Price per GHS. Cloud mining vs Asic

[efc17]

In the past buying an ASIC as opposed to the price per GHS at cloud mining sites such as ghash.io was a no brainer.

However, with the price dropping recently as low as; BTC 0.01 per GHS the gap seems to have narrowed considerably.

With factors such as:

• difficulty increase
• BTC/USD price fluctuations
• electricity costs
• resale value (used mining equipment vs. cloud GHS
• lifespan of mining equipment

to take into account. (I'm sure there are many more factors to consider, please let me know)

Investing in Cloud Mining is looking increasingly more attractive.

My question is:  At what point (if ever) will Cloud Mining become more profitable than investing in a new ASIC, and for a small investor like myself would I be better off cloud mining now?

With so many variables I'm confused.  Does anyone know of a formula or where to find data that would answer this question for me.

[1714786448]

1714786448

[1714786448]

1714786448

[Bitcoin_Evolution]

So far ASICs if much more profitable than cloud mining. But with cloud mining you can start with any money while with ASIC you need 10k at least.

[xstr8guy]

So far ASICs if much more profitable than cloud mining. But with cloud mining you can start with any money while with ASIC you need 10k at least.

Well that just isn't true.

BitMain has the 1THs S2 for $3599 USD (7.873 BTC).  Well below $10,000 although Batch 3 isn't yet available.

But at PBMining you can get 1THs cloudming right this instant for only ~$2900 (6.4 BTC).

[efc17]

Hmm... PB mining that's interesting, I took a look there.  I note that contracts are fixed term i.e. 5 years.  presumably that's long enough though right?  I mean in five years time things would have moved on so much your mining equipment would need to be replaced anyway?

/*edit*/

Would the 5 year contract make any difference to say ghash.io where GHS is "indefinite"?  I guess after 5 years with difficulty increase and if the price continues south, I wouldn't get much of a return on my initial investment (selling GHS) anyway.

[xstr8guy]

I think with PBMining, anything over a year of difficulty increases is just going to be satoshi dust anyways.  Most of your return will be in the first 6 months.

But PBMining still beats ASIC hardware mining for cost per GHs and you don't have to house and maintain the equipment nor do you have to pay for electricity.

[efc17]

Thanks for all your advice and comments.  The mention of Bitmain and PB mining led me to stumble across this thread;

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=539862.40

Plenty of food for thought for me on there.

I'll give it a more thorough read tomorrow as it's late here now.

Thx

[ujka]

Jet another way you can mine without hardware, and a cloud, is on B.MINE fund on Havelock: https://www.havelockinvestments.com/fund.php?symbol=B.MINE

5Gh/s is now around 0.034btc (0.0068btc per Gh/s). And you can sell your shares at the market anytime.
Be sure to read all three connected funds: B.EXCH, B.MINE, and B.SELL, and a thread here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=430137.0

  someone dumped 50 shares (250Gh/s) on my 0.027 bid yesterday 

[XScrypt]

So far ASICs if much more profitable than cloud mining. But with cloud mining you can start with any money while with ASIC you need 10k at least.

Well that just isn't true.

BitMain has the 1THs S2 for $3599 USD (7.873 BTC).  Well below $10,000 although Batch 3 isn't yet available.

But at PBMining you can get 1THs cloudming right this instant for only ~$2900 (6.4 BTC).

That should be raising big red flags by itself.

What is their business model? How do they profit? If they're selling below market with a depreciating asset against an unstable commodity, how are they going to make money? They have to pay for space. They have to pay for cooling. They have to pay for power. They have to pay for hardware. They have to pay for maintenance. Where's is that money going to come from? There's no fees as far as I can tell; just the price for the contracts. That's not enough to cover operating costs. Unless they're taking a not-insignifcant cut of the profits off the top, this is a Ponzi scheme. If they are taking their cut off the top, then you will very likely never see a profit.

If something is too good to be true, then it probably is.

[jdun]

I was under the impression that cloud mining was always a rip-off. Has anyone reading this ever made a profit (or at least broke even) with cloud mining?

[XScrypt]

I was under the impression that cloud mining was always a rip-off. Has anyone reading this ever made a profit (or at least broke even) with cloud mining?

It is a rip-off. You'll be lucky if you break even, and with all the new hashpower coming on line it's likely you won't ever break even. Even "smells like a ponzi" PBMining with their low rate will barely break even after a year, and at that point you'll be earning tiny fractions.

These cloud providers make money off the fact that people either can't or won't do the math. It's the same with rig leasers. If people really want to invest, they're far better off just buying bitcoin and holding it than trying to mine it.

[thresher]

I wanted to buy some usb miners with my btc gambling winnings (all part of my btc fun funds I allocate every now and then, if I win I buy random btc/ltc crap, if I lose I don't  )
Instead I bought 26 ghs at at pb mining and some crap on havelock for some reason lol. 
Even with the dumping of miners, there is nothing close to being remotely close to profitable (baring speculation), until you get into antminer turf (at least that what it seems to me.)

So cloud > until .8 btc range?

Plus I get to see if pbminer last the 5 years I have my contract 

[thresher]

I was under the impression that cloud mining was always a rip-off. Has anyone reading this ever made a profit (or at least broke even) with cloud mining?

It is a rip-off. You'll be lucky if you break even, and with all the new hashpower coming on line it's likely you won't ever break even. Even "smells like a ponzi" PBMining with their low rate will barely break even after a year, and at that point you'll be earning tiny fractions.

These cloud providers make money off the fact that people either can't or won't do the math. It's the same with rig leasers. If people really want to invest, they're far better off just buying bitcoin and holding it than trying to mine it.

People who lease rigs speculate on new coin releases, pump and dumps, are testing ideas, are dumb (as you stated), or don't give a shit.  I have never done it, nor have I leased mine, but just renting a rig requires research, so I doubt everyone is a moron.   

PB mining has a decent chance of producing return, especially if you think btc is going to go up slowly long term, as opposed to sky rocket.  If you think it will go down more than well your fucked and welcome to the club

It will probably take 3-4 months at this rate for 26 gh/s to break even, it will probably take 3-4 months for btc to hit a point I want to sell anyways so, win, win for me.

[efc17]

I can appreciate this is 'bitcointalk.org' but if I could just throw this into the mix?

Scrypt cloud mining?

I heard someone say Zeushash is $16 per MH.  I'm thinking of buying some as the price looks good compared to available HW I can find that is currently shipping.

Can anyone offer me any advice on this please?

[DrG]

I can appreciate this is 'bitcointalk.org' but if I could just throw this into the mix?

Scrypt cloud mining?

I heard someone say Zeushash is $16 per MH.  I'm thinking of buying some as the price looks good compared to available HW I can find that is currently shipping.

Can anyone offer me any advice on this please?

You should ask that question in alt-coin mining.  This subforum is supposed to be focused on Bitcoin.  Most of the scrypt mining advice will be found over there.

[efc17]

Ah ok,

I wasn't aware of that thanks for letting me know