Can I Make a Living Off Bitcoin Mining? Probably Not

#1

Post by nigekelly » Wed, Sep 25, 2013, 7:57 AM UTC

Can I Make a Living Off Bitcoin Mining? Probably Not
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Re: Can I Make a Living Off Bitcoin Mining? Probably Not

#2

Post by warrenmiller » Wed, Sep 25, 2013, 8:35 AM UTC

tl;dr: not with GPU but possible with ASIC

Re: Can I Make a Living Off Bitcoin Mining? Probably Not

#3

Post by mrmagooey » Wed, Sep 25, 2013, 8:41 AM UTC

warrenmiller wrote: post #2

tl;dr: not with GPU but possible with ASIC

And possibly not with ASIC given the potential of multiple vendors worth of ASIC's coming online at roughly the same time. I believe at least one has shipped the bare hardware.

Re: Can I Make a Living Off Bitcoin Mining? Probably Not

#4

Post by nwh » Wed, Sep 25, 2013, 8:50 AM UTC

The story ultimately ends when Anthony decides to switch to Litecoin mining, and gets rather burnt by the whole experience.

http://reckoner.com.au/2013/07/my-three-months-as-a-litecoin...

Re: Can I Make a Living Off Bitcoin Mining? Probably Not

#5

Post by nodata » Wed, Sep 25, 2013, 8:54 AM UTC

What does doing it "full time" mean? Is he sitting there watching the machines?

Re: Can I Make a Living Off Bitcoin Mining? Probably Not

#6

Post by nwh » Wed, Sep 25, 2013, 8:56 AM UTC

nodata wrote: post #5

What does doing it "full time" mean? Is he sitting there watching the machines?

Not casually.

I've a little ASIC device sitting in the corner, but it's more a mild curiosity than any actual income. I've made a lot more money reselling the devices than I have mining with then.

Re: Can I Make a Living Off Bitcoin Mining? Probably Not

#7

Post by raverbashing » Wed, Sep 25, 2013, 9:14 AM UTC

Which is funny, even after all the math and concluding that, no, you can't turn a big profit, people still do it.

I mean, ok, you benefit the bitcoin community with it, still...

Not to mention the maintenance costs (assembling the rigs, wiring, parts that stop working, etc)

Re: Can I Make a Living Off Bitcoin Mining? Probably Not

#8

Post by M4v3R » Wed, Sep 25, 2013, 9:16 AM UTC

Mining was profitable to average users (i.e. not sitting on huge piles of cash) in 2011 and early 2012 probably (source: I owned two 5970s and some 5870s at mined quite a few coins with them). Right now you have to invest much money in ASICs (GPU mining isn't worth anything at this moment) which may also be never delivered or delivered so late that you're out of game by then.

Most people agree that if you believe in Bitcoin, the best way to invest is just to buy some coins and leave them in a safe place for a year or more. The economy is deflationary so if whole Bitcoin doesn't fail in near future, the price will eventually rise above the price at the moment you invested.

Re: Can I Make a Living Off Bitcoin Mining? Probably Not

#9

Post by mavhc » Wed, Sep 25, 2013, 9:31 AM UTC

Obviously the amount a bitcoin is worth is exactly the amount of money the average person spent to generate it, so you can't profit from it.

Re: Can I Make a Living Off Bitcoin Mining? Probably Not

#10

Post by wintersFright » Wed, Sep 25, 2013, 9:35 AM UTC

M4v3R wrote: post #8

Mining was profitable to average users (i.e. not sitting on huge piles of cash) in 2011 and early 2012 probably (source: I owned two 5970s and some 5870s at mined quite a few coins with them). Right now you have to invest much money in ASICs (GPU mining isn't worth anything at this moment) which may also be never delivered or delivered so late that you're out of game by then. Most people agree that if you believe in…

Is it deflationary because of the 21 million limit? That limit won't hit until 2140. Or is it deflationary because the projected velocity will go up faster than the mining output?