Bitcoin mining really no longer profitable, even with multiple GPUs ?

[Patikno]

As I recall, when I first learned about Bitcoin, I could still see a GTX 1080 GPU as being profitable (though not very much). However, it seems like it is no longer profitable. Maybe, because ASICS miners are involved in the mining process forward.

Based on whattomine, it seems like the latest GPU series are mostly used for mining shitcoins nowadays.

So, I have a question: is Bitcoin mining really no longer profitable even with multiple GPUs ? or, is it better to use many small bitcoin solo miners ? ( which we know as lottery mining )

[Charles-Tim]

So, I have a question: is Bitcoin mining really no longer profitable even with multiple GPUs ?

Yes, bitcoin mining is no longer profitable with GPU. I have been seeing posts that bitcoin mining is no longer profitable after bitcoin halving in 2020. Miners have all moved to ASIC which has generate higher hashrates.

or, is it better to use many small bitcoin solo miners ? ( which we know as lottery mining )

Can you explain this better. You mean using many GPUs? No, get many ASICs instead.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Please ref https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2415854.msg24714338#msg24714338 mainly point-3.
Since 2013 when ASIC-based miners came out all cpu, gpu, and even FPGA miners became hopelessly out classed. Even today's fastest and most powerful GPU's from Nvidia et al are still thousands of times slower than the first ASIC-based miners from back then.

[BitMaxz]

I don't know why you came up with mining BTC with GPU even a decade ago. GPUs were only considered good for altcoin mining but never for Bitcoin.

You might be thinking, "NiceHash" mining with GPU rewarded you in Bitcoin, but the fact is you are mining an altcoin they only pay you in Bitcoin. Before it is profitable around 2017, I build my gear at that time to mine ETH or mine in Nicehash. It was profitable until the price of coins dropped and mining with GPU was no longer profitable due to high electricity rates.

1080ti: This is a power-hungry GPU. I sold my rig with that GPU, including the script to improve the hash rate a bit for this GPU. It is not worth having this GPU that eats too much power.
You better rent them out instead because they pay well based on what I heard in "Vast.AI" but I won't guarantee it could be profitable because I never tested them after I sold most of my GPU and built a few of them to PC to sell.

[ABCbits]

As I recall, when I first learned about Bitcoin, I could still see a GTX 1080 GPU as being profitable (though not very much).

Your memory is wrong or you were misled by someone else. According to Wikipedia, that GPU released in May 27, 2016. By that time, every miner only use ASIC.

Based on whattomine, it seems like the latest GPU series are mostly used for mining shitcoins nowadays.

Yeah. Other popular coin have moved from PoW (for example ETH moved to PoS), while Monero switched to RandomX which makes it's profitable only with CPU.

You might be thinking, "NiceHash" mining with GPU rewarded you in Bitcoin, but the fact is you are mining an altcoin they only pay you in Bitcoin. Before it is profitable around 2017, I build my gear at that time to mine ETH or mine in Nicehash. It was profitable until the price of coins dropped and mining with GPU was no longer profitable due to high electricity rates.

It's also worth to mention NiceHash have become worse platform since few years ago. I recall it's because some inactive/withdraw fee and identity verification even if you only mine and withdraw BTC.

[BitMaxz]

It's also worth to mention NiceHash have become worse platform since few years ago. I recall it's because some inactive/withdraw fee and identity verification even if you only mine and withdraw BTC.

Well, that's the worst thing they did. Now asking for KYC seems risky since they have past issue about the breach before around 2017. I remember that day that is why I switched mining altcoins directly from the top pool listed on miningpoolstats and a few of them on viabtc because they  have option to auto convert my coins into BTC.

If they are legal businesses that follow regulation, they should also be aware that we have different legal jurisdictions.

Unlike known mining pools like F2Pool and ViaBTC, KYC is not mandatory, and other pools must do the same since Nicehash doesn't act as financial intermediaries but it supposed to act like other pools since all coins are newly mined and they aren't mining them from users.

