How much hardware does it actually take to start mining? When will gamers and miners stop fighting? Let’s talk about these points in the article, and also why May 2021 will be a good moment to enter mining.
Bitcoin is growing at an incredible pace in 2021, and the new wave of interest is just as great. Mining is among the hottest trends again. In February, Bitcoin hit $ 58.3K all-time high. Also, within 7 days in February, miners earned $ 354.4 million, and this became another historical record. The previous record for weekly mining was recorded in 2017.
What determines an increased interest in mining? The shortage of equipment takes place instantly. Equipment manufacturers have already sold out the latest inventory. Miner prices are doubling or more than during periods of stability, because demand significantly exceeds supply at the moment.
War against gamers
Video cards are the backbone of mining. The rise in the price of cryptocurrencies raises their price. Even large manufacturers of video cards are forced to take measures to stop such negative trends and not deprive gamers. For example, NVIDIA has halved the hashrate of its latest RTX 3060 graphics card. To capture both markets, the company is offering miners specialized hardware called Ethereum processors.
Dividing will certainly affect the market situation, but no huge changes are expected during current period. This is the opinion of Philip Modnov, CEO of Lazm. Another expert, co-founder of BitCluster Sergey Arestov, believes that the war between gamers and miners will continue in the future.
Sigmapool CEO Jahon Khabilov notes that the confrontation between the two camps will continue at least until the Ethereum network switches to the Proof of Stake consensus algorithm. This project looks promising in theory, but everything will be decided in practice. Continuous supply and maintaining a balance of prices are important.
Now or later?
Bitcoin is in a correction right now. This means that its price is gradually decreasing after a strong rise. The cost of 1 BTC is in the range of 45,000 – 50,000 dollars at the moment. This situation is a good chance to enter mining, according to experts. It is important to resist the temptation to buy overpriced equipment now in order to receive less net profit later on. The correction will lead to a gradual decline in hardware prices. Everything should go wrong if Bitcoin will grow in price again soon.
Those who bought equipment before December 2020 have already received a profit. They bought the hardware before the price jump and managed to recapture the investment value easily. Then there is only constant profit. At the same time, says Sergei Arestov, the cost of electricity does not matter. Mining is profitable now anyway.
Today, miners’ income is 3-4 times higher than six months ago. A new profitable mining entry point is expected to emerge around May 2021. By this time the mining market should slow down due to the spring rainy season in the Chinese provinces. Hydroelectric power plants will provide more energy. Miners actively use this and use additional equipment, which leads to an increase in the complexity of calculations. Profits decreases in this case.
How to choose the right equipment and cryptocurrency for mining
Sergey Arestov believes that the smallest profitable mining farm should have 20 devices. More is better. The amount of computing power 1.5 thousand TH / s is the best. The promising altcoins right now are Whatsminer and Avalon, which are promising big price gains soon. Bitcoin is also worth trying to mine because it is always the most promising.
The starting value to start mining must be at least 150 PH / s (150 thousand TH / s). A good example of a farm is 1.5 thousand Antminer S19 miners or 2 thousand Antminer S17 Pro.
