Mining Cryptocurrencies at Home: 6 Months Update

Hello Steemit!

I’m back! :)

I had a long break from Steemit: in the early January I began working out again and it took nearly all my free energy and time. Later I had a nasty cold for two weeks and had to take antibiotics to recover. After that I felt very low on energy, while at the same time I had a lot of things to take care of at work, having administrative responsibility for the school where I work.

But today is a special day and I thought it warrants an update. For exactly six months ago a piece of specialised computer hardware – a so-called Bitcoin miner – entered into my life. It’s still running stably, hashing at 4 Terrahash per second. Every month I withdraw about 0.055–0.06 BTC from the pool where I’m mining. In these past six months my miner has produced 0.3992 BTC, having thus recovered 72.6% of its acquisition cost (I’m not paying anything extra for my electricity).

I wouldn’t mind selling it at this point, if there’s a buyer for it. But if not, I will just as happily continue mining at the current rate, aiming to recover the full amount of my investment within the next 3–4 months.

The newest addition to my home “crypto-mine” – on top of the old one

Furthermore, another great thing happened just yesterday, on the eve of my half-a-versary (pardon this made-up word). I’ve received another miner, my second: a brand new Baikal Cube 300 Mhash/sec! It cannot mine Bitcoin, but it can mine a host of other cryptocurrencies, utilising different algorithms than Bitcoin’s (namely X11, X13, X14, X15, Qubit, and Quark). Turns out this little toaster can be 3 to 4 times more profitable than its massive and power-hungry cousin. I’m really stoked about continuing my home mining adventure with this new piece of hardware. If the next couple of days prove its profitability, then I might get another one, while supply lasts. And I have high hopes for one of the cryptocurrencies that it can mine, namely Dash. I do believe in its much wider acceptance in the not-so-distant future and in an according sharp increase in its price (currently about US $70 per Dash).

Here’s a video from yesterday, where you can witness the unpacking and setting-up of the new miner. Enjoy! ;)

Previous Updates:

Week 0: Arrival	Week 1 Update	Week 2 Update
Week 3 Update	Week 4 Update	Week 5 Update
Week 6 Update	Week 7 Update	Week 8 Update
Week 9 Update	Week 10 Update	Week 11 Update
	Week 12 Update