How Much Does it Cost to Mine a Bitcoin? Update May 2021

Since our last article on the cost to mine a bitcoin the BTC price and earnings/TH have nearly doubled. And, thanks to BTC price increases more older generation machines have joined the network. Therefore we assume that the average cost to mine a bitcoin at 5.5¢ electricity is 20% more expensive than in January. Also, we consider that machine prices have risen by at least 2x due to BTC increases and manufacturing bottlenecks in the past months.

Here we update our findings on the current base production price of a bitcoin. We will analyze additional machines like the new Antminer S19j Pro, some Ebit machines, and additional Whatsminer and AvalonMiner models. Also, we consider both 5.5¢ and 3.5¢ per kWh costs.

Background

This methodology takes a few shortcuts and has its limitations. See our original post for assumptions and calculations.

Initial Values

On today’s date, the following stands true:

  • BTC price is ~ $56,000
  • Earnings are ~ $0.38/TH
  • Hashrate is ~ 167 EH/s

The hashing power to mine a bitcoin is ~ 148,150 TH/s.

See BTC.com for this calculator.

Lastly, we assume the following market share per bitcoin mining machine manufacturer. This estimated value is reflected in the amount of machines that make up the total network hashrate, and by how many models per manufacturer we will analyze.

  • Antminer 46%
  • WhatsMiner 25%
  • AvalonMiner 13%
  • Innosilicon 8%
  • Ebit 8%

Production Cost of 1 BTC per ASIC model

This is the base production cost to mine a bitcoin using the watt and terahash specifications per ASIC miner model. See our previous article for calculations.

ASIC Model# machines to mine 1 BTCbase 24h cost @ 5.5¢/kWhbase 24h cost @ 3.5¢/kWh
Antminer S19j Pro, 100T1,482$5,965$3,796
Antminer S19j, 90T1,646$6,736$4,286
Antminer S19 Pro, 110T1,347$5,778$3,677
Antminer S19, 95T1,559$6,690$4,257
Antminer T19, 84T1,764$7,333$4,667
Antminer S17+, 73T2,029$7,822$4,978
Antminer S17 Pro, 53T2,795$7,726$4,917
Antminer T17, 40T3,704$10,756$6,845
Antminer S15, 28T5,291$11,147$7,093
Antminer S9, 13.5T10,974$19,165$12,196
Antminer S7, 4.7T31,521$53,799$34,236
Whatsminer M30S++, 112T1,323$6,062$3,858
Whatsminer M30S+, 100T1,482$6,649$4,231
Whatsminer M30S, 88T1,684$7,431$4,729
Whatsminer M31S+, 80T1,852$8,155$5,189
Whatsminer M31S, 74T2,002$8,753$5,570
Whatsminer M20S, 68T2,179$9,525$6,061
Avalon 1246, 90T1,646$7,431$4,729
Avalon 1166 Pro, 81T1,829$8,209$5,224
Avalon 1066 Pro, 55T2,694$11,556$7,354
Innosilicon T3+, 57T2,599$11,322$7,205
Innosilicon T2T, 30T4,938$14,341$9,126
Ebit 12, 44T3,367$11,147$7,093
Ebit 10.6, 16T9,259$21,511$13,689
Averages:4,207$11,459$7,292

Cost to Mine 1 Bitcoin with 1 ASIC

This last part is perhaps confusing and not very informative. But, here goes anyways.

We assume a machine lasts four years, and on average it takes about four years to mine one bitcoin with that machine. Thus the lifetime cost is: the buy price of the hardware, plus the estimated kWh cost to mine a bitcoin with that hardware. Yet, many unknowns can happen in such a long time period.

ASIC ModelEst. Unit Buy PriceLifetime Cost to Mine 1 BTC @ 5.5¢/kWhLifetime Cost to Mine 1 BTC @ 3.5¢/kWh
Antminer S19j Pro, 100T$14,000$19,965$17,796
Antminer S19j, 90T$11,000$17,736$15,286
Antminer S19 Pro, 110T$16,000$21,778$19,677
Antminer S19, 95T$12,000$18,690$16,257
Antminer T19, 84T$11,000$18,333$15,667
Antminer S17+, 73T$10,000$17,822$14,978
Antminer S17 Pro, 53T$7,000$14,726$11,917
Antminer T17, 40T$3,000$13,756$9,845
Antminer S15, 28T$2,000$13,147$9,093
Antminer S9, 13.5T$700$19,865$12,896
Antminer S7, 4.7T$400$54,199$34,636
Whatsminer M30S++, 112T$17,000$23,062$20,858
Whatsminer M30S+, 100T$14,000$20,649$18,231
M30S, 88T$11,000$18,431$15,729
Whatsminer M31S+, 80T$9,000$17,155$14,189
M31S, 74T$8,000$16,753$13,570
Whatsminer M20S, 68T$6,000$15,525$12,061
Avalon 1246, 90T$10,000$17,431$14,729
Avalon 1166 Pro, 81T$9,000$17,209$14,224
Avalon 1066 Pro, 55T$7,000$18,556$14,354
Innosilicon T3+, 57T$7,000$18,322$14,205
Innosilicon T2T, 30T$3,000$17,341$12,126
Ebit 10.6, 16T$600$22,111$14,289
Ebit 12, 44T$2,000$13,147$9,093
$7,946$19,404$15,238

Summary

In summary, it currently costs between $7,000-$11,000 USD to mine a bitcoin. The lifetime cost of an ASIC miner to mine one bitcoin is on average $15,000-$19,000 USD. As the price of BTC is $56,000, it remains very profitable to mine bitcoin. Although, the entry price for miners has risen considerably the past few months because hardware prices have doubled.

See our previous article for bitcoin mining machine manufacturer updates, including information on which institutional miners are waiting for machines and what ASIC models are available.

Like this article? Be sure to check out How Much Power does it take to Mine a Bitcoin?

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