Is mining even profitable anymore?

[Verano_Enterprises]

I'm interested in getting into mining Bitcoin, and I admit that my knowledge is limited, but the numbers just don't seem to add up. My understanding is that once you finish paying for your hardware and equipment, the only thing limiting your profit is electricity - but that just keeps going up. It seems like the ONLY way to make any sort of real money off of mining is if you also have the capability to generate your own electricity. Lots of cloud mining and hosted mining companies seem shady. Is there any realistic way of making a profit from mining without also having the capital to build your own power plant?

[Dex_master25]

I doubt there's any realistic way to mine without the need for adequate power supply, mostly if you live in a country like mine where the power supply is epileptic.
I don't know about what others have got to say, but one thing I know is that, I would rather spend my funds in purchasing and accumulating more Bitcoin asset directly on the spot market, instead of trying to mine my own coins with the use of capital intensive hardware.
At least I get to sleep well at night knowing I have my seed phrases or keys and can access my funds from anywhere in the world.

[Verano_Enterprises]

But if mining ever became too expensive to be profitable, and new Bitcoin stops being produced, wouldn't it essentially just be like a stock without a company? Again, my knowledge is limited, but if all people are doing is buying, selling, and speculating on it, with no new production, it seems like it would be functionally identical to trading a stock. Just a stock with no company behind it. I know you can use BTC to purchase things directly, but you can also liquidate a stock for cash. I apologize if I'm not understanding this correctly.

[EluguHcman]

Is there any realistic way of making a profit from mining without also having the capital to build your own power plant?

How do you mean realistic? Because for all I know, the rewards that miners earns is real and not just Speculations that they would earn tokens for their mining computational jobs to secure the Blockchain and validation of transactions. So it is absolutely realistic that they earns the mining rewards.

Talking about power, you can not proceed mining without power supply.
If you can not build your own power supply due to how expensive it might be, then you can use the public electricity and just pay your electric bill.
Else, no other means as much as I can think.

It is not compulsory that you will mine before you can be profitable from Bitcoin, if you consider the expenses to be too exorbitant, you can also to invest in the Bitcoin market.

[Cryptohygenic]

As a newbie that is just developing the interest of mining, I am genuine to tell you that due to the difficulties in finding a block and solving the puzzles in the network, mining has now seemed to be more profitable for pool mining than mining on your own.
Reasons is the advantage of the team works that rewards are shared amongst the team.
So think very well before venturing in it so that you don't later regret your expenses of capital and personal energy. Perhaps a lot of miners has also given up due to insufficiency of rewards to cover up their expenses and accounts of profits.

[BitMaxz]

But if mining ever became too expensive to be profitable, and new Bitcoin stops being produced, wouldn't it essentially just be like a stock without a company? Again, my knowledge is limited, but if all people are doing is buying, selling, and speculating on it, with no new production, it seems like it would be functionally identical to trading a stock. Just a stock with no company behind it. I know you can use BTC to purchase things directly, but you can also liquidate a stock for cash. I apologize if I'm not understanding this correctly.

Bitcoin does not have any company or own by a company; you are thinking differently about Bitcoin. This decentralized system allows everyone to mine it, but it depends on the electricity cost where you live.

It's not profitable in most of the country, and the price is driven by demand and supply. If the mining is expensive, expect for difficulty drop so that more blocks can be easily mined.
Look, if you think no one will mine BTC because it is too expensive, consider those who are looking for free power sources to mine BTC. So it's impossible for people to stop mining BTC because there are numerous ways to get power without paying electricity bills.
Even if some miners decrease, this is not a reason to suspend production. There are many companies and people who mine BTC; if you want to force them to stop, you must first locate these individual companies and people who mine BTC, and I believe it is impossible to find 100,000 people to force them to stop mining.

And honestly, if you can do that, it will reduce the supply, and if the demand is still the same, expect a massive price pump that could lead miners to go mining again.

[hosemary]

But if mining ever became too expensive to be profitable, and new Bitcoin stops being produced, wouldn't it essentially just be like a stock without a company?

