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Could someone sum up the needed technology stack to do bitcoin mining in 2016? In particular, is it still in any way possible to build small scale, home-brewed

by mastazi 10y ago

Could someone sum up the needed technology stack to do bitcoin mining in 2016? In particular, is it still in any way possible to build small scale, home-brewed mining operations or the higher barrier of entry means that only the big companies will survive?

sowbug 10y ago
https://twitter.com/sowbug/status/414098711505952768 https://twitter.com/sowbug/status/414098711505952768 Less concise: don't bother. If you believe the price will rise, buy bitcoin rather than mining equipment and electricity.
- mastazi 10y ago
  Yes, it (buying vs mining) makes sense, thank you.
TD-Linux 10y ago
You can if you have cheap electricity. The biggest downside is that you'll need ASICs, and only one company publicly sells them. Naturally, they are priced such that your margins will be hair thin.
- mastazi 10y ago
  Thank you, I thought there was more choice regarding ASICs, but even then yeah, why would they sell them on the cheap rather than use them?
grubles 10y ago
If you treat Bitcoin mining as a lottery, with your hardware generating multitudes of tickets for every ~10 minute (on average) block, then you can just fire up any old CPU, GPU, or ASIC and wait. If you treat Bitcoin mining with a short term profit seeking mindset, you will be disappointed.
- dagw 10y ago
  Worth noting that with a CPU you'd be lucky to average even a penny a year, and that's assuming using a modern CPU at 100% 24/7
  - mastazi 10y ago
    Well with real life lotteries I have averaged $0 in about 40 years so a penny a year is a good chance as lotteries go ;-)
    - dagw 10y ago
      You've still got to factor in $200-300 in electricity a year (I'm assuming you're using a computer that you've already paid for). The numbers on the lottery vary, but most numbers I've found seem to put the expected return around 50-60%. So if you buy $300 worth of lottery tickets a year you should expect to get back ~$150, which is slightly better than the ~$0.005-0.01 you can expect from mining bitcoins with just a high end CPU.

by mastazi 10y ago

sowbug 10y ago

https://twitter.com/sowbug/status/414098711505952768 https://twitter.com/sowbug/status/414098711505952768 Less concise: don't bother. If you believe the price will rise, buy bitcoin rather than mining equipment and electricity.

mastazi 10y ago
Yes, it (buying vs mining) makes sense, thank you.

TD-Linux 10y ago

You can if you have cheap electricity. The biggest downside is that you'll need ASICs, and only one company publicly sells them. Naturally, they are priced such that your margins will be hair thin.

mastazi 10y ago
Thank you, I thought there was more choice regarding ASICs, but even then yeah, why would they sell them on the cheap rather than use them?

grubles 10y ago

If you treat Bitcoin mining as a lottery, with your hardware generating multitudes of tickets for every ~10 minute (on average) block, then you can just fire up any old CPU, GPU, or ASIC and wait. If you treat Bitcoin mining with a short term profit seeking mindset, you will be disappointed.

dagw 10y ago
Worth noting that with a CPU you'd be lucky to average even a penny a year, and that's assuming using a modern CPU at 100% 24/7
- mastazi 10y ago
  Well with real life lotteries I have averaged $0 in about 40 years so a penny a year is a good chance as lotteries go ;-)
  - dagw 10y ago
    You've still got to factor in $200-300 in electricity a year (I'm assuming you're using a computer that you've already paid for). The numbers on the lottery vary, but most numbers I've found seem to put the expected return around 50-60%. So if you buy $300 worth of lottery tickets a year you should expect to get back ~$150, which is slightly better than the ~$0.005-0.01 you can expect from mining bitcoins with just a high end CPU.