From “can I mine?” to your first satoshi — verified numbers, no affiliate spin, updated every block for current network conditions.
Use the calculator to see if mining makes sense at your electricity rate. If you pay more than $0.10/kWh, home mining is usually unprofitable — but hosting at $0.04–$0.06/kWh changes the picture.
Compare current-gen miners by daily profit, efficiency (J/TH), and price. The most expensive miner is rarely the best ROI — side-by-side specs and break-even matter more than headline hashrate.
The ASIC market is full of scams. Use vendor transparency notes as a starting point, verify claims independently, and prefer Escrow.com buyer protection for purchases over $1,000.
You need a 240V outlet (most modern miners do not run on 120V), real ventilation (75+ dB and meaningful heat output), and a stable internet connection. Consider hosting if home is not practical.
Solo mining is impractical for almost everyone. Join Foundry USA, F2Pool, or Antpool for steady payouts proportional to your hashrate. Pool fees are typically 1–2% of revenue.
Track performance, electricity costs, and BTC earnings. Difficulty adjusts every ~2 weeks and affects profitability. Re-check the calculator monthly so you spot when a rig falls behind break-even.
Bookmarkable definitions for the words that show up in every spec sheet, hosting contract, and Reddit thread.
Application-specific integrated circuit. A chip designed exclusively to run one mining algorithm — far more efficient than CPUs or GPUs at that single job.
How many candidate block headers a miner can hash per second. Higher is better; bitcoin ASICs are measured in TH/s (trillions per second).
A network parameter that adjusts every 2,016 blocks (~2 weeks) so blocks keep arriving roughly every 10 minutes regardless of total hashrate.
A pre-scheduled 50% cut to the block subsidy that occurs every 210,000 blocks. Roughly halves miner revenue overnight.
The percentage a mining pool keeps as compensation for aggregating work and smoothing payouts. Typical range is 1–2%.
Joules per terahash — the energy efficiency metric for ASICs. Lower is better. Modern bitcoin miners are in the 14–25 J/TH range.
The bitcoin paid to whichever miner finds the next valid block: subsidy plus the fees of all transactions included. Currently 3.125 BTC + fees.
The total hashing power dedicated to bitcoin globally. Your share of it determines your share of the block reward over time.
The protocol mining pools use to hand work to miners and collect submitted shares. Stratum v2 adds end-to-end encryption.
A third party runs your miner in a facility with cheap power and proper cooling, in exchange for a flat per-kWh rate or revenue share.
Dropping over the next few months. Subscribe to the newsletter for the heads-up.
Scrypt-based, longer payback windows, niche but stable.
BlockDAG, KHeavyHash ASICs, fastest-growing PoW chain in 2026.
Cents-per-kWh math, contract gotchas, and when each model wins.
A buyer-side decision tree that does not assume you already know the jargon.
Check break-even, daily profit, and payback at your electricity rate in seconds.
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