You need to study about Bitcoin's difficulty adjustment.

Bitcoin's difficulty is adjusted every 2016 blocks.
If some miners stop mining Bitcoin, the total hash rate will decrease and blocks will take longer to be mined, but once the difficulty is adjusted, the proof of work problem will become easier and the remaining miners will be able to mine blocks every 10 minutes on average again.

[OcTradism]

But if mining ever became too expensive to be profitable, and new Bitcoin stops being produced, wouldn't it essentially just be like a stock without a company?

There are times of Bitcoin miner capitulations that mostly appear in bear markets when weak miners with their bad risk and capital management for mining business had to capitulate from this industry. They had to do hard things like selling their bitcoins for losses because they could not hold theirs, selling their ASICs for money and loan repayments for example.

As in all other business areas, weak companies have to capitulate proactively or have to be liquidated. Fortunately, Bitcoin has good value, adoption and growth so that there are miners leave and join this mining industry while the general trend in hashrate is upwards.

https://charts.bitbo.io/miner-capitulation/

[laijsica]

I'm interested in getting into mining Bitcoin, and I admit that my knowledge is limited, but the numbers just don't seem to add up. My understanding is that once you finish paying for your hardware and equipment, the only thing limiting your profit is electricity - but that just keeps going up. It seems like the ONLY way to make any sort of real money off of mining is if you also have the capability to generate your own electricity. Lots of cloud mining and hosted mining companies seem shady. Is there any realistic way of making a profit from mining without also having the capital to build your own power plant?

The cost of mining Bitcoin depends on the country you live in. The cost of electricity varies depending on your geographical location. The cheapest places to mine Bitcoin are Venezuela and Iran. The cost of mining each Bitcoin in those countries is $1,300-$1,500. In the United States, the cost of mining each Bitcoin for an individual is $78k-$98k.

The most expensive countries in the world to mine Bitcoin are Italy and Belgium because the cost of mining equipment and electricity is much higher there. The cost of mining each Bitcoin is estimated to be $280k-$307k.

Many individual miners have closed their businesses because they cannot keep up with the cost of mining Bitcoin and are now saving Bitcoin for the future.

[hosemary]

The cheapest places to mine Bitcoin are Venezuela and Iran. The cost of mining each Bitcoin in those countries is $1,300-$1,500. In the United States, the cost of mining each Bitcoin for an individual is $78k-$98k.

The most expensive countries in the world to mine Bitcoin are Italy and Belgium because the cost of mining equipment and electricity is much higher there. The cost of mining each Bitcoin is estimated to be $280k-$307k.

Can you please share the source for these numbers?
When you make a post containing statistics or numbers like these, it's much better to provide the source, so that people can verify the information and know how the numbers have been calculated.

[tobby777]

for a complete beginner with just a standard home computer,it really seems like bitcoin minning is impossible to profit from now because of ASICs and high electricity cost.is it still viable for small scale hobbyist to mine newer altcoins and swap them for bitcoin or is that market dead too?

[Somegory]

Talk is cheap, there is only one way to find out without asking too much questions.
Find a reliable mining calculator that shows the most profitable miners accordingly.

You will get your answer is no time.
The answer is yes because there are new miners out there that are very efficient.

Right now Zcash Asic miner is the most profitable, thats the Antminer Z15 pro.
It's clearing that most Bitcoin miners spent most of their money on electricity bill, some uses $30 worth of electricity to make $14 per day like the S23 hydro miner, which is why I wouldn't say that you are completely wrong.

Mind you, Bitcoin value is down too, those profits would worth more when the price goes up again.

[Outhue]

I'm interested in getting into mining Bitcoin, and I admit that my knowledge is limited, but the numbers just don't seem to add up. My understanding is that once you finish paying for your hardware and equipment, the only thing limiting your profit is electricity - but that just keeps going up. It seems like the ONLY way to make any sort of real money off of mining is if you also have the capability to generate your own electricity. Lots of cloud mining and hosted mining companies seem shady. Is there any realistic way of making a profit from mining without also having the capital to build your own power plant?

