Inside a Chinese Bitcoin Mine That's Grossing $1.5M a Month

Re:Inside a Chinese Bitcoin Mine That's Grossing $1.5M a Month by hurin on Sunday February 08, 2015 @07:52PM (#9019252)

I don't think mining was ever that profitable once it reached industrial scale (it was always a bet on the future, in which case having actual bitcoins is significantly more fungible).

There is a reason cex.io / ghash.io (the biggest mining pool) contracted out their hash power to other suckers (err I mean buyers) instead of mining themselves.

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Re:Inside a Chinese Bitcoin Mine That's Grossing $1.5M a Month by destructaball on Sunday February 08, 2015 @08:16PM (#9019298)

I used to know a fairly small miner, ~$2,000 a month turnover, who managed to rig his ASIC up to his heat pump in such a way that is heated his house and cooled the card. He lived in a fairly big house and it was always toasty even in the middle of winter.

It might still make sense for some people even when the margins are small

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Re:Inside a Chinese Bitcoin Mine That's Grossing $1.5M a Month by hurin on Sunday February 08, 2015 @08:26PM (#9019320)

Oh I'm sure it might make sense even for a big operation, if there are special conditions or clever tricks that allow for cheap electricity and/or tax breaks. All I was saying is that in and of-itself mining was not a profitable strategy once it became large-scale.

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Re:Inside a Chinese Bitcoin Mine That's Grossing $1.5M a Month by juliangregorian on Monday February 09, 2015 @04:41AM (#9020358)

So he was successfully mining several bitcoins a month with 1 ASIC? What year was this?

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Re:Inside a Chinese Bitcoin Mine That's Grossing $1.5M a Month by destructaball on Tuesday February 10, 2015 @09:49PM (#9031339)

It was last year, to be honest I'm not too sure of his setup. All I know is he set up the exhaust to heat his house

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