I used to mine Bitcoin on an old computer back in the day, and now I'm wondering if it still makes sense today. The electricity costs have gone up like crazy since then. Is it even worth it anymore for individuals, or is that pretty much just for big mining farms now?
I tried it too and quickly realized that electricity costs eat up the profit - at current prices it's basically not worthwhile anymore for individuals. The big farms with optimized setups and cheap power have such a massive advantage that you just can't compete with them. If you only have an old computer, you'll wear out hardware faster and pay more in electricity than you earn. Unless you somehow have access to really cheap power - then it might still work under certain circumstances.
The difficulty is so high at this point that you basically have zero chance with standard hardware - even if electricity was free. For individuals it only makes sense if you happen to have cheap energy available (hydropower in your region, solar on your roof) or if you focus on other coins where ASIC miners aren't as dominant, but even then the profit is pretty marginal. 🤷♀️ The big farms are working with completely different margins that just aren't reachable for individuals.
With an average setup, it really doesn't make sense anymore today - the math is just brutal. Even if you run a GPU miner at home, the electricity costs at current prices eat up every tiny profit you make with it. The only exception would be if you've got access to extremely cheap power somewhere (like some people with solar panels in their basement), but that's the exception. For the average person, it's honestly just throwing money away - you'd be smarter off buying the coins directly or investing the money elsewhere.
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