22/09/2021
Cool gadget 😎
Roughly every ten minutes, 6.25 bitcoins are created. In order to mint these new tokens, a global pool of miners are all contributing their computing power to running a hashing algorithm known as SHA-256.
The exact same code runs on every single bitcoin mining rig on the planet, including the one featured in Abada’s Starbucks TikTok post.
But these miners aren’t running the SHA-256 algorithm in a vacuum. They’re competing against each other to see who can unlock each batch of new bitcoin first.
To win, you almost have to join a team of other miners, which is exactly what Abada has done with his rig. But even with the help of this so-called mining pool, the proceeds from his small rig are pretty minimal.
Abada says his mini miner generates 0.0002478 bitcoin per month, minus a 5% mining pool fee. At today’s prices, that’s worth $9.35. Because he’s mining in Los Angeles, where the cost of electricity is 22 cents per kilowatt hour, if he runs his rig 24 hours a day, he pays $15.84 in total electricity cost.
So Abada actually ends the month in the red to the tune of roughly $5.88.
