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Crypto has certainly quickly moved away from the niche little known market that it once was into the enormous powerhouse it has now become. With the bigger markets in the known names like Bitcoin and Ethereum still amongst the biggest offerings but also requiring the most power to mine, a question that still gets asked often is whether or not it’s still worth it. The good news for those looking to benefit from it is largely within the fact that there are many more uses, online services have become more willing to accept crypto, online gaming platforms are amongst the most used over the past year as sites such as comeon.com use crypto as an attraction for newer players – but is this value enough to keep mining?
Trickier problems, bigger hardware – As more of a different crypto has been mined, the problems that need to be solved get progressively harder and more computational power is needed to solve those problems. As efforts to mine have become more sophisticated however, efforts to do so have taken on new forms with the current focus being on hash rate as requirement has only gone up, but this also means beefier hardware is needed to meet newer requirements. This in itself requires a huge upfront cost and may be more difficult to recoup as others with bigger, or more setup, can outpace your own mining earnings.
The additional costs – The hardware only presents a small amount of the cost involved, as the cost of electricity, cooling, ventilation, and many other factors are certainly to be considered. There have been the horror stories of the enormous amount of power it takes to rig a bitcoin farm, for example, and whilst on a smaller scale this isn’t an issue, costs do eventually start to mount, and these also need to be considered when chasing after your setup.
A volatile market still exists – One of the hallmarks of the big crypto markets has always been within the volatility. Whilst there are some that have certainly settled and are a little more reliable as Ethereum for example, the bigger market in Bitcoin still wavers a lot with volatility. If you’re putting a big investment down to mine crypto, market uncertainty is still a big part of the conundrum, and although things do steadily look to be going up still as most are still at the highest price, this could also still change.
In short, the answer to the question is likely yes as the value is rising, but there is certainly a lot of complication and nuance to the answer and it is largely down to the individual miner on whether or not value can be found. It is certainly a marathon, and not a sprint however, and those looking to find the most value will need to understand that it is the long haul, and not a short stop to be in for, and that there are still costs to mine and operate.
How can I trade in or have shares in or invest in, crypto currency in the UK?
this in depth analysis of the bitcoin mining is very interesting and not something that most investors think about. I shall bear it in mind if I put any more investment into the bitcoin, as mounting costs could be the main item that tips it back into a loss investment over time