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Ask HN: Can you make real money in crypto-currency mining?

3 points by basdevries ↗ HN
Hi HN,

I was wondering if anyone of you is actively mining for BTC/LTC or anything else, and if someone is really able to turn a profit out of it, or if it's just a hobby thing.

Thanks really much! Really looking forward to your comments

6 comments

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justinireland
I think the days of independent mining are over. Used to be you could mine several hundred BTC/month with a nice multi GPU setup. If you held on to those BTC then it would have been very profitable.

But as difficulty increases it requires more and more specialized hardware for less output. It is to the point now where you cannot expect to make money mining unless you are willing to invest millions in equipment and facilities.

basdevries
Do you have any reference on that? And do you know one of those multi-million dollar mining companies?
wmf
I would say it a little differently. If you buy ASICs you are going to lose money; buying millions of dollars worth of ASICs just means you are going to lose even more. There is money in making ASICs and either selling them or mining with them (due to the very low cost basis).
jaxn
Yes, the gold rush / pickaxe is a particularly literal analogy right now. It isn't the whole story though.

The problem is, we don't know the future value of BTC. You don't make money by mining BTC, you make money by selling mined BTC and there is essentially no cost to hold mined BTC. So like with all currency trading, it is speculative and a gamble.

wmf
Mining can be seen as a different way to buy BTC and thus it's independent of future price. If your cost to mine 1 BTC is less than the current price you should mine, otherwise don't.
gesman
If you're producer of mining equipment - yes. You sell shovels to gold diggers and make tons of cash, optionally by delaying prepaid shipments to end users (dirty tactic) until usability of your mining equipment diminishes greatly.

If you're gold digger - we all know where it ends.