[joniboini]

If they are legal businesses that follow regulation, they should also be aware that we have different legal jurisdictions.
-snip-
Unlike known mining pools like F2Pool and ViaBTC, KYC is not mandatory, and other pools must do the same since Nicehash doesn't act as financial intermediaries but it supposed to act like other pools since all coins are newly mined and they aren't mining them from users.

I don't know much about regulations, but how does where users live matters for them? Wouldn't they follow the regulations where they run/register their business? For example, many overseas exchanges don't follow my country laws related to KYC. I guess things will differs if they opened a branch here, but that seems unlikely.

On their KYC page, they claims their KYC is only for Easy and Team mining rewards[1]. It's basically the service where users buy hashrate from others (unlikely from GPU power for Bitcoin though, CMIIW). Do they also apply this if you're mining on your own?

[1] https://www.nicehash.com/support/general-help/kyc/what-is-kyc

[Outhue]

As I recall, when I first learned about Bitcoin, I could still see a GTX 1080 GPU as being profitable (though not very much). However, it seems like it is no longer profitable. Maybe, because ASICS miners are involved in the mining process forward.

Based on whattomine, it seems like the latest GPU series are mostly used for mining shitcoins nowadays.

So, I have a question: is Bitcoin mining really no longer profitable even with multiple GPUs ? or, is it better to use many small bitcoin solo miners ? ( which we know as lottery mining )

It is still possible to use GPU if that's all you have, whattomine is simply telling you one thing only, that you can mine those shitcoins and convert them back to Bitcoin, or use nice hash mining OS to mine shitcoins using your GPU and then get paid in Bitcoin, it's not directly mining Bitcoin but it's a workaround that I have done for two years straight in the past, don't let your inability to get Asic miner gets in the way, you already have some GPU? Good, this is a workaround that's not bad, unless your electricity bill sucks.

[ABCbits]

On their KYC page, they claims their KYC is only for Easy and Team mining rewards[1]. It's basically the service where users buy hashrate from others (unlikely from GPU power for Bitcoin though, CMIIW). Do they also apply this if you're mining on your own?

[1] https://www.nicehash.com/support/general-help/kyc/what-is-kyc

I currently can't access that page directly. But based on archived page few months ago, their wording is confusing.

KYC is mandatory for all users on NiceHash. All users must complete KYC to claim the block reward from Easy and Team mining services.

I would assume the first sentence is more accurate wording, since it match what some NiceHash user claim.

don't let your inability to get Asic miner gets in the way, you already have some GPU? Good, this is a workaround that's not bad, unless your electricity bill sucks.

Besides electricity, people need to check whether their GPU is new or efficient enough for such task and consider risk of the altcoin price volatility.

[FP91G]

As I recall, when I first learned about Bitcoin, I could still see a GTX 1080 GPU as being profitable (though not very much). However, it seems like it is no longer profitable. Maybe, because ASICS miners are involved in the mining process forward.

Based on whattomine, it seems like the latest GPU series are mostly used for mining shitcoins nowadays.

So, I have a question: is Bitcoin mining really no longer profitable even with multiple GPUs ? or, is it better to use many small bitcoin solo miners ? ( which we know as lottery mining )

Forget about mining with old graphics cards unless your electricity costs are close to zero.
You could use software to mine shitcoins that offer the highest potential returns, while receiving your rewards in Bitcoin or other coins; however, you would only earn about $12 a month per 1080 graphics card. That is a very poor result.

[KiaKia]

As I recall, when I first learned about Bitcoin, I could still see a GTX 1080 GPU as being profitable (though not very much). However, it seems like it is no longer profitable. Maybe, because ASICS miners are involved in the mining process forward.

Based on whattomine, it seems like the latest GPU series are mostly used for mining shitcoins nowadays.

