Worth it to start bitcoin mining with RPi now?

[DarkDubzs]

Ever since bitcoin mining began to emerge not too long ago I wanted to get in on it, but i didnt want (couldnt actually) to spend hundreds on a/some cards like the 7970. Then not too late after, i heard about the Raspberry Pi and then soon people started using it to mine bitcoins. Ever since, i keep telling myself i am gonna get into it with a RPi based rig. Although, ive heard that mining has been on the decline lately, still figuring out why, and that its not even worth it anymore to mine bitcoins, is this true? What about with a Raspberry Pi rig? My miners would begin as one of these common USB ASICMiner's, and i would add more as time goes. Considering one of these $270 11GH/s ASIC miner is said to only get you about $15/month, i guess i can expect to make almost nothing with a few of those small USB miners for $20. But if i have it sitting on the corner of my desk or in my closet shelf for months with some routine check ups and cleaning, with a fan next to it to help cool it, it wouldnt hurt to have it doing its thing, right? I should add that i am not paying for electricity, my parents are, but i dont want to add like $20 a month to the bill from this damn little rig or something like that.

So would it be worth it to have a rig like that with a couple of those $20 miners? How long can i expect it to pay off the raspberry pi, miners, and USB hub =$100+/-? Then after that, how much can i expect to be making a month from them in profits, again, electricity cost isnt a factor for me right now. ... I have a feeling I will be better off abandoning this plan, but i still want to get into mining, the idea of making any amount of money with such little work sounds just too interesting and cool.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

 

[Pitbully]

How long can i expect it to pay off the raspberry pi, miners, and USB hub =$100+/-?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

Somewhere around 20 years, unless the price skyrockets tomorrow. Then 30 years.

It's not possible to start mining bitcoins and make any money this late in the game.

 

[DarkDubzs]

Holy shit, the difficulty is so high now, now that i look at it, last time i checked it was at like 700 million, now its at 16 BILLION!? I used this site to do some conversion, and to make $1 a day, i need to pull off 52GHps, fuck that then. I was looking at Litecoins and Dogecoins as they are entering the light now, and their difficulty is very low, as is their price, but that just makes it better, but the price and trades of Dogecoins have done nothing but fall lately. Im not sure wtf im gonna do, but im gonna do something even if its just for gits and shiggles.

 

[DarkDubzs]

Somewhere around 20 years, unless the price skyrockets tomorrow. Then 30 years.

It's not possible to start mining bitcoins and make any money this late in the game.

If the difficulty has raised so much, does that mean even veteran miners are pulling out now too, or are they just cruising by off of their early money? Would it make sense to invest in a new, emerging cryptocurrency while they are still in their early times? Or do you think they'll just fail as imitations of Bitcoins?

 

[Pitbully]

If the difficulty has raised so much, does that mean even veteran miners are pulling out now too, or are they just cruising by off of their early money? Would it make sense to invest in a new, emerging cryptocurrency while they are still in their early times? Or do you think they'll just fail as imitations of Bitcoins?

Nearly all alt coins will fail at some point or another I think. I wouldn't look for something to invest a ton of money in, the market is just too risky IMO. Even LTC, which everyone thought was "the next big thing" is dying now. You want to invest some money in it, wait til the price of BTC goes back down to $300, then buy some.

Nearly all of us are mining ALT coins, not bitcoins directly. We mine the alt-coins, then trade them for btc or sell them outright. Scrypt mining is dying a slow death at the moment though. Most of us have moved on to Scrypt-N or X11 for mining.

 

[DarkDubzs]

Fuck this, im tired.
Anyways, it's all too expensive to start up, too late for mainstream coins right now, dogecoin is falling, everything is just telling me to leave. Maybe once i have some money i can invest in coins directly and hold them until they rise again, depends on the market at the time, but then i might as well invest in real, more secure stocks or bonds(if longer term)? Also, I feel making a mining rig and mining is safer if i want to invest in coins because if the coin tanks, i still got the physical rig that i can sell for cash, so the rig would be physical capital... on the other hand, if i invest with cash buy buying coins, and the coin tanks, i lost all my investment, all i got are worthless investments, unless i hold them for so long in hopes of them rising in price at all again.

Investing is just too damn tempting for me.

 

[DarkDubzs]

I just got another idea. Since Litecoins are dropping so much right now (http://www.cryptocoincharts.info/v2/pair/ltc/usd/crypto-trade/1-year) and right now theyre only about $8 each, what if i wait for them to hit, what i believe will be, their lowest price and buy a reasonable amount, like maybe $20-$100 (depending how much money i have then and willing to possibly lose), hold them for however long until they hit a good high point, then sell them. Its just a classic investment. I dont think it's a crazy idea, but any feedback?

