Bitcoin Transaction Wars: Why we need to decentralize mining with home miningungovernablemisfits.com/bitcoin-transaction-wars
236 sats \ 10 comments \ @BTCMiner 9 Sep 2022 bitcoin
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25 sats \ 7 replies \ @moneroshill 10 Sep 2022
Home mining take one: a no-brainer electrical heat replacement
The problem with this theory is that you still pay the depreciation cost of the ASIC hardware whether it's running or not. So home miners can't really compete against big miners who run em 100% of the time, and can just use the excess heat for some industrial process or something.
My conclusion is that bitcoin mining is simply doomed. The government has set a precedent with tornado cash outputs: the future is that people will be paying exorbitant fees to move around tainted coins.
Mining isn't just about electricity: it's about a rat race of depreciating hardware stuck behind closed doors. At the end of the day, home miners don't stand a chance. The government can simply restrict the sale of mining hardware because it's so specialized and requires such large economies of scale.
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25 sats \ 2 replies \ @om 10 Sep 2022
the problem is that all miners from Antminer and Whatsminer are built to use a constant amount of energy. While Antminers with Braiins software can scale down their energy usage up and down, the process itself takes a couple of seconds and involves a short restart of the miner which stops the miner from using power for a short time, not something you want if there is excessive energy existing.
I wonder: what Monero miners do to scale their CPUs up and down smoothly as their solar power goes up and down?
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10 sats \ 1 reply \ @moneroshill 10 Sep 2022
Monero miners do not use solar power, they typically steal electricity or mine on malware-infected computers.
But if they were so inclined to change the energy usage, they could simply mine at a lower frequency or scale down the clock rate of the CPU.
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25 sats \ 0 replies \ @om 10 Sep 2022
they typically steal electricity or mine on malware-infected computers.
Amazing. I'd call that proof-of-crime. Decentralization incentivized by police arresting the biggest miners.
I'm don't think that's a good optics on Monero though.
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0 sats \ 3 replies \ @BTCMiner OP 10 Sep 2022
At the end of the day, home miners don't stand a chance.
I use a natural gas furnace and it only runs for about 90 minutes per day in the coldest parts of winter. It is depreciating. Home heating with natural gas is simply doomed.
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10 sats \ 2 replies \ @moneroshill 10 Sep 2022
Gas furnace works independent of electrical grid so you don't freeze to death in blackout, but more importantly gas furnace does not have same initial investment as mining hardware. In order to get greatest return on your investment, you need to run the miner as much as possible.
The hashrate-per-watt of the rest of the network will continue to increase as newer hardware comes out, so bitcoin miners depreciate very fast:
https://paulbutler.org/2022/the-problem-with-bitcoin-miners/
Compared to something like a heat pump, resistive heating does not provide as much Watt-indoor-heating per Watt-electricity-consumed. But realistically the bitcoin-miner-heating is competing with other forms of resistive heating which are way cheaper to produce (basicially just resistive wire).
In any case, depreciation cost of mining hardware can't be overlooked.
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20 sats \ 0 replies \ @BTCMiner OP 10 Sep 2022
the bitcoin-miner-heating is competing with other forms of resistive heating which are way cheaper
No. A $200 S9 (which could fall further ... maybe back to early 2020 pricing of $50), which is essentially equivalent to a very loud 1,400W space heater, produces income. Maybe $30 / month at the current difficulty and exchange rate.
Bitcoin mining for heat won't work for everyone, but it can work for many.
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20 sats \ 0 replies \ @Brunswick 10 Sep 2022
A gas furnace uses anywhere from 150 to 800 watts to run the pumps or blowers. You don't get to heat with a modern and efficient has furnace without electricity.
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25 sats \ 0 replies \ @KingZing 10 Sep 2022
coinminer design looks really good until you zoom in and it's not a dedicated btc miner.
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25 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 9 Sep 2022
This article opened my eyes. I know I've read fud on monero sites that accused bitcoin mining of being too centralized. Most monero fans mine themselves depsite the unlikely hood of even breaking even. I for one am going to look into one of those plug and play miners.
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