So, I have a question: is Bitcoin mining really no longer profitable even with multiple GPUs ? or, is it better to use many small bitcoin solo miners ? ( which we know as lottery mining )

Forget about mining with old graphics cards unless your electricity costs are close to zero.
You could use software to mine shitcoins that offer the highest potential returns, while receiving your rewards in Bitcoin or other coins; however, you would only earn about $12 a month per 1080 graphics card. That is a very poor result.

You are right, however if someone have 10 pieces of 1080 graphics card or other newer cards and they can make $12 from each of these cards that's $120 per month, anyone can DCA this amount into Bitcoin unless the power isn't very cheap.

In my own place I can run ten of these cards with solar panels no problem, it will help my DCA journey into Bitcoin every month, there is possiblly a shit PoW coin out there that can net more than $12 per card right now but anyways.

[FP91G]

As I recall, when I first learned about Bitcoin, I could still see a GTX 1080 GPU as being profitable (though not very much). However, it seems like it is no longer profitable. Maybe, because ASICS miners are involved in the mining process forward.

Based on whattomine, it seems like the latest GPU series are mostly used for mining shitcoins nowadays.

So, I have a question: is Bitcoin mining really no longer profitable even with multiple GPUs ? or, is it better to use many small bitcoin solo miners ? ( which we know as lottery mining )

Forget about mining with old graphics cards unless your electricity costs are close to zero.
You could use software to mine shitcoins that offer the highest potential returns, while receiving your rewards in Bitcoin or other coins; however, you would only earn about $12 a month per 1080 graphics card. That is a very poor result.

You are right, however if someone have 10 pieces of 1080 graphics card or other newer cards and they can make $12 from each of these cards that's $120 per month, anyone can DCA this amount into Bitcoin unless the power isn't very cheap.

In my own place I can run ten of these cards with solar panels no problem, it will help my DCA journey into Bitcoin every month, there is possiblly a shit PoW coin out there that can net more than $12 per card right now but anyways.

Solar energy isn’t free either, and it doesn’t get generated at night. I think the real issue here isn’t even the cost of solar power, but rather the fact that it would be extremely difficult to find 10 old GTX 1080 graphics cards capable of mining without crashing or freezing. I’ve seen similar experiments, and the miners involved quickly grew tired of constantly having to troubleshoot their mining rigs.

[YellowSwap]

Bitcoin mining is more profitable than ever but it depends on how you do it, for example anyone that has RTX30 series of GPU and up can mine Pearl coin, it's very profitable to mine and it's been a month already yet many people don't even know about it.

With few RTX graphics cards you will be making good amount of dollars every 24hrs and you can either convert into Bitcoin or do whatever you like with it.

Pearl coin looks like the new coin that gave GPU mining it's life back, don't sleep on it, mine and convert into BTC and if this profitability stays around for longer you can end up with good numbers of bitcoin.

[FP91G]

The price of Pearl Coin could drop at any moment, leaving the miner stuck with a graphics card purchased at two or more times its recommended retail price. In that scenario, they would either have to sell at a loss or spend about five years mining other coins just to recoup their initial investment. I would think very carefully before investing in Pearl mining.

[ABCbits]

Bitcoin mining is more profitable than ever but it depends on how you do it, for example anyone that has RTX30 series of GPU and up can mine Pearl coin, it's very profitable to mine and it's been a month already yet many people don't even know about it.

With few RTX graphics cards you will be making good amount of dollars every 24hrs and you can either convert into Bitcoin or do whatever you like with it.

Pearl coin looks like the new coin that gave GPU mining it's life back, don't sleep on it, mine and convert into BTC and if this profitability stays around for longer you can end up with good numbers of bitcoin.

While https://whattomine.com/ shows that altcoin (along with few others) is currently profitable, it's not Bitcoin mining at all. There are also few risks miner need to consider,
1. GPU price of these days is getting expensive. For example, https://siliconcomps.com/gpu/rtx-3090/price-history/ shows RTX3090 price have risen a lot in past few months, despite that GPU released about 5 years ago.
2. Considering slowly declining price (according to https://safetrade.com/exchange/PEARL-USDT) and low market cap, i wonder how long it remain profitable.