Mining
Calculating mining returns
Mining is a margin business. Four variables — revenue per terahash, efficiency, power price and depreciation — tell you in five minutes whether a setup stands a chance.
Hashprice: what one terahash earns per day
Hashprice expresses daily revenue per TH/s at the current price, difficulty and fee level. It trends down as global hashrate grows faster than rewards.
Never extrapolate today's hashprice across a machine's lifetime; model a conservative annual decline.
Efficiency and power cost
Efficiency is measured in joules per terahash. A 20 J/TH machine at 100 TH/s draws roughly 2,000 watts.
Daily kWh = watts × 24 / 1,000. Multiply by your all-in power price including grid fees and levies.
- Revenue/day = TH/s × hashprice
- Cost/day = kW × 24 × price per kWh
- Margin/day = revenue − cost − pool fee
Worked example
100 TH/s, 3,000 watts, €0.12/kWh and a hashprice of €0.05 per TH/day: revenue €5.00, power 72 kWh × €0.12 = €8.64. This setup loses money.
At €0.04/kWh power costs €2.88 and about €2.00 margin remains before pool fee, depreciation and maintenance.
What most models forget
Depreciation is the biggest hidden cost: hardware loses value the moment more efficient models ship. Use three to four years straight-line.
Add downtime, ventilation, spare parts, space and tax treatment — and model a price drop without a matching difficulty drop.
Recommended by our newsroom
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Frequently asked questions
What is a realistic payback period?
Twelve to twenty-four months in favourable conditions. Above €0.10/kWh, new hardware rarely pays back.
Where do I find hashprice?
Public mining dashboards publish it daily. Use a thirty-day average rather than today's peak.
Does heat count as revenue?
Yes, if it genuinely displaces gas or electricity you would have used anyway.
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