Of course, I can substitute or add coins(diversify) with any mainstream altcoin depending on their market at the time.

 

[mkrohn]

Just stop... You've completely missed it and most of us around here have been turning rigs off because its not worth it right now for many of us who have already recouped the initial investment.

If you insist on entering using NEW equipment then x11/x13/x## is where its at for AMD cards currently. Nvidia 750ti's are hot on some other algo's.

I personally am dumping quite a few AMD cards and so are tons of other people. You can buy up AMD cards pretty cheap right now. I've even started moving quite a few of my cards over to just selling on ebay.

You seriously missed the bought bro but if you want to buy cards the prices for those are at their bottom right now and I'm sure they'll climb up a nice amount once the weather cools down.

 

[DarkDubzs]

Just stop... You've completely missed it and most of us around here have been turning rigs off because its not worth it right now for many of us who have already recouped the initial investment.

If you insist on entering using NEW equipment then x11/x13/x## is where its at for AMD cards currently. Nvidia 750ti's are hot on some other algo's.

I personally am dumping quite a few AMD cards and so are tons of other people. You can buy up AMD cards pretty cheap right now. I've even started moving quite a few of my cards over to just selling on ebay.

You seriously missed the bought bro but if you want to buy cards the prices for those are at their bottom right now and I'm sure they'll climb up a nice amount once the weather cools down.

Ive realized all that, that's why im staring to look at other altcoins, specifically Litecoins and Dogecoins, but it seems ive also already missed out on Dogecoins, but the prices are falling, so I might buy Dogecoins when its lowest and sell when it rises again, i hope they do again. Same thing with Litecoins. Im starting to think mining will be alot slower and expensive than if i were to just buy coins and sell them for capital gains. Basically im thinking of just straight up investing now instead of mining.

 

[IEC]

Litecoins and Dogecoins are both in a long term downtrend. Don't catch a falling knife, you'll cut yourself and bleed.

As for why they're in a downtrend, it's because they both use scrypt and with scrypt ASICs shipping left and right everyone will want to make ROI on those ASICs. This means lots of DUMPING at market prices for LTC and DOGE, leading to further depressed prices.

Neither of those "altcoins" offers anything important over Bitcoin either (and in the case of Dogecoin was/is a joke coin), so there is no compelling reason to hold them.

I wanted both to succeed and previously mined lots of both. But I hold zero of each coin, and am glad I sold before the bottom fell out.

 

[DarkDubzs]

Litecoins and Dogecoins are both in a long term downtrend. Don't catch a falling knife, you'll cut yourself and bleed.

As for why they're in a downtrend, it's because they both use scrypt and with scrypt ASICs shipping left and right everyone will want to make ROI on those ASICs. This means lots of DUMPING at market prices for LTC and DOGE, leading to further depressed prices.

Neither of those "altcoins" offers anything important over Bitcoin either (and in the case of Dogecoin was/is a joke coin), so there is no compelling reason to hold them.

I wanted both to succeed and previously mined lots of both. But I hold zero of each coin, and am glad I sold before the bottom fell out.

Yeah, ive read a lot of people saying how its dead now for them, but i still feel like they might make a small comeback for some reason, probably not reason enough for me to invest though .
https://coinmarketcap.com/
What about Peercoin? It seems to be on the rise short term, but longer term it has fallen. Think it will start to go back up?
Uro is a new cryptocurrency and it is going up, its also under $1 each right now. I really want to buy maybe $10 worth and see what happens, even if i make just a couple dollars, it would be really exciting! It would be a short term investment, maybe holding for a week or two or however long it keeps rising well enough. Should I? But then I'm under 18 and idk if minors can buy stocks and coins, etc.

EDIT: Unfortunately, after some research and almost getting infected with a virus, Uro sounds like it may be a scam You can read some of the comments and Uro OP here. The "CPU miner" link prompted my anti-virus to block the download, but it shows to be a .zip file, weird, but idc. Having second thoughts on Uro now, but it is increasing in price so damn fast, idk if i can resist
Uro site (weird, just an IP address): http://128.199.204.45/

 

[x3sphere]

Yeah, ive read a lot of people saying how its dead now for them, but i still feel like they might make a small comeback for some reason, probably not reason enough for me to invest though .
https://coinmarketcap.com/
What about Peercoin? It seems to be on the rise short term, but longer term it has fallen. Think it will start to go back up?
Uro is a new cryptocurrency and it is going up, its also under $1 each right now. I really want to buy maybe $10 worth and see what happens, even if i make just a couple dollars, it would be really exciting! It would be a short term investment, maybe holding for a week or two or however long it keeps rising well enough. Should I? But then I'm under 18 and idk if minors can buy stocks and coins, etc.

