Here are some of my thoughts on cryptocurrency mining. This is just for fun. And I'm just thinking out loud. This is more for those who don't mine, not those who are actually really good at it. Just like investing in cryptocurrency directly, some are good at it, many are not. Some do their research, many don't. Some think ahead, plan and strategize, run calculations and estimates. But most take a lazy gamble. Mining can be a similar experience for many people.

## The ship has sailed

...At least as far as the average person is concerned. It's true that new mining opportunities open up regularly and if you get in on the ground floor you could see some real value in mining for some period of time. It's also true that Bitcoin Gold is on the horizon, and this is intended by its very nature to open up realistic mining for profit again to the average person equipped with a graphics card. But this does not change the fact that it remains and will always remain the weakest way to make money in cryptocurrency.

## Do something else with your money

If you have money to spend on a custom mining rig that will net you a legitimate profit, invest the money directly into the coin itself. Some miners pull off a 5-month return on investment. Others take more like 18 months to break even. I don't have stats on this but I am guessing, just like with investing directly in cryptocurrency (or the stock market), many don't even make it there and actually lose money, foolishly neglecting to account for things like:

* their own electricity usage * the fact that mining can become more costly with time * a million (unexpected?) reasons for downtime like power outages, network outages, these things happening when you are out of town, or having to share your compute resources with your regular computer usage and having to simply turn off mining more often than you ever thought would be necessary, and any random technical issues that may crop up even for a dedicated rig. * competition with an increasing number of miners, especially a bunch of kids leeching off their parents' household electrical supply and provided with free components for their birthday and Christmas. Just like how you can't compete with stay-at-home parents on Etsy who have low to no overhead costs for their crafts because someone else foots all the bills.

Bottom line: you can't compete with people who have major subsidization! And there are more and more people trying to get in the game all the time. But here's where you won't find nearly as many of those mining market disruptors: on an exchange trading actual coin.

## Who the eff says "I want to be a miner when I grow up"!?

This may sound like a silly comparison, but I think it is worth making. People have ben miners for thousands of years, and on an industrial scale for centuries now. In "real life" miners suffer devastating illness and injury that greatly shortens lifespans and generates incalculable misery. No one wants to be a miner, except perhaps in the perverse sense that it is literally their only opportunity to do something that would avoid starvation for themselves and their families. In this aspect, metaphorically stuck between a rock and a hard place, faced with nothing but horrid "choices".

![soot.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmdCT6kFjMpXyvDNJmvwtoTu6UYC721p8WzL6U4jCBAHWT/soot.jpg) [photo credit: Earl Dotter] Obviously, this is not the case for digital miners. ![nerd.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmWHMjEQXPb5w7ZRWU8vZ4cJxR5XpP3z2TgeUuqELssu8T/nerd.jpg) [photo credit: the whole internet by now]

Nevertheless, I think there are parallels in which it should still be true that one should not want to be a miner for a living or even part time.

* Mining is bitch work. It's grunt labor (even if you aren't doing anything but letting your computer run an application). * Mining is shit pay. It should be reserved for those with no other options. But like I said, if you have the cash on hand to do some major mining, you are better off doing something else with the money, even within the cryptocurrency realm. * Mining is short-sighted. While there are plenty of people who make a killing mining, there are many who get into it as part of a "fear of missing out" rush, with poor planning, little or no research, and seem to gravitate to it because they see it as something concrete, tangible, something you can literally setup with your own two hands and run at home, and thus seems inherently safer than volatile, abstract online markets and exchanges. * Mining can have a long "probationary period" where you aren't making any money, but rather striving to recoup your startup costs. Just as many lose in the stock or crypto markets, many lose hear. The only difference is losing in mining generally requires more stupidity because losing money in mining is more predictable and therefore avoidable than in playing the market. * Make more by selling your card(s) used on Ebay. But then, that is only so you can buy a new one, a better one. This a good strategy to make more money over time as a miner. Expand your power, reinvest. It has a lot of parallels to straight up investing. However, this takes a level of dedication and work that a lot of people will not be proactive about and maintain. * Mining will fade. Eventually cryptocurrencies based on proof of stake may dominate over proof of work. Like most of this post, this is my opinion, but I feel like it is shortsighted to not see the wastefulness of proof of work. It simply will not compete with proof of stake, eventually. Mining is not a long term operation. But we already know that it's not great short term either, due to start up costs and just all that goes along with it being grunt labor. You really need to find the sweet spot to mine. The right place, the right time, the right circumstances.

The advantage will always go to people with subsidized costs and plenty of free time. Your kid could easily become a far more successful miner than you, with your financial aid of course. If no one buys your equipment for you and you have to hold down a day job or raise a family or have any number of other obligations keeping you busy, don't fuss with building mining rigs and earmarking thousands of dollars into physical equipment so that money is not earning for you. Instead, invest directly, be calm, relax, be patient, hold. Let someone else be your transaction bitch.

What I'm saying is, for the average person thinking about mining or investing, obviously do your research whichever way you go, but also stop and think for a moment. If you have the money to dive into either arena, would you rather be the suit and tie, or the poor sap with black lung? Do you want to spend $3,000 on an awesome mining rig and then run your rig 24/7 for a year and a half (depending on your costs, where you live, etc.) before so much as breaking even? If I said to you that you could put some money in the market now and start earning (or losing) immediately, but probably make a good return if you are patient and have any semblance of self-control, or on the other hand you could spend a large lump sum building a mining rig that you can hopefully successfully run 24/7 and then you will make your first penny a year from now, what would you prefer?

* Spend $3,000 now. Mine your ass off. Watch your debt shrink back toward zero for quite a while. * Or invest in the market. Relax. Watch your money grow (on average) from day one above what you put in.

These are just some of my thoughts at the moment on mining in general. Of course, I can't get into every single nuanced issue so this post is not meant to address every pro and con to mining in 2017 and beyond. It's mostly intended to provide some cautionary thoughts to the average person who has never mined and who, if they tried it, would likely not bother with more than their own single-GPU system at home. If you can make about 75 cents a day (after electrical costs and such) with your GTX 1060, maybe one dollar with your 1070 (this is what I can max out after costs where I live) using your home computer, or even six dollars a day with a $2,000 - $3,000 PC build, is it worth bothering?

For me it most certainly is not worth it. I've done it for fun just to explore it but it was so clear to me that it was a wasteful endeavor. When Bitcoin Gold comes out soon, I may try again, again for fun. But my expectations are not high that it will much more worthwhile. For some in the right situation, mining is totally worth it, but those people already know who they are. For most people, I'd say aim higher. No one should want to be a miner when they grow up. Don't waste your money just to rub some digital soot on your face.