Thanks to the liquidity mining incentive mechanism of various DeFi projects, the total network fee income of Ethereum in August was as high as 261,389.62 ether (approximately US$108.9 million), and the single-day fee income of Ethereum on September 2 Reached 37,967 Ether coins.
Generous fee income, attractive static payback cycle, extremely low shut-down coin price, and high residual value of miners have made Ethereum mining a sweet pastry in the eyes of many people. This can also be confirmed by the growth of Ethereum’s entire network computing power:
At the beginning of the year, the total computing power of Ethereum was 147505GH/s, and on June 30 it was 189228GH/s. The computing power increased by 41723GH/s in half a year, an increase of 28.3%;
On September 15th, the total computing power of Ethereum was 246,299GH/s. Compared with the data on June 30, the new computing power of 57071GH/s was added, which means that it exceeded the growth of the first half year in less than three months. data.
In the past three months, the total computing power of the Ethereum network has grown so fast. A large part of the reason behind it is that Compound created a precedent for liquid mining in mid-June. Subsequently, more and more DeFi applications followed the pace and launched mobile Sexual mining has promoted the rise in the price of ETH and the rapid growth of fee income, attracting miners to invest more computing power to mine.
Since Ethereum mining is a good business, how should ordinary users participate in it? Generally speaking, ordinary users can participate in Ethereum mining in the following three ways: 1. Buy cloud computing power; 2. Joint mining; 3. Purchase mining machines to host the mine.
Cloud computing power
Cloud computing power mining refers to digital currency mining by remotely calling the computing power of mining machines. Users only need to purchase or rent the required computing power from the relevant platform.
Among the three participation methods, purchasing cloud computing power is the simplest one. Similar to Taobao shopping, users only need to place an order on the cloud computing platform for the required amount of computing power. After payment, they can lie down and collect coins. Different platforms have different rules for the validity period of cloud computing power. Some are several years, and some are permanently valid. However, if mining revenue cannot cover the electricity expenditure and the duration exceeds 90 days, cloud computing power will start liquidation.
Although cloud mining is simple, convenient, time-saving and labor-saving, it also has many shortcomings and risks.
First, there is the risk of the platform. Cloud computing power platforms vary from good to bad. Some mining farms and mining machines that the platform does not actually control are essentially second-hand dealers. Many platforms are small in scale and have weak risk tolerance. Such a platform has a very high risk of closing down and running away, especially when the currency price plummets and a “mining disaster” occurs.
Second, the premium of cloud computing power is high. Mining is an industry that pays great attention to cost control, and cloud computing power has a high premium, so compared to other mining products, cloud computing power has a longer payback period.
Take the cloud computing power of ETH graphics card launched by a certain platform as an example. The price per MH/s computing power is 66.8 yuan, the electricity cost is 0.385 yuan/kWh, and the power consumption is 3.5W. Let’s compare the cost of joint mining. The sapphire 5600XT 8 card machine launched by B.TOP under Lebite last week has a computing power of 320MH/s and a price of 20,300 yuan, which is equivalent to the computing power per MH/s. The price is 63.4 yuan, the electricity fee is 0.38 yuan/kWh, and the power consumption per MH/s computing power is 3.44W. Obviously, the cost of cloud computing power products is higher than the cost of joint mining products.
Finally, users of cloud computing power cannot enjoy the value-added bonus of mining machines. Generally speaking, if the price of the currency rises, the price of the mining machine will also rise, but the cloud computing power is essentially a contract product, and the user does not have the ownership of the mining machine, so the cloud computing power user cannot enjoy the bonus of the value-added mining machine.
To sum up, cloud computing power is simple and convenient, saving time and effort, but the premium is high, the payback period is long, and there is no ownership of the mining machine, and the value-added bonus of the mining machine cannot be enjoyed. In addition, cloud computing power has platform risks. When buying, you must choose a platform with strong strength, good reputation and long operating time.
Joint mining
Joint mining is also a one-stop service. From the group purchase of mining machines, put on and off, custody, operation and maintenance, maintenance, migration, access to the mining pool, to the sale of residual value, all the activities related to mining are all performed by joint mining. The service provider is done. Like cloud computing power, users can lie down and collect coins after paying, which is very simple and convenient, saving time and effort.
