How Much Can You Make Mining Bitcoin Per Day?

It’s the million-dollar question for many aspiring crypto miners—how much can you make mining Bitcoin in a single day? The answer is complicated, as it depends on various factors such as the cost of electricity, the power of your mining hardware, and the difficulty of mining new blocks. With the allure of making quick profits, many jump into Bitcoin mining expecting large returns. However, the reality is more complex.

Let’s start with the big numbers:

In 2023, mining one Bitcoin takes an average of 900,000 kWh of electricity. The block reward for successfully mining a Bitcoin block is currently 6.25 BTC. At today’s rates (around $30,000 per Bitcoin), that’s roughly $187,500 per block mined. But wait—this doesn’t mean you will earn that much in a day. Most miners are part of mining pools that share rewards, and even with high-end mining rigs, individual earnings are often far lower.

A Closer Look at Mining Profitability:

• Mining Hardware: The ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) miners like the Antminer S19 Pro are popular for Bitcoin mining. This hardware can mine at a rate of 110 TH/s (terahashes per second). At an electricity consumption of about 3250 watts, it produces around 0.0006 BTC per day. At today’s market price, that’s about $18 a day.

• Electricity Costs: Depending on where you live, electricity costs will either make or break your profitability. For example, at an electricity rate of $0.10 per kWh, running an Antminer S19 Pro will cost about $7.80 per day. Subtracting that from the $18 daily revenue means a net profit of around $10 per day.

• Mining Pool Fees: Most miners join mining pools where computing power is pooled, and rewards are split based on contribution. Pools typically charge a fee ranging from 1% to 3% of your earnings. If you’re making $18 a day, you’ll need to subtract another $0.18 to $0.54 from that total.

Difficulty Adjustments:

Bitcoin mining difficulty adjusts every 2016 blocks, roughly every two weeks, based on how much total hashing power is on the network. When the network has more hashing power, difficulty increases, and fewer Bitcoins are mined for the same amount of work. This difficulty fluctuation means your daily earnings can vary significantly.

Environmental and Long-term Sustainability:

As Bitcoin halving approaches (expected in 2024), the block reward will drop from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC, halving miners' rewards. This means that profitability will shrink unless Bitcoin’s price increases. For many miners, this makes it difficult to maintain profitability over the long term. Many are looking into renewable energy sources or countries with cheaper electricity to stay competitive. Solar-powered mining farms are becoming more common, though initial setup costs can be quite high.

Case Study:

Let’s take John, a miner based in Texas, where electricity rates are relatively low. He has two Antminer S19 Pro rigs and pays about $0.08 per kWh. His rigs earn him $36 a day in BTC, while his electricity costs come to about $12.48 daily. After accounting for pool fees, his daily profit is around $22.

In contrast, a miner in Germany, where electricity rates can reach $0.30 per kWh, will find it much more difficult to profit. The same rigs earning $36 a day would have a $46.80 daily electricity bill, leading to a net loss of over $10 a day.

Mining Farms:

Large-scale Bitcoin mining farms, like those in Iceland and Kazakhstan, take advantage of cheap energy and economies of scale. These farms run thousands of miners and have deals with power companies that allow them to run operations at much lower costs, sometimes as low as $0.04 per kWh. For individual miners, competing with such large farms is challenging, but joining mining pools can help level the playing field somewhat.

Factors That Impact Bitcoin Mining Earnings:

1. Hashrate: The higher the hash rate of your mining rig, the more Bitcoin you can mine. A higher hash rate means faster solving of cryptographic puzzles.

2. Electricity Costs: The most significant operational cost. Bitcoin miners are constantly searching for the cheapest power to maximize profits.

3. Mining Difficulty: As more miners join the network, the difficulty increases, making it harder to mine Bitcoin.

4. Bitcoin’s Market Price: The volatility of Bitcoin’s price can either bolster or cripple profits. A rise in Bitcoin’s price makes mining more profitable, while a drop does the opposite.

5. Block Reward: Currently 6.25 BTC per block, but set to halve in 2024 to 3.125 BTC.

Table: Daily Bitcoin Mining Earnings Breakdown

Factor	Value (Antminer S19 Pro)	Cost/Profit Calculation
Hashrate	110 TH/s	0.0006 BTC/day
Electricity Usage	3250 Watts	$7.80/day @ $0.10/kWh
Revenue (at $30k/BTC)	$18/day
Electricity Costs	$7.80/day
Pool Fees (2%)	$0.36/day
Daily Profit	$9.84/day

Key Takeaways:

• Mining is profitable—but only under the right circumstances. Energy costs and hardware efficiency are the two most important variables.
• Join a mining pool: Solo mining is rarely profitable anymore unless you have an extraordinary amount of hashing power. Pool mining spreads the risk and ensures more regular payouts.
• The future is uncertain: With Bitcoin halving and increasing mining difficulty, profit margins will shrink unless Bitcoin's price skyrockets or mining becomes more energy-efficient.

Final Thoughts:

Is Bitcoin mining worth it? The high electricity costs, increasing difficulty, and looming halving are major obstacles. If you're living in a region with cheap electricity and have access to efficient mining hardware, you can still make a reasonable daily profit. However, it's far from the gold rush many envision. For those willing to navigate the challenges and adopt cutting-edge technologies, like renewable energy sources, Bitcoin mining can be a rewarding, though unpredictable, venture.