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33 sats \ 4 replies \ @kepford 25 Oct 2023 \ parent \ on: What if Bitcoin mining was ASIC-resistant? bitcoin
There are pleb miners doing very well for themselves. Centralization in corporate hands is a concern of mine as well but its a myth that plebs can't mine profitably. It isn't easy but there are folks doing it. Its really about energy sources. There are locations where it is easier than others but it can be done.
Yeah this is what I have been thinking about as well! I do think there are small scale ways to be profitable, but still require a decent chunk of cash to get into.
I imagine it would be pretty hard to get into profitable mining for less than ~$1000 USD. But that is just an arbitrary number I pulled out of my ass.
I do think that there is a way to be profitable with solar power (including all of the infrastructure costs to setup). This is if you run a setup with minimal batteries and use all of the power that you produce, essentially treating the ASICS as "batteries", similar to the digital energy analogy.
I'm fairly certain it would just be a lower profitability than at a large scale.
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You can pick up a used S9 for around $50-100 and learn how they work. They aren't profitable to mine with right now but they are low cost and simple. You can even use one as a space heater or pipe heat from the ASIC into your HVAC.
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Profitability is relative to exchange price for bitcoin of course. Mining off solar is not likely to be profitable for some time. Now, if you are installing solar for other reasons it can make sense to mine with excess power. It is very complex to calculate so don't trust your gut or me. Solar has a high cap cost to get started and mining as well. There are pleb mining groups on telegram that are very helpful.
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Thank you, I'll have to check it out.
Just throwing out some napkin math numbers on small scale DIY solar setup:
$0.10/kWh from utility company
~ 3kW ASIC (pick your model)
3kW of panels (~$0.50/W new / ~$0.25/W used) $750-1500
5 max sun hours per day ($1.50/day of power produced / saved from utility (15kWh))
5kWh of battery cells ~$1500
5kW inverter ~$750
Cables/Fuses/Connectors/Switches ~$250
Total solar equipment $3250 - 4000
Time to ROI on just power production: 6 - 7.5 years. ($4000 / ($1.50/day) / 365 = 7.3 years)
Knock off 30% for the US federal solar tax credit that becomes 4.5-5 years.
Panels maintain 90% efficiency out to 25 years. Batteries last ~10 years.
~$400 S17 @ 73Th/s currently makes ~15000 sats/day but we only have 5 hours of equivalent max power so 15000 * 5/24 = 3125 sats/day or ~$1
The extra ~$1/day cuts down your ROI from 5 years to just over 3 years to pay off your combined solar + mining setup. Certainly able to optimize this more with better price and power efficiency.
As always with mining returns calculations, there are unknowns like BTC/USD price and difficulty adjustments. Having your own infrastructure is inherently valuable since your cost doesn't inflate AND you have more sovereignty because you don't rely on others to produce electricity.
I think these returns, as long as I am not missing something important, are good enough that's it's worth trying IMO.
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