Reddit reviews Antminer S7 ~4.73TH/s With 2 Fans @ .25W/GH 28nm ASIC Bitcoin Miner

yep, newly released miners are starting to go online

https://bitmaintech.com/product.htm
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B014OGCP6W/

expect moar hashrate

Your description is untrue in a couple of ways, which is probably what leads to your confusion.

You need to understand how the basics of the math behind the system functions. Traditional banking is based on trust that your bank won't, say, reduce your balance to 0 or allow some thief to walk into a branch and empty your account.

Bitcoin doesn't have that trust. It has math. Math doesn't need trust, because you can always verify for yourself that 1+1 does indeed equal 2.

The math of bitcoin is all based around asymmetric cryptography, which is really cool. To begin using asymmetric cryptography, the first thing you need to do is generate two "keys". Each key can take plain-text information (i.e. "Spend $50 on burritos") and turn it into encrypted information (i.e. "5c19b18cc79c9026c667be46483882c7810d224189b172c5396766725523dd3c"). Once encrypted, the only way to decrypt it is by using the other key.

So say you want to spend $50 on burritos. The only way for this to happen is by creating your encrypted copy of the request, which only you can do because only you have the key required to create that information. Other people, holding the other (public) key, can decrypt your request to verify that it is legitimate. But no one else (including bitcoin miners) has your key, and as a result, no one is mathematically capable of creating forged requests in your name.

All bitcoin miners are doing, is verifying your request using the public key you provide for them. They don't control the flow of information, they just verify it.

And because math isn't subjective, this is something that anyone can verify for themselves as well. Becoming a bitcoin miner is a mere $500 - $1000 investment. Which, compared to the cost of creating a new international bank, is practically nothing.

(If anyone more involved in bitcoin wants to correct me on any of this, feel free. I find it very interesting, but I'm definitely no expert on the topic)

Can you provide more detail on why you expect $50M can buy 25% of the hashing majority?
Here's my estimate: F2Pool claims 243,000 TH, the equivalent of ~52,000 Antminer S7 ($1500 on Amazon, with 4.7TH). Before you can buy $80 million in miners to match F2Pool, you'd have to corner the market on new bitcoin miners without driving up the price... but even that ignores data center and electricity costs.

In comparison, Antminer S7 uses 0.25W/GH according to http://www.amazon.com/Antminer-S7-~4-73TH-Bitcoin-Miner/dp/B014OGCP6W.

I have had to look up what 0.09w/GH means, but now i know that's a very impressive power usage.

avoid like the plague. That is an old miner and a very high price. you can easily get one for less then that if you want: https://www.amazon.com/Antminer-4-73TH-25W-Bitcoin-Miner/dp/B014OGCP6W

Stranded electricity isn't a half bad place to mine bitcoins at least you can get back some money. Like buy some S7's and try?

https://bitmaintech.com/product.htm

https://www.amazon.com/Antminer-~4-73TH-25W-Bitcoin-Miner/dp/B014OGCP6W

EDIT: just adding a quick link to a mining calculator (but this calculator needs updating, the reward is not 25 btc/block, its now 12.5+fees)
https://alloscomp.com/bitcoin/calculator

Another thing you could consider is the costs of building a power wall or buying one from Tesla:

"Powerwall | The Tesla Home Battery - Tesla Motors
https://www.teslamotors.com/powerwall
Tesla Motors
Powerwall is a home battery that charges using electricity generated from solar panels, or when utility rates are low, and powers your home in the evening. ... Tesla home batteries maximize the usefulness of your solar panels and offer a variety of backup electricity supply solutions."

Why wouldn't you just get an ASIC?

Here is the post for archival purposes:

Author: cointastical

Content:

>Do you even math, bro?

>First, the claim:

> http://digiconomist.net/beci


>"Estimated energy used over the last 24 hours (KWh) 22,091,966
</blockquote>

>Now the facts.

>Total hashing, today: 1,873,438 TH/s (per BitcoinWatch.com)

>Using current (efficient) Antminer S9s. ( https://www.amazon.com/Antminer-S9-13-5TH-098W-Bitcoin/dp/B01MCZVPFE ) Each does 13.5 TH/s, and uses ~1,323W. So if all mining was using these, that would be 138,773 of these units (1,873,438 / 13.5). X 1,323W = 4.4 GWh/day.

>The claim above was 22.1 GWh, or 5X this metric.

>Ok, maybe not all mining is done with efficient S9s. Let's use all last-generation hardware, Antminer S7.

>Using older (less efficient) Antminer S7s. ( https://www.amazon.com/Antminer-~4-73TH-Fans-Bitcoin-Miner/dp/B014OGCP6W ) Each does 4.73 TH/s, and uses ~1,293W. So if all mining was using these, that would be 396,075 of these units (1873438÷4.73). X 1,293W = 12.3 GWh/day.

>Still about half the value given by Digiconomist's index.

>But we know the biggest mining farms are not using obsolete hardware, and they represent a majority of the hashing.

>So, at best, Digiconomist's numbers are maybe 2X or 3X too high, or maybe even worse.

Yes, you can buy mining hardware for less than that. Whether the hardware would be profitable is a different question. The one I linked to draws 1.25 kW, and if you are paying retail for electricity, it may not be.

Many people these days mine other cryptocurrencies (altcoins = alternative coins), which can often be done with standard graphics cards. If you already have a suitable one, you can skip the hardware cost, but you still have to pay whatever the cost of running it is. If you want one of the flavors of bitcoin in the end, the altcoin can be traded on an exchange.

My knowledge of mining is out of date, since I stopped in 2013, when my graphics card was no longer competitive. Since then, I just bought bitcoins on exchanges or through personal transactions.

Are you sure we're speaking of the same machine? Never the less, I'm interested to hear about this machine that costs 1.8k.

http://www.amazon.com/Antminer-~4-73TH-25W-Bitcoin-Miner/dp/B014OGCP6W

You would want to run your "heaters" because they have an upfront cost ~6-12x an equivalent real heater.

http://www.amazon.com/Antminer-~4-73TH-25W-Bitcoin-Miner/dp/B014OGCP6W
http://www.amazon.com/TPI-Corporation-188TASA-Forced-Portable/dp/B002FCK8X0

Update Dec 31st, 2016:

First, the claim:

http://digiconomist.net/beci

"Estimated energy used over the last 24 hours (KWh) 30,144,177

Now the facts.

Total hashing, today: 2,359,569 TH/s (per BitcoinWatch.com)

Using current (efficient) Antminer S9s. ( https://www.amazon.com/Antminer-S9-13-5TH-098W-Bitcoin/dp/B01MCZVPFE ) Each does 13.5 TH/s, and uses ~1,323W. So if all mining was using these, that would be 174,782 of these units (2,359,569 / 13.5). X 1,323W = 5.5 GWh/day.

The claim above was 30.1 GWh, or more than 5X this metric.

Ok, maybe not all mining is done with efficient S9s. Let's use all last-generation (essentially economically unviable, obsolete) hardware, the Antminer S7.

Using older (less efficient) Antminer S7s. ( https://www.amazon.com/Antminer-~4-73TH-Fans-Bitcoin-Miner/dp/B014OGCP6W ) Each does 4.73 TH/s, and uses ~1,293W. So if all mining was using these, that would be 498,851 of these units (2,359,569÷4.73). X 1,293W = 15.5 GWh/day.

So Digiconomist's index is based on a total that is too high by about twice (2X) this value.

But we know the biggest mining farms are not using obsolete hardware, and they represent a majority of the hashing.

So, at best, Digiconomist's numbers are 2X or 3X too high, and likely are even worse.