Compared with cloud computing power, the main advantages of joint mining are:
1. The price is lower. Generally speaking, the price of cloud computing products is more than 30% higher than the price of joint mining products of the same specification. In the above, we compare the Ethereum graphics card cloud computing power product of a certain platform with the B.TOP Ethereum joint mining product. In terms of the price, electricity cost, and power consumption per unit of computing power, the joint mining products are all More advantages.
2. With the ownership of the mining machine, you can enjoy the added bonus of the mining machine and the residual value of the mining machine. Benefiting from the rise in the price of ETH and the liquidity of DeFi mining, the price of Ethereum graphics card mining machines has generally risen by more than 2,000 yuan compared with the price in June. This part of the value-added of the mining machine can be enjoyed by the users of joint mining, but the users of cloud computing power have nothing to do with it, because in the joint mining mode, the ownership of the mining machine is the user, and the service provider only replaces the customer. Purchase mining machine, hosting, operation and maintenance.
In addition, the residual value of graphics card miners is also an important part of the income of Ethereum miners. For graphics cards that have been dug for two years, the residual value rate is generally about 30% of the market price of the graphics card (mainly refers to ordinary assembled graphics mining machines, non-customized machines), and the rest except the graphics card (motherboard, CPU, power supply, hard disk, etc.) It also has a high residual value, which can generally be sold for 500 to 1,000 yuan. In the joint mining mode, these residual values of the mining machine belong to the user.
3. The post-sharing model binds the interests of service providers and users together, which is conducive to promoting the refined operation of service providers and accelerating cost recovery. Take B.TOP under Lebit as an example, the joint mining products purchased by users do not charge service fees before the cost is returned, which minimizes the user’s mining risk; after the cost is returned, The profit is divided proportionally. This post-divided model encourages B.TOP to carry out refined operations to help users recover their costs as soon as possible. The Ethereum mining machine is very “fragile”, which tests the ability of on-site operation and maintenance personnel. The refined operation and maintenance has a great impact on mining revenue.
Of course, joint mining also has risks, and the biggest risk is still platform risk. Therefore, when choosing joint mining, you must choose a platform with strong strength, good reputation and long operating time.
To sum up, joint mining is also a one-stop service, which is very simple and convenient, saves time and effort, and is at a lower price. With the ownership of the mining machine, you can enjoy the value-added bonus and residual value of the mining machine. The post-divided model greatly reduces Mining risk shortens the return period.
Buy miners to host the mine
The third way to participate in Ethereum mining is to purchase the Ethereum mining machine by yourself, and then host it to a professional mining farm. This method is only suitable for experienced and relatively large miners for the following reasons:
1. There are many pits when buying mining machines. The pits you may encounter when buying a mining machine. We wrote in the previous article “What are the pits when buying a mining machine? As listed in “Stepping on the Hole Inventory”, the graphics card mining machine market is smaller and more immature than the ASIC mining machine market, so there will be more pits. Without extensive experience, it is easy to step on the pit.
2. There is a relatively high threshold for self-assembled mining machines. The advantage of graphics card miners is that there is a lot of DIY space. Many miners buy accessories and assemble them by themselves, which makes the cost lower. However, there are also many doorways in purchasing parts and assembly, and it is not possible to mine Ethereum by connecting a bunch of hardware.
3. High requirements for managed mines. Compared with ASIC mining machines, Ethereum mining machines are larger in size and low in power consumption. Ethereum mining machines are not so popular for mines that make a profit on the difference in electricity charges. Not only that, but Ethereum mining machines have higher requirements on the mining farm environment than ASIC mining machines. Mining farms must not only do the most basic temperature and humidity control, but also take measures to prevent dust and static electricity. Now the industry is better. The graphics card mining machine room is basically designed and constructed in accordance with the IDC-like specifications.
In addition to the environment, there is also the power stability of the hosting mine. The hardware and software of the Ethereum graphics card mining machine is highly complex. Frequent power outages will cause the damage rate of various parts of the mining machine to increase. After the power supply is restored, the calculation time of the graphics card mining machine will take longer than the ASIC mining machine. The electrical stability requirements of the company are also very high.
To sum up, buying the mining machine by yourself and hosting it in the mine has the advantage of high freedom and lower cost, but this method is only suitable for experienced and large-scale miners.
Conclusion
Ethereum mining is a good business, and it is also a good time to enter the market. Different mining participation methods have different thresholds and costs.
In terms of participation threshold and cost-effectiveness, the joint mining model is the most suitable way for ordinary users to participate; for experienced and relatively large miners, it may be a better choice to purchase mining machines by themselves and host them in the mine.