EDIT: Unfortunately, after some research and almost getting infected with a virus, Uro sounds like it may be a scam You can read some of the comments and Uro OP here. The "CPU miner" link prompted my anti-virus to block the download, but it shows to be a .zip file, weird, but idc. Having second thoughts on Uro now, but it is increasing in price so damn fast, idk if i can resist
Uro site (weird, just an IP address): http://128.199.204.45/

I guess it's OK to take random bets on coins if you're just going to throw a small amount of money at them and want to have fun, but please do some serious research before investing in anything heavily. You just seem to be picking out random coins with not much thought into why they may be a good investment.

LTC / Doge are really bad choices at the moment, ASIC miners are dumping all the coins they get, as fast as they can. It's constantly putting downward pressure on the price. Not to mention with ASICs taking over these scrypt coins there is nothing to differentiate them from Bitcoin. I don't see a rebound anytime soon, in fact I feel pretty confident in saying that Doge and LTC will never reach their previous highs again.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Are those small USB stick ASICs profitable now days? They arn't too expensive and probably don't use much power, if it's a few bucks a day, it's something. I've been thinking of getting into a big operation though I'm late in the game, probably best to start small first just to get a feel for it.

 

[Parja]

...that's why im staring to look at other altcoins, specifically Litecoins and Dogecoins, but it seems ive also already missed out on Dogecoins, but the prices are falling, so I might buy Dogecoins when its lowest and sell when it rises again, i hope they do again. Same thing with Litecoins. Im starting to think mining will be alot slower and expensive than if i were to just buy coins and sell them for capital gains. Basically im thinking of just straight up investing now instead of mining.

You're about 4-6 months late for the LTC and DOGE train...or about a dozen crypto mining lifetimes ago. Forget about those completely. Hell, even X11 and X13 are getting to be old news now.

Yeah, ive read a lot of people saying how its dead now for them, but i still feel like they might make a small comeback for some reason...

What's your "reason", other than optimism based on no real investment logic?

Are those small USB stick ASICs profitable now days? They arn't too expensive and probably don't use much power, if it's a few bucks a day, it's something. I've been thinking of getting into a big operation though I'm late in the game, probably best to start small first just to get a feel for it.

Each of these will currently make you about 0.0003 BTC per month (or just shy of 20 cents). But at the rate difficulty is increasing, and even with free power, you'll never pay back the initial $20 investment on just the USB stick itself.

To make any money mining Bitcoin right now, you need to be well into the terrahash rate with relatively low initial investment and very cheap power.

 

[sgi02]

I made ROI on my Antminer U2. I mined other SHA256 coins like P$ (Solomine + Pool) , Zetacoin, Mazacoin and even threw it on the BC Multipool for a tiny continued interest stake once a day. All in all ive made about double what the unit cost me, but ive mined a lot of coins and changed coins / traded frequently. They are fun devices that can pay off if you work it right.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Each of these will currently make you about 0.0003 BTC per month (or just shy of 20 cents). But at the rate difficulty is increasing, and even with free power, you'll never pay back the initial $20 investment on just the USB stick itself.

Haha wow that's crazy. Totally not worth it other than for testing the process, I guess.

 

[mkrohn]

the reason why I said just stop is because even the altcoins and the weird algo's are NOT worth getting into right now if you have to invest in hardware. No form of cryptocoin is worth entering right now. ROI is rather far out.

Bitcoin is worth investing in for a longterm it'll go up but no coins other than bitcoin are worth treating as an investment. Every new coin will peak and then drop and slowly completely die off. Litecoin was great for a long time but it will continue to go downward because there is absolutely nothing "new" with it to change the game in any way. DOGE was always a joke that lasted far longer than it should have and it will die a very slow death.

I don't believe ANY crypto outside of bitcoin is to be treated as anything more than a penny stock. even BTC though is very day tradeable and very risky.

Either buy the HW planning ahead for this winter knowing prices for HW will ratchet back up and prices for crypto will go up as more interest comes in. I still think it'll follow the same trend as a peak really early then go down and suffer the same pump/dumps that everything else has.

I am in right now because ALL of my hardware is paid for and a small profit is still a profit.

 

[Carbon_Rod]

^^ This. ^^

 

[IEC]

I wouldn't start mining now unless you've got hardware lying around and cheap power.

I was LUCKY to have my hardware pay for itself and I'm making only a small profit per day now. But if I built my mining rigs today I'd be looking at over THREE YEARS for breakeven. Which with the hassle, heat, and added electrical expense would totally not be worth it.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Someone I know is looking into starting a pool and the specific machine he was looking at he calculated 3 months ROI, does that make sense? I wonder if that calculation was not taking difficulty increase into account though, because that changes everything.

I think this is the unit: https://www.kncminer.com/products/neptune-third-batch

It uses 3000 watts I think. Issue is it was suppose to ship by now but it's not.

