a seesaw, you gotta weigh your costs against what you're hauling in.
Not everyone's gonna hit the jackpot every month. It's a bit like panning for gold; sometimes you strike it big, other times, not so much.

[doubletheprof]

The short answer is... DEPENDS. And it indeed depends on a lot of factors. For example, in which state do you want to mine, how much do you pay for electric bills, do you want to house the miner or not, etc.. BUT! Mining is really fun and you can also mine ALTCOINS like Kaspa...

[BlazinaBits]

Mining is a profitable business if you can find a competitive advantage for cost savings, or multiple income streams.
Most commonly this is done by getting good and creative electricity deals, research: Stranded Gas Mining
Dual income can come from selling the heat created by the miner for specific situations, some of this is done in the marijuana growing business.

[Assface16678]

It depends. Mining takes a lot of investment—equipment, electric bills, internet, and more than you can imagine. Is mining profitable? Yes, if you are ready to invest in high-end equipment, but it is possible if you can afford it and are knowledgeable about building a fine and efficient mining rig. But don't expect that the profit will return in a short time because mining takes a lot of time before you can earn, and even if you earn, it is still not enough to pay for the bills because, aside from expenses in building the setup, you will also have expenses in electricity, which could be a heavy burden. So if you really want to mine, then you better have a stable job. Profitable, yes, if you can shoulder the investment and the hardship because it's not easy to maintain the rigs, cleaning, ensuring the wiring is fine, and the temperature of your equipment to avoid short circuits.

[philipma1957]

Six cent as your full power cost per kwatt
Top of the line gear

Has made money on a very steady basis.


Lets examine  an s19xp

140 x 0.0766 = $10.73

3.3 kwatts x .06 x 24 = $4.72


today you net $6.01 on that gear

lets rush to ½ ing

10.73/2  = 5.365

  5.365 - 4.72 = 64 cents profit


So I would say it works so far

at 6 cents total cost per kwatt. with top of the line gear.

Some big guys have 3 cent total cost  they rake it in.

[FP91G]

I would like to add one good idea: mining on ASICs is profitable when you have a lot of ASICs, at least several dozen ASICs.

If you have 2 ASICs and one breaks, then the profit figures will be completely different. This is the risk of home mining with limited power.

[RewFrew]

Bitcoin mining was profitable but now gradually decreasing mining hash rate regularly. But when Bitcoin mining hash rate was large then it was profitable i think. Moreover huge people still mining Bitcoin. For Bitcoin mining we have to see some things.
* Quantity of ASICs.
* Maintenance costs.
* Electricity cost.
* Cooling cost.
* Miners salary etc'

After calculate that's costing we have to calculate It's profit. If  coating were low then mining amount, then it will lose and if mining were more then costing then it will be profitable i think.

[iBaba]

Questions
1. With the large population of miners around the world, could every miner earn a reward at least once a month?
2. If it's impossible for every miner to earn at least once a month, does that mean that mining is not a profitable business?

Well, as to whether miners are going to earn money every month or not, it's not really something that someone can completely identify because of a number of factors that there are different. There are a great population of people mining out there in different places of the world, the number of people mining is humongous right now already. there is no any specific guarantee that could come from anybody that can specify that as a miner you must earn every month.

However, not earning every month does not really mean that you cannot even be big in the Bitcoin mining industry. All it takes for you is for you to be able to join a great mining pool, I think that is better than you just being a Solo Miner.

So that when you join a mining pool, you have the opportunity to be able to do more creative things within the circle and industry, and as well you need that funding to be able to do quite a number of things, for example, an affordable electricity, to earn rewards that you are planning or that you are aiming in the mining industry even if it is not monthly though.

[blckhawk]

If you are a novice investor with several ASIC containers, then you will use a mining pool and not try to mine solo. When you have 1-2 megawatts per hour of energy consumption, then you will not play the solo mining lottery
Bitcoin mining is a very profitable business, because mining companies pay back their investments in 1 year.

Is there a thread here that can teach me how to how to join a mining pool? Is that even a guarantee that the ROI for mining is guaranteed in a year? Because that seems kind of a pain to be waiting for it and why are a lot of replies discouraging solo mining? Wouldn't that be the better one especially in terms of transaction fees since that's a reward for miners right? And with solo mining, wouldn't you not be splitting that rewards with other miners in the mining pool? How much is the capital needed to start a bare minimum but would still yield me a profit mining rig?