Crash course on Bitcoin mining. People can earn Bitcoins by having their computers crunch numbers, much like proving out prime numbers. As minable coins are found, the work to find new ones becomes more difficult. For years, people would buy increasingly more powerful computers, and then mine partial coins, and so forth. This week, someone did the math again, and while it used to be cheap, today it’s going to cost you $137,000 in electricity to do it. This is more expensive than the Bitcoin itself is worth, making it less profitable. Sure, there are other options out there, but each of them is less ideal. Someday the values may shift, but it’s not something most people are willing to chase.
Reports indicate that mining a single Bitcoin now costs far more in electricity than it’s worth, even at sky-high prices.
Found at www.pcworld.com
