Bitcoin is the most precious Cryptocurrency and if you are a miner or expecting to start mining than the very first Questions pop-ups in your mind is how long does it take to mine Bitcoin?
It is obvious that Bitcoin mining is very difficult but anyhow someone is mining those Bitcoins so why not you hence to answer your query on how long does it take to mine Bitcoin, I have shared all details in brief.
But if you are finding any difficulty with Bitcoin after reading this post make sure to check for best Altcoins to mine for.
Mining is a process of solving the mathematical problem associated with any block in the blockchain.
If talking about Bitcoin than it has a block of around every 10 minutes which is having 12.5 Bitcoin and transaction fees.
That means miners have opportunities to mine at least 12.5 BTC after every 10 minutes which will reduce to half after every 4 years.
Yes, Bitcoin generation is limited to 21 million only hence generations of those coins for each block is auto setup to get half after 4 years.
The current block of 12.5 BTC will get reduce to 6.25 BTC by 2020.
Before learning on how long does it take to mine let’s discuss first, why we need mining of Bitcoin.
Table of Contents
Why Should we Mine Bitcoin?
Mining is the process of earning free Bitcoin, which is currently worth around 4,000-5,000$/BTC.
In the year 2017 one BTC was cost close to 20,000$/Coin, due to huge in demand and best of future growth possibilities.
Then let imagine you have 100 Bitcoin, how high you will be. To purchase a Bitcoin will be easier if you have money to invest in.
But it will be very interesting to get such precious currency for free and that is possible through mining.
Bitcoin is a Blockchain based decentralized cryptocurrency where after every 10-minute a block of size 12.5 BTC with transaction fees ready to mine.
Here mines mean confirming or validating those blocks by solving puzzle associated by that block.
If anyone on Bitcoin blockchain network node using computers by generating hash power able to solve that puzzle means that block has been mined successfully.
In return block and its transactions will be added in the blockchain registry and the person who has solved that puzzle will get that whole amount in reward.
This is easy, isn’t it?
No this is not but why not easy, I will explain later in this guide.
But now discuss how many Bitcoins can you mine a day?
Currently, 12.5 BTC/Minute hence in one complete day which is around 24 hour which can have 144 blocks.
In result 144*12.5=1800 BTC per day which is too much and worth mining.
I hope you clear with an idea of how much worth Bitcoin is for you in the current date, now what if scarcity prevails in coming days?
Yes Bitcoin is limited in quantity and demand is raising day by day, so mine them as much as you can.
Ultimately the law of economics applied, more demand less supply and result in more value and more profit.
This is why you should mine a Bitcoin. If luckily you are able to grab a few then you can make a good amount of money.
Now coming to your query on how long does it take to mine Bitcoin?
How long Does it Take to mine Bitcoin?
Mining of Bitcoin totally depends on computational power you generate to solve those puzzles.
The more power you have the more chances you can mine. Mining difficulty is increasing day by day.
Due to the ongoing popularity of cryptocurrency and after 2017 boom of cryptocurrency every day new miner is joining to mine Cryptocurrency especially Bitcoin.
Hence the competition is increasing day by day and the complexity of block associated puzzle is also increasing day by day.
Bitcoin is using SHA256 based mining algorithm which is based on Proof of work (POW) algorithm.
Which means complexity will be very high and if anyone uses the more computational power will have more chances to mine Bitcoin.
Which explains, here duration to mine any Bitcoin will totally depend on computational power in the second word that is known as hash rate.
Yes, earlier it was easier to mine Bitcoin with computer systems CPU than with the increase in complexity it moved to GPU.
But now normal GPU or CPU is not good enough to mine Bitcoin, hence new mining dedicated devices introduced, which are known as ASIC(Application Specific Integrated Circuit).
This is the special hardware dedicated to generating more and more hash power, here the more hash power means more ability to solve the puzzle quickly.
Which clear our doubts that if you want to mine quickly the mining power or hash which you will generate will depend a lot.
Now Question is How to generate hash Power?
Bitcoin Mining Hardware
In summary, you got an Idea that to mine Bitcoin will require ASICs which is capable of solving complex problems very quickly.
Bitcoin mining requires to make a mining rig which is the combination of multiple ASICs, the more ASICs you can add the more power you will be able to generate.
But in the market, there are few companies selling those devices where the price of those depends on hash power generation capacity.
Hence, you should estimate the cost of mining based on money you invest to buy hash power by purchasing mining hardware.