Do you really need to build a farm that can only be powered using power plant? For someone who has no past knowledge about mining I wouldn't advise you to go all in, because apart from been profitable or not, you must be a fan of running miners because you like doing so, I am able to mine Bitcoin and few others because I had a past life with electronics, running computers and installing computer parts, mining just fulfill what was already lost in me and I love doing it.

As a beginner you don't need a power plant to run miners, what you need is start from somewhere to see if you will really fit in, grab a home miner with 90TH and see how it works, you can set up a solar system and mine on that, many homes are already opting for solar system in my country, it's not a bad idea at all, I don't even use grid power like that anymore, it's just an extra since it's not stable.

It is also not a must to start mining Bitcoin, if you can't do it for one reason or the other just leave it, consider buying Bitcoin itself and hold it for long term to make good profits, mining is still profitable if one has access to free electricity or if they have money to go for the best miners out there, new ones are already been made I am sure that they will enter the market very soon.

[FP91G]

I'm interested in getting into mining Bitcoin, and I admit that my knowledge is limited, but the numbers just don't seem to add up. My understanding is that once you finish paying for your hardware and equipment, the only thing limiting your profit is electricity - but that just keeps going up. It seems like the ONLY way to make any sort of real money off of mining is if you also have the capability to generate your own electricity. Lots of cloud mining and hosted mining companies seem shady. Is there any realistic way of making a profit from mining without also having the capital to build your own power plant?

MARA Signs Agreement with HIF to Acquire Strategic Powered Land Site in Texas


Use the search engine to read news about the largest mining companies in the world. These companies invest billions of dollars in acquiring land, generating cheap electricity, and purchasing the necessary equipment.
Cloud mining is a trap for beginners, don't even try it now.

[laijsica]

The cheapest places to mine Bitcoin are Venezuela and Iran. The cost of mining each Bitcoin in those countries is $1,300-$1,500. In the United States, the cost of mining each Bitcoin for an individual is $78k-$98k.

The most expensive countries in the world to mine Bitcoin are Italy and Belgium because the cost of mining equipment and electricity is much higher there. The cost of mining each Bitcoin is estimated to be $280k-$307k.

Can you please share the source for these numbers?
When you make a post containing statistics or numbers like these, it's much better to provide the source, so that people can verify the information and know how the numbers have been calculated.

I should have provided the source links in my previous post. I have taken these numbers from the 2025-26 statistics.
I am adding the links for the convenience of verification of the information.

https://fr.tradingview.com/news/coinpedia:feb77e540094b:0-how-bitcoin-mining-in-iran-can-cost-just-1-320-and-sell-for-68-000/

https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/29237907222922

[Nexus9090]

The short answer is no, not at the current price of BTC.

By the time we get to the next halving which isn't as far away as it feels, if the value of BTC hasn't broken all time highs and I'm thinking $350K+ then that's pretty much the end of the line for mining.

Even if you buy second generation mining gear with the cost of electric the chances are you'll never break even.

So come the next halving I think its game over.

[philipma1957]

You can be a hobby miner.

A hobby miner by definition is a miner that loses money.

This is USA tax law if you make money in 2 out of 5 years you can be a business

If you make money in zero or one out of five years you are a hobby miner.

Buy a small miner like the bc04 made by hammer miner.

