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 Just heard nostr:nprofile1qqsqfjg4mth7uwp307nng3z2em3ep2pxnljczzezg8j7dhf58ha7ejgpz4mhxue69uhkummnw3ex2mrfw3jhxtn0wfnszynhwden5te0wahhgtn4w3ux7tn0dejszxthwden5te0wdjkuerfwshxummnvekxzun99e3k7mgrcp7e2 say "you probably shouldn't mine #bitcoin, it's a very cut throat business" on the nostr:nprofile1qqsg2zqd8wkhpnxu6lm5c2dyfa2mhpwte57apjae2ldp6g2mmwf3ypqpz9mhxue69uhkummnw3ezuamfdejj7v5unzt podcast. 

Can someone elaborate for me? What makes it a cut throat business? 

Are you mining? 

#asknostr 
 Basically, most of the time, when you spend capital on building a Bitcoin mine, it's very difficult to end up with more sats than when you started if you had just hodled or bought Bitcoin with with the dollars instead. 

However, there are lots of situations in which Bitcoin mining can benefit plebs and end up with more sats at the end. It's very difficult to accomplish because most mining equipment is not designed for pleb applications, like home heating. So to make it work, one must be ingenuitive and frugal, usually with lots of mistakes and failures along the way up the learning curve.  
 using or venting the heat is key for a miner 
 The cold climate privilage. Nobody needs heat in tropical regions which where more than half of population lives 
 I have an old S9 that I was planning on attaching to the cold air return duct in my house but I'm afraid of the noise being piped throughout the house and I had second thoughts about cutting a hole in my perfectly good duct work.  
 Seems like I have seen photos of you applying ingenuitive applications to make it work. Thank you, for taking the time to share. 🙏🏻🫂🙂 
 it is all about cost. you need rock bottom energy costs for it to be truly profitable. 
 If you are in for the money, yes 

Also a combination with heating makes sense to share the costs but nevertheless its a journey and its a option to get your DCA bitcoin via a none KYC method. 

Even including your own minepool 

So there is a bit more to the journey which doesn’t make it easier either 
 I can’t resist going on this journey…not for the money 
 Ordered a bitaxe, let‘s see how far this gets me 
 Nice. I’m looking at the Bitaxe Hex for a little more grunt but better do some more research and get some solar power first! 
 Got plenty of that in down under I reckon… ☀️ 
 yeah but i took the comment as a business, not in my basement. 
 Ok in what way then if i may ask, eg alike the Mara, Hut and iris business or more like for plebs business offering a smaller mining pool to support decentralization? 
 yeah, like the larger publicly traded miners. not the neat side projects or heating use cases or plebings. those i would put into the all businesses are hard category, not the cut throat mining one. 
 A monopoly is defined by utilizing aggression to keep new entrepreneurs from providing a service in the market.

Since bitcoin miners are anonymous, and since they only need compute power to provide a service, bitcoin mining is hardcore anti-monopoly, or in other words, a radical free market. 

Whenever there is no opportunity for monopoly, new entrepreneurs can always sweep in to provide the service, even if there's only a tiny bit of profit possible. Thus the price for the good (hash price) will tend towards the marginal cost of production, so that there's very little profit opportunities, meaning if you're not incredibly efficient and provide the hash at very low cost, you are likely unprofitable and just burning your money.  
 or converting money 
 Thank you, for taking the time for this thoughtful response 🙏🏻☺️🫂 
 You need access to the lowest-cost electricity possible and deep pockets to withstand the volatility in hash price and to keep reinvesting in the most efficient mining equipment. 
 Thank you, for sharing and clarifying that.  
 What about one of those #bitaxe miners?  
 Bitaxe are for fun, not profit. 
 Basically as someone suggested it like loterry and to just play with? 
 Exactly  
 curious if it's suitable for someone nomadic? I have no idea how it functions. would it work if one has only a lap top? 
 the bitaxe needs access to the internet via wifi so if you have periods of time where you can access wifi, you can setup your bitaxe to mine in a few mins with that wifi for as long as youve got thay wifi. it can get a little loud when turning on or ramping up the fan to stay cool, so something to consider too for sleeping and all. 
 there is free energy in my area that just needs the build 
 Nothing is free. Using that energy for mining means you can’t use it for something else. Plus, you
need to invest in all the equipment needed to mine, which will be obsolete in a few years. 
 been energy flow untapped for years & i said it would need the build for mining/tapping into it is a pass thru & does not limit further use 
 A mining machine is a MONeY PRiNTER. 
You heard it here first. 
I started mining a few years ago and it is amazing. 
I say that everyone that can mine, should mine with something. Doesn’t matter if it’s a big or small miner setup. 

This opinion isn’t widely accepted yet but it will be. (I’m predicting the future.) 


Mining is a cut throat business. That is true, but the small miners are not in it for a business opportunity all of the time. 
Some of us want to be nerdy and learn about it and can throw $5.00 at a miner or two. Others want to contribute to the network (which is my major push of mine.) The more small miners we have out there in the wild, the more decentralized the network.
Yes you will almost definitely have more sats just buying the sats and holding on until the price goes up. That is looking at it today. 
In 5 years when the price has tripled you are still accumulating sats and only have to pay for electricity, you will be glad that you did. Electricity prices will go up slightly compared to the bitcoin you gain.
I guess I am just more bullish than they are. 
My favorite saying is that it is a money printer !!!! 
Think about it. 
I pay for electricity and in return 
I get virgin, no Kyc bitcoin, 
can hold the bitcoin or 
Can sell it without attachment to me ever which means no taxes,
I’m mining at the current price and my energy is fixed. 
I mine when bitcoin goes up or down because it is a fixed cost. So when price goes up I get less sats but what I mine is worth more. When the price goes down I get more sats to stack. I’m never worried about buying the dip. 

With all of that being said. Where are you in all of this. Are you considering mining? 
 So to answer what makes it a cut throat business. That is simple. Money. 

These big companies spend literally hundreds of millions of dollars on building mining sites. 
That consist of:
Large buildings, industrial fans and cooling setups, thousands of asics, internet to each machine, electrical cables for each machine and from the grid to the buildings, transformers outside of the building, technicians, maintainers, spare parts, 24/7 security, payroll staff, CPA’s, $200,000 a month electricity and a lot more. My point is that there is a lot of money flowing so they are looking out for number 1 because the reward is about $180,000/ 10 minutes. That is over a million dollars an hour if you average it out. People kill for less. A lot less. 
 Now factor in bitcoin is going up forever. The dollar they are using to gain the bitcoin is going down forever. They see the future.