How Does Bitcoin Mining Work? – Forbes Advisor Australia
High costs put home miners at a disadvantage to institutional miners, who can source low-cost power and save money with bulk purchases of Bitcoin mining rigs.
“Although there are home operators who have Bitcoin mining operations in their residences, the process of mining has become both expensive and regulated, which marginalises the smaller miners,” Baker says.
But that’s not to say mining Bitcoin at home is impossible.
If you want to mine Bitcoin at home in a serious way, you’ll need to buy an ASIC Bitcoin mining rig, which can easily cost more than $10,000.
“However, mining at home may not be profitable given residential electricity rates,” Trompeter says. “Additionally, ASICs are very loud and, if not properly cooled, can overheat.”
To explore profitability potential, you can consult an online Bitcoin mining calculator that factors your electricity costs, among other inputs.
Even people with an ASIC mining machine at home tend to pool their computing power with other ASIC owners and share the Bitcoin reward based on their contribution to the pool. While you can successfully mine a block solo, that feat is often compared to winning the lottery.
You can also consider cloud mining, where you buy or lease hardware or rent computing power hosted by a third party.
