Bitcoin's Price Surge is Making Hobby Mining Profitable Again

Roque Solis never imagined the bitcoin mining equipment he bought in February would have already paid for itself. And on top of that, made him money.

Solis is the president of SoliSYSTEMS Corp, a company that developed an EMV smart card for electronic benefit transfer for the federal assistance program, Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). While attending several conferences last year, Solis was unable to ignore bitcoin. So, he decided to experiment with the technology via mining to get a better handle on whether the technology could be used within his company.

Solis bought a Bitmain Antminer S9 on eBay for $2,400.

As of this weekend, Solis has mined 1.01 BTC, worth a little more than $2,584 in his bitcoin wallet.

Solis said:

"When I bought the miner, the price per bitcoin was around $1,200. I thought I’d break even in one year, but actually it’s been about five months."

These gains, though, are particularly interesting in that, even last year, individual hobby mining wasn't profitable anymore. Individuals with just one or two miners couldn't compete with the companies mining bitcoin using large warehouses full of servers dedicated to the task (and seeing lucrative returns as the price rose).

But that was with the price below $600, which, with electricity costs and mining pool fees, would take a person more than 500 days to break even on their bitcoin miner investment.

With an increased awareness and usage of mining pools, and the price now far higher, hobby miners – as Solis' experience shows – can break even in several months.

According to Solis, the amount of money he’s making per day with the miner jumped from $7 to $16 recently, as the price shot up.

Price matters

And to bitcoin's enthusiasts this is evidence that the increase really does benefit the network more broadly.

According to Sean Walsh, a partner at Redwood City Ventures, a bitcoin and blockchain consulting and investment firm. Walsh said, the rising bitcoin price has done more than reinvigorate investors, it's also led to increased interest in bitcoin mining, a key process that supports the network by securing its ledger.



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