Episode 2130: Mining Crypto Currencies?

[mikal]

Apologies in advance if I'm posting in the wrong place. Jack mentioned the possibility of TSP members creating a mining group in this episode...has there been any movement on this? I'd be interested in participating, but it'd be a steep learning curve for me.

[Smurf Hunter]

You should probably amend the subject to "mining cypto currencies", as the hardware, and ROI for different crypto currencies varies tremendously.

I've been investigating DSH a bit. 

https://www.cryptocompare.com/mining

My biggest concern with all of this, is the break-even point is so volatile based on the valuation of the respective coin you intend to mine.

I don't mind investing $1000 into mining hardware if I knew it had a reasonable break even (~6 months) and that way even if it slows to a trickle, after that point everything is gravy (assuming grid power is of course covered at least).  I'm not interesting in spending $5000K+ and waiting 2 years or more.  IMHO crypto valuations are too volatile to plan to wait that long.

[mikal]

I can't figure out how to amend a title, but I get your point.

Does it make any sense at all to take a little-used home pc and dedicate it to mining?

Also, completely unrelated, but I love your smurf avatar. It reminds me of something I did years ago for my daughter. I took a stuffed smurf head and mounted it on a plaque I picked up at a garage sale (after removing the original plate). I can sometimes have a twisted sense of humor. I think she still has that on her wall, even though she has several children of her own now. I guess she inherited my twisted sense of humor...

[Smurf Hunter]

I can't figure out how to amend a title, but I get your point.

Does it make any sense at all to take a little-used home pc and dedicate it to mining?

Also, completely unrelated, but I love your smurf avatar. It reminds me of something I did years ago for my daughter. I took a stuffed smurf head and mounted it on a plaque I picked up at a garage sale (after removing the original plate). I can sometimes have a twisted sense of humor. I think she still has that on her wall, even though she has several children of her own now. I guess she inherited my twisted sense of humor...

An old nickname from my rowdy college days was "Gargamel".  So that's evolved from that

For mining, if you look at the online calculators, in most cases your local electrical rates will surpass any earnings. 
There are several like this:
https://www.coinwarz.com/calculators/bitcoin-mining-calculator

If you can estimate the throughput of whatever mining solution you are considering, and then the consumed power - use the above link to get an idea of the ROI.

Frankly, if it was worth doing, it'd be more widespread.

[dihydrogenmonoxide]

Hey All,
I have a friend who is mining a couple of cryptos. He showed me his gear and said it puts off a tremendous amount of heat. I'm not entirely certain how the process works. So does the mining "generate" coins for you at a given rate per day? Then at some point you can sell it or trade for a profit, right?

[Mr. Bill]

Welcome, dihydrogenmonoxide!

We've got a really long discussion about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency here:

Bitcoin currency (merged topics)

I don't remember whether your question is answered somewhere in those 630 posts, but there's a good chance of it.

[CharlesH]

Do TSP and CryptoGulch still have a close relationship?  Jack could do an update of how he and they are doing and how they’ve responded to the crash this year.