Mining vs Buying Bitcoin in a Bear Market

Thinking about getting two S19j Pro miners for $3,700 to mine for a few years or just buy $3,700 in Bitcoin (around 0.16 BTC)? Got concerns about mining difficulty going up and whether I’ll hit 0.16 BTC before it’s no longer profitable.

First thing, what’s your electricity cost? Mining eats power. If you can’t cover that bill, it's not worth it.

I pay $0.07 per kWh.

So, with your numbers, you’d make about $3700 in 250 days but spend $2500 on electricity. That’s a long payback time, like 750 days, and with halving coming up, who knows how that’ll change things. Plus, if BTC price doubles, you could’ve just bought BTC now!

So, does that mean mining is dead?

Not dead, but buying gear now with 7 cents is risky. If you already got cheap gear and a solid ROI, you’re golden. Newbies have a rough time. Some guys are just stuck after spending big bucks.

Mining and buying come with different risks. Depends on your goals. Buying BTC is generally less risky than mining, since miners need upkeep and power costs can fluctuate. But with your free electricity, it looks good.

Buying miners in a bear market is the way to go. These S19j Pro miners were $13,000 at the top, now it’s an 85% discount.

Profit looks unlikely with the halving in about 13 months. Do you have enough cash to keep mining and not sell BTC for years? What if your electricity rates go up? My area sees 12-15% annual hikes.

Halving doesn’t worry me much; it usually leads to higher prices. Network difficulty is what’s on my mind. I can handle the electricity costs and I’m not selling until at least 2030. Plus, I have cheap hydro power in Quebec.

Don’t go by those standard mining cost estimates. It’s just some blogger’s guesswork. There are many miners here with way better costs than that.

Scary times for miners, though. Surprised hardware prices aren’t lower. At least it’s cold where I am, helps with cooling!

If your electricity costs are high, then mining isn’t worth it. Mining is a long-term investment, and it could generate more than just buying Bitcoin upfront. But remember, you’ll still face KYC when cashing out.

Hoping that by 2030, there’ll be more options for me to spend my BTC.

Once I pay off the miner, my costs drop to half the BTC price. I split earnings with my host. So, a 100 TH S19 gives me half the coins for free until it breaks.

Sounds like a sweet deal! Never heard of hosts offering that. Is it a private arrangement? I’ve got gear sitting idle; mining for someone else and splitting profits sounds great.

NiceHash pays me more than mining directly. I’m pulling in about 31,000-33,000 satoshis a day with one 100 TH rig.

Funny to think miners might become assets. In a bull run, miner prices could skyrocket. Some folks buy miners and flip them for BTC or upgrade to better models.

Depends on so many factors. Right now, I see different payouts between platforms. Not sure why NiceHash seems to pay more unless it’s luck.

For most people, just buying Bitcoin is the safer route. Mining often doesn’t pay off, especially if you buy at the peak. New miner prices just eat up profits.