DeutschWhat is Mining?
Before we go into more detail on the question of whether mining is still profitable today, we would first like to provide some background information on mining as such. Mining refers to the digging, i.e. the production of new coins of a particular cryptocurrency. In order to carry out mining, some requirements must be met, in particular:
• High-performance computers
• Special hardware
• Special software
• Sufficient power output
The special hardware is particularly important, because you can hardly do the mining with the normal private computer as a laptop or in the form of an ordinary home PC. Mining as such works in such a way that the computer or the hardware has to solve special mathematical tasks in order to then receive a coin of the cryptocurrency as a reward.
Is Mining Still Profitable Today?
The question of whether mining is still profitable today cannot be answered in a general way. In the area of Bitcoin mining, it is certainly the case that so-called solo mining is often no longer profitable. The reason for this is, in particular, that the computing tasks are becoming increasingly complex due to the numerical limitation of Bitcoin, which means that the computers have to become increasingly powerful. This in turn leads to an increase in the costs for the required hardware, and above all also the electricity costs increase, because the electricity consumption during mining is considerable.
Due to these acquisitions and running costs, the profitability of mining is very strongly dependent on how the value of the cryptocurrencies develops. Since some digital currencies in particular have undergone a significantly positive price development in the past year, interest in mining is increasing again. However, whether mining is profitable or not can only be calculated and thus answered on a case-by-case basis.
Cloud Mining as an Alternative?
If you are basically interested in mining, but for various reasons do not want to mine yourself, the so-called cloud mining may be an alternative. There, too, the question of profitability arises, but at least you do not have to bear any major investment costs and have nothing to do with running electricity costs. Instead, you invest a certain amount and thus participate in the computing power of the cloud mining provider. You will then receive regular distributions in the form of coins. Whether cloud mining ultimately pays off for you also depends on the question of how the value of the corresponding cryptocurrency develops.
