diff --git a/content/posts/2017-03-08-bitcoin-mining-anno-2017.md b/content/posts/2017-03-08-bitcoin-mining-anno-2017.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4f016e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/posts/2017-03-08-bitcoin-mining-anno-2017.md @@ -0,0 +1,78 @@ ++++ +date = "2017-02-08" +title = "Bitcoin Mining Anno 2017" +tags = ["bitcoin"] +description = "Bitcoin is still going strong since its introduction in 2008. Mining Bitcoin has become increasingly difficult, so how does one mine BTC in 2017?" +slug = "bitcoin-mining-anno-2017" ++++ + +Bitcoin was introduced in 2008 and has gained much popularity since then. At +the time of writing the exchange rate for 1 BTC is about €1100 (or $1166), quite +an increase from when you could get 1 BTC for just a few euro. + +## The problem with mining Bitcoin + +Mining bitcoin can be quite lucrative, but it's hugely dependent on the exchange +rate and the difficulty of mining. The difficulty is something that is only going +to increase. In the early days a fast CPU was enough to mine new Bitcoin blocks, +followed by GPU mining and eventually specialized ASIC +chips. + +Besides investing in powerful hardware to mine blocks, there's also the utilities +bill. Calculationg millions of SHA-256 hashes per seconds is not very power +efficient. + +If you're like me, you don't want to have a machine in your study or living room +generating noise and heat to mine Bitcoin. There are several options, like renting +a powerful GPU machine at Amazon AWS, but there's a huge upfront cost. For the +past few years did not find mining bitcoin interesting or cost effective enough. +Last week that changed. + +## Welcome to 2017 + +Last week I found [Hashflare.io]. +The great thing about [Hashflare.io] is that you choose how much you want to invest +in hardware by purchasing mining capacity in units of 10 GH/s, currently at a +price of $1.20 per unit. + +Your mining capacity is put towards mining Bitcoin in different pools (you can +change these), resulting in a daily payout of mined Bitcoin. + +The good part? This is a life-time purchase. You keep the mining capacity - forever. + +The only _cost_ is a fee for power and management of your hardware, which is +substracted automatically from your daily payout. + +Purchasing capacity is easy and straightforward. Payment options include credit card +and Bitcoin. It's also possible to _reinvest_ your earned bitcoin into purchasing more +mining capacity. + +## Return on Investment + +Right now I'm seeing about 40% of my Bitcoin yield go to power and management costs. +This means I'll earn back my initial investment in ± 5 months. After that it's pure +profit. + +The current exchange rate is also of importance here, because power and management +fees are calculated in USD. Any increase (or decrease) in exchange rate will influence +the amount of BTC that goes towards fees. + +Since the value of Bitcoin has been steadily rising since 2008 (there have been some +extreme fluctuations), it's very well possible that I'll break even before 5 months. + +## Let's get mining! + +There's no reason not to start mining Bitcoin today. [Hashflare.io] makes it +rediculously easy to purchase mining capacity and start minting Bitcoin. + +Will you make your money back? Given time, probably. Is it fun to be part of +this Bitcoin thing? Oh yeah! + +Note: Besides SHA-256 hardware, for Bitcoin, you can also purchase capacity +for mining with Scrypt, ETHASH and X11. + +_Disclaimer: The links to Hashflare.io in the article are referral links, +I will get 10% of any purchases you make on Hashflare.io. I understand +if you object to using a referral link, here's a [non-referral link](https://hashflare.io) instead._ + +[Hashflare.io]: https://hashflare.io/r/B91F1C3F diff --git a/content/posts/draft.md b/content/posts/draft.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..29df4a2 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/posts/draft.md @@ -0,0 +1,10 @@ ++++ +date = "YYYY-MM-DD" +title = "Title Here" +tags = ["tags"] +description = "For the frontpage" +draft = true +slug = "title here" ++++ + +This is a draft