 

[IEC]

^ Been there, done that with "preordering" a BTC miner over a year ago. If I had received it at the time of ordering I'd be wealthy, but instead I barely broke even after dumping the machine.

Difficulty increase week by week is INSANE and he will likely never see ROI.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah we're 4 guys into this but still doing more research. The problem is finding one that actually ships NOW. Can't afford to preorder. The more I read the less I think it's worth it. Too late in the game.

I also need to run a proper 100 amp feeder to my server room as well as upgrade my power plant to -48v dual conversion and higher wattage and add more batteries so there is additional costs there too, but plan on doing that anyway just not now.

 

[Carbon_Rod]

It may be just me, but I propose you'd probably see quicker returns by simply buying BTC outright and playing the fluctuations in price. This way, you don't actually "lose" your investment to someone who will ultimately be happy to take your money and sell you a BTC mining box but won't guarantee you a return on that investment. And, I even propose that it is quite likely to earn a much higher percentage on your principal than you would earn if you were to get into BTC mining. And finally, BTC trading itself has no "useful life" like a BTC miner does.

Just a suggestion.

 

[collegeboy69us]

^ Been there, done that with "preordering" a BTC miner over a year ago. If I had received it at the time of ordering I'd be wealthy, but instead I barely broke even after dumping the machine.

Difficulty increase week by week is INSANE and he will likely never see ROI.

That's the scam - always has been with ASIC machines available to the public in that manner.

I can't say I really blame them either -- it's shady as hell, and just not good business but if I had a machine that can sit in a corner sipping power and spit out $100 bills every day what possible motivation would I have to rush it to the market?

It's been that way all the way back even when the first ASIC's came out for bitcoin. I won't deny it, I was tempted to plunk down some money to butterfly labs back in the early days, glad I pussed out!

I doubt I will ever get into the ASIC game... just don't have the time/energy to keep up with the hour by hour changes or "new" things going on. Hell I'm idling my GPU farm right now due to the Texas heat we are having (and it's only going to get worse in the next month)

Wintertime though -- I'll mine the hell out of whatever just because the heat is free.

 

[Red Squirrel]

It may be just me, but I propose you'd probably see quicker returns by simply buying BTC outright and playing the fluctuations in price. This way, you don't actually "lose" your investment to someone who will ultimately be happy to take your money and sell you a BTC mining box but won't guarantee you a return on that investment. And, I even propose that it is quite likely to earn a much higher percentage on your principal than you would earn if you were to get into BTC mining. And finally, BTC trading itself has no "useful life" like a BTC miner does.

Just a suggestion.

Yeah I'm starting to think that may be the best route at this point.

Now if I was really good at electronics and could make my own ASICs it would probably be different but yeah, the whole preorder stuff is really scammy. And even if they say it's available now who's to say they arn't just saying that. It's not like you can buy these off reputable retailers like Amazon.

 

[collegeboy69us]

Yeah I'm starting to think that may be the best route at this point.

Now if I was really good at electronics and could make my own ASICs it would probably be different but yeah, the whole preorder stuff is really scammy. And even if they say it's available now who's to say they arn't just saying that. It's not like you can buy these off reputable retailers like Amazon.

you can buy ASIC's off amazon -- problem is, it's used up 3rd and 4th hand units from previous people thinking they could strike it rich. (AntMiners come to mind)

unless you knew how to build highly specialized processors from the ground up, and had the ability to work out some deal with a foundary/manufacturer only then would you have the leg up you need. Hence why the scam is promising some crazy stuff, getting early backers to float all your R&D cost, then you sit there and mine on said equipment as long as you can.

The fun thought I always have is just being able to take my 15 R9 270's back in time to mine when the BTC difficulty was something silly low like 10,000 or even 100,000. Seeing the actual BTC rolling in every day knowing that for that 1 day's worth of mining you just made about $5000 or something crazy like that.

 

[DarkDubzs]

The fun thought I always have is just being able to take my 15 R9 270's back in time to mine when the BTC difficulty was something silly low like 10,000 or even 100,000. Seeing the actual BTC rolling in every day knowing that for that 1 day's worth of mining you just made about $5000 or something crazy like that.

We can only wish

 

[MysticalOrca]

All of this talk is so reminiscent of the woes of western gold miners, I find it interesting how similar the procedure, allure, and payout are between the old west and our modern technical society. Surely the illuminati is involved somehow because this is too much of a coincidence.

 

[mkrohn]

All of this talk is so reminiscent of the woes of western gold miners, I find it interesting how similar the procedure, allure, and payout are between the old west and our modern technical society. Surely the illuminati is involved somehow because this is too much of a coincidence.

It's obama's fault

 

[DarkDubzs]

It's obama's fault