Bitcoin Mining in 2024
Bitcoin mining industry post-halving — ASIC machines, mining pools, profitability.
Bitcoin mining has evolved from hobby to industry — today dominated by corporate miners with hundreds of MW of power.
Post-halving 2024 mining economics:
•Block reward: 3.125 BTC (reduced from 6.25)
•Transaction fees: increasingly important miner revenue
•Ordinals/Runes generated high fees
•Break-even price for efficient miners: ~$25-40k
ASIC machines (2024):
•Bitmain Antminer S21 Pro — 234 TH/s, 15.5 W/TH
•MicroBT Whatsminer M60S — 186 TH/s
•Older S19j Pro — still profitable on cheap power
Mining pools:
•AntPool (Bitmain) — ~20% hash rate
•Foundry USA Pool — ~25% (leading)
•F2Pool — ~14%
•Via BTC, Binance Pool, Luxor
•Solo mining — practically impossible (chance < lottery)
Profitability:
•Depends on: BTC price × electricity cost × machine efficiency
•Average US/EU electricity (~$0.08-0.12/kWh) → profitability limit
•Cheap power: Kazakhstan, Ethiopia, Texas, Paraguay
•Geothermal: Iceland, El Salvador
Energy debate:
•~0.5% of global energy consumption
•~50-60% renewable energy (by various estimates)
•Flared gas mining (energy that would have been burned)
Home mining (hobby):
•Antminer S19 at home — noisy, expensive electricity
•Profitable only with very cheap electricity or solar