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50 sats \ 3 replies \ @SimpleStacker 21h \ on: Hindsight bitcoin
That sounds really awesome! What is your thinking for why South Africa has embraced Bitcoin so much, compared to say the US?
I'm not sure if this is the main issue or not, but even at 846 sats a day and a time-to-profitability of a year and a half, I think the raw value of the return is probably not enough to excite most people into taking action. To make it exciting, it seems you have to scale up, but that means industrial scale mining which is a different beast. So, from what I can gather, the barrier is that small-scale mining isn't worth most peoples' time, and industrial scale mining is too difficult and out of reach for most individuals. (Getting your hands on enough miners, managing the infrastructre, etc.)
Does that sound about right?
So that's definitely the prevailing view held by the industrial miners I spoke with in South Africa. Yet these same guys are touting Bitaxe variations, some of which are more expensive than an s19.
People are definitely buying that stuff down there too. I was in a chat group where a bitcoin was sharing how he "added" this very miner to his "collection." I totally endorse what that guy is doing from and education a creating awareness standpoint. My point is, he could also spend a little less money, and actually decentralize the network. Also, for just a little more money, give some kid from the township a job that really makes a difference. I can confirm that there are people that do work in those communities for less than 5,000 sats an hour. An "installer" of automated home miners could make way more than this and still not add much to the ROI date.
But also, remember that this is running one miner only when the solar battery is charged at 95% of capacity. Right now, when it's cold and I run my s19s all day at home, they make about 4,000 sats each. One solar installer told me that a typical roadside stop (gas and food and stuff like that) in SA can be a 80-100 Kilowatt site. And they are usually wasting 60% of their potential solar power. That's way more than one s19.
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Interesting. It does sound like there is a strong economic argument for home mining. Even though you say you failed, hopefully you laid some groundwork for future uptake.
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Thanks, I hope so!
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