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I did it (BTC mining) for about 6 months in the winter/spring of 2018 - - the last time BTC surged.
To make money, you need at least one of the following:
1) Very Cheap Power - my rate at the time was ~7-8c/kwh, and honestly, that wasn't very advantaged
2) Access to cutting edge BTC miners. A friend had a line on some direct from China back then. Each miner is essentially a fit-for-purpose computer that the blockchain solving algorithm. It cost about $1750 at the time, was about the size of a loaf of Wonder Bread, required a 240V/20A circuit, pulled ~2000 watts continuous, had cooling fans that screamed like the loudest hair dryer you ever heard, and generated a tremendous amount of heat.
3). Rising BTC prices. While I was mining, the BTC price went from something like $4k to $16k. Felt like we were killing it, but prices came down, and the number of people mining went up like 3x in the 6 months I was mining.
The net result was that my mine, which initially appeared to have 2-3 month payback, quickly declined to being about break even with my power cost (~$100/month). It also made my garage even hotter and noisier than normal.
I sold my mine on Ebay for 25% of what I'd paid for it and broke even overall. I haven't bothered to run the math on what coins would be worth today or if my old mine is back to having value in the current market (I doubt the latter). The coins would be worth quite a bit at the moment.
The halflife of BTC mining technology is very short. In my opinion, it takes industrial scale, access to low cost power, and some technology edge on manufacturing your own miners. Sure, you can mine with video cards and old computers, but it's unlikely you cover the cost of power.
Overall, it was a good learning experience, but I decided I'm not a BTC fanboy. I suppose it's a real asset class, but it's also easy to just forget your password or accidentally send coins to the wrong person without recourse. Seems unlikely BTC ever goes mainstream - - too many issues. But for those that like to gamble, it's certainly fun to bet on....
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