I did a review.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5587721.new#new


you can buy it below

https://altairtech.io/product/hammer-miner-bc04-home-bitcoin-miner/

or you can click on my signature and buy it that way I get a commission.

price 250 usd.

under clock a bit and burn 80 watts an hour or  80x24=1,920  about 2 kwatts in a day.

my power cost is 25 cent a kwatt

so in a year it burns 182.50

year 1  250+182.50=  432.50
year 2          182.50=  615.00
year 3          182.50=  797.50
year 4          182.50 = 980.00





and you will very likely never turn a profit doing solo mining of BTC or BCH

but you will have given yourself a small shot at each and every block mined in those 4 years.

if 980 over 4 years is too much for you
buy the newer more efficient hammer miner

 https://altairtech.io/product/hammer-miner-thor-x1-home-bitcoin-miner/

cost 279  it burns 38 watts an hour or close to 1 kwatts a day or 25 cents a day or 91.25 a year

year 1

279 + 91.25=370.25

year two     370.25 + 91.25=461.5

year three 461.50 + 91.25 =552.75
year four   552.75 + 91.25 =644

and the 980-644=336  you saved buy some btc


in both case you will lose thus hobby miner in second case you will have purchased some btc so you would have btc.


Now if you want business mining you need to consider 50k plus to put in

and frankly it is more likely buying 35k in coin right now will make more than spending 50k to set up a mine.

[FP91G]

The cheapest places to mine Bitcoin are Venezuela and Iran. The cost of mining each Bitcoin in those countries is $1,300-$1,500. In the United States, the cost of mining each Bitcoin for an individual is $78k-$98k.

The most expensive countries in the world to mine Bitcoin are Italy and Belgium because the cost of mining equipment and electricity is much higher there. The cost of mining each Bitcoin is estimated to be $280k-$307k.

Can you please share the source for these numbers?
When you make a post containing statistics or numbers like these, it's much better to provide the source, so that people can verify the information and know how the numbers have been calculated.

I should have provided the source links in my previous post. I have taken these numbers from the 2025-26 statistics.
I am adding the links for the convenience of verification of the information.

https://fr.tradingview.com/news/coinpedia:feb77e540094b:0-how-bitcoin-mining-in-iran-can-cost-just-1-320-and-sell-for-68-000/

https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/29237907222922

This data seems more reliable to me
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5586500

Even if my electricity costs zero cents, I still need to buy ASICs for mining, I need a location, I need workers, and I need maintenance costs.

Let me remind you of the example of Kazakhstan, when many miners moved there after the bans in China. After that, Kazakhstan's power grid collapsed, and news of power outages was constantly being reported. And ultimately, the miners were expelled from the country.

[dansus021]

In theory, you can still be a profitable miner when you have free electricity haha  I mean that the key "ENERGY" and under geopolitical issues that happen today, the energy price could up and down, including the price of the miner itself and others. Well most of the miner today is industrial miner that basically buy cheap electricity with contract price and buy a ton of ASIC and run it 24 hour, even that most of bitcoin miner company that goes public today is facing losses and they want to piece of AI Cake.

Post-halving economics and rising network difficulty have made raw hardware efficiency and sub-$0.07/kWh power mandatory just to break even. Big public miners and industrial farms don't build power plants from scratch instead, they secure long-term Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) or place facilities near stranded/flared natural gas, hydro, or curtailed renewable grids where electricity costs $0.03 – $0.06/kWh.

welllll If your goal is purely financial return and you have limited capital, just buy Bitcoin directly on an exchange and hold it (DCA), if you want to try mine just do what philipma said he was 1000% right and I agree.

[Welsh]

Its also a matter of perspective right? Am I going to be profitable right now or in the future if I mine Bitcoin. Those might have very different answers. In almost all cases, you'd probably just be better off buying Bitcoin than mining it. However, it also depends on how you look at it. Some of us enjoy hobby mining, and running a few. Some might just like tinkering with them, getting them running very efficiently while also having the off chance of hitting a solo block. Otherwise, might just like the gamble element. Everyone who has a Bitcoin miner has a chance, albeit very small chance of hitting a block.

You could potentially just pool mine and generate some Bitcoin that way instead of purchasing. You might be profitable in the future, even if you aren't now depending on the direction Bitcoin goes. Its almost certainly never the most efficient way of earning as much Bitcoin as possible though, like I said if your intentions are purely profit only then purchasing it usually yields better results, but as with anything in life there's no guarantees in anything including profiting from Bitcoin whether that's mining or buying.