- Bitmain Antminer S9i-14TH
- Halong Mining DragonMint T1 – 16TH
- Bitmain Antminer T9 – 12.5 TH
- Pangolin Whatsminer m3x -12.5TH
- BitMain AntMiner R4 -8.7 TH
Above are the few lists of hardware there are many more, so you can go for anyone which is the best fit for your budget.
But there is not only this is the cost of mining, but various others are also included. The most important is electricity costs.
Yes, these ASICs miners are powerful and require more electricity to run for, which may cost around 30-40$/day.
Hence in the result, make sure how much efficient in terms of power consumption your hardware is.
If I talk about Bitmain AntMiner S9i which has an energy consumption of around 1320 Watts.
In overall make choice of cost-effective hardware. Check here a report to explain how cost does it take to mine a Bitcoin per country.
Hardware maintenance cost plus electricity rates in that specific country will explain a lot, how much profit percentage you could make through mining.
Now coming back to the point, how long does it take to mine a Bitcoin using these powerful devices.
Here you can have two choices. Which decide the overall time to mine a Bitcoin.
- Solo Mining
- Pool Mining.
Solo Bitcoin Mining
In solo mining of Bitcoin, duration of the successful coin mines will totally depend on hash power or mining rigs you are able to set up.
As Bitcoin is the most complex, which requires more and more hash power may be more than 100 of ASIC will not even compete with others.
Which result in more investment in hardware than the maintenance cost than space and what about electricity cost.
In the end, no one guarantees you that you will definitely mine it. Hence Solo mining for Bitcoin is not the suggested answer by me.
But if you want then check this calculator , which will give bit idea on how much hash power you would need to mine Bitcoin.
The quicker you want the more hash power you require and early you can mine but no specified timeline for that.
What if you are not able to mine as a solo than the second and the best solution is Pool Mining.
Bitcoin Mining in Pool
Mining in a pool means, the number of people joining a commonplace and sharing their hash powers to get successful mine a Bitcoin.
This is the best way to generate more hash power from a commonplace instead of doing individual.
Ultimately you will get the reward and if your pool size means the total number of the active miner on a pool is good enough then chances of easy to mine are very high.
But the reward you will make will be divided among all the contributors, hence the more hash power you will contribute the proportional ratio you will get.
While checking to the blockchain network, I found below stats for all the Mining pool from Blockahin dashboard which are making shares in mining a Bitcoin.
Above chart display the past 24-48 hours contribution of hash rates by different mining pools.
Where Slushpool is making the highest, which was started back in the year 2010 and one of the oldest mining pool.
The others are like ViaBTC, DPOOL, F2POOL etc.
You can join any of the above pool but make sure to check their prices in terms of transaction fees and withdrawal minimum criteria.
In Pool mining, the best part is you won’t need to invest any single penny or care about the maintenance of hardware.
The more you contribute the more you will get and the larger the size of the pool means high chances to mine quickly.
Actual mining difficulty is increased or decreases day by day hence no one can exactly get an idea on how long does it take time to mine Bitcoin but I found below stats from statista.
This proves that the average time for the last one year was close to 9.3 minutes to mine a block.
Based on other stats suggested by blog post BeinCrypto, it says if bitcoin difficulty increases 10.3 percent biweekly than with below hardware devices, how much it will take to mine?
Yes if this is the condition then you can see with single hardware how much Bitcoin you could mine per week or per month.
But After one year, not a single device can mine Bitcoin due to increasing complexity and in case you want to mine than it will require to run multiple simultaneous devices.
This is just mining rewards not about percentage of profit which overall depend on various other factors.
But if take into consideration that no mining difficulty increase and will remain the same as current than new stats will come.
But no one case assure you with mining difficulty, it is obvious that more competition will increase more difficulty and In result, you would have to be a part of the mining pool.
Conclusion on How long does it take to mine Bitcoin
In summary, I must say hash power is the prime criteria to mine Bitcoin but how quick you can mine, it will depend on the mining difficulties.
I would advise you to not mine Bitcoin as a solo which is close to impossible.
If you are new to this then the best is look for Altcoin which allows you to mine by CPU or GPU, check this guide.
Instead of Bitcoin, you can go for Altcoins like Ethereum mine, Bitcoin cash Mine, Litecoin Mine.
If you really want to mine the only Bitcoin then the go for pool mining yes the reward will be less but chances will be very high to get Bitcoin.
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