The amount of overhead required to mine Bitcoin will most likely dwarf any profit one tries to make by investing their time and energy into the process.
“The probability that an individual’s mining rig can solve an algorithm that results in a successful block is infinitesimal. It’s almost like winning the lottery. Instead, many people join mining pools. Mining pools can be profitable,” says Wade Guenther, partner at Wilshire Phoenix.
However, if you were to solve the puzzle yourself, at today’s prices you would earn about $187,500 worth of Bitcoin. However, an individual is unlikely to solve these puzzles in today’s highly competitive mining environment.
The puzzles will most likely be solved by the mining pool, and the winnings will be shared among all the miners in the pool. If an individual miner can keep their equipment and electricity costs low enough, joining a mining pool could still be profitable for them.
“Mining is a very interesting but very risky activity,” said Didar Bekbauov, founder and CEO of Bitcoin Group mining company Xive. “If someone wants to do this, they must understand that I would not advise them to invest all their money in this activity,” says Bekbauov.