The short answer to the question how long does it take to mine a bitcoin is 10 minutes. Bitcoin mining is dependent on the block time and it doesn’t change. So, we can expect new Bitcoin to be mined every ten minutes.
If you are into the crypto world actively, or even occasionally, you must have come across the term Bitcoin mining. Well, it is an exciting process. For those who do not know what Bitcoin mining is – it is a way to earn cryptocurrencies without investing money onto it directly through trading or buying by fiat currencies. Let’s quickly learn how long does it take to mine a bitcoin this year. But before that, some basics.
As a Bitcoin miner, you complete two processes. One, to verify transactions on the blockchain. Two, you can get new Bitcoins from the network. But how does that happen?
Well, it happens through solving mathematical problems. So, you solve complex mathematical problems to produce new Bitcoin from the network.
And, you solve complex mathematical problems that help verify the transactions in the network that rewards you with Bitcoin. It is because once you verify these transactions, the network becomes secure and trustworthy.
Transactions happen when people send Bitcoins somewhere. Like how banks and other companies store these transactions in software or a logbook, the bitcoin miners do something similar. They put these transactions together as a block on the blockchain. You can access these records in the future since the blockchain network is public.
While verifying these transactions, Bitcoin miners check if they are valid. They check if no duplicate Bitcoins have been used, a concept also called double-spending.
Essentially this is to keep a check on counterfeiting digital currency since it is easier to do compared to paper currency. Is Bitcoin mining profitable now? This guide will introduce you and let you estimate how long does it take to mine a Bitcoin block.
In simple words – hash rate relates to the computing power people use in Bitcoin mining. As mentioned earlier, mining solves complex mathematical problems and this uses up computing power. This computing power is provided through hash rate.
The higher the hash rate, the more computing power the bitcoin mining machinery has. It also means, if you have a higher hash rate, you can earn more Bitcoins as a reward for verification and finding new Bitcoins from the network.
But on the flip side, the more the total hash rate of the Bitcoin network, the more mining machines are there in total, and it becomes harder to mine Bitcoin. It is a way Bitcoin mining is becoming highly competitive and less investment-worthy.
But it is also ideal if the hash rate of the Bitcoin network is high. It also means that an attacker would have to at least 51% of the Bitcoin network’s hash rate to take control of the crypto network.
Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Adjustment
To begin with, let us understand Bitcoin difficulty. It is a way to measure competition on mining on the Bitcoin network. Based on the total computing power consumed by the network, the Bitcoin difficulty levels vary.
To keep Bitcoin mining realistic and lucrative for experienced as well as new-entrant miners, there is something called the Difficulty Adjustment Algorithm (DAA) that operates every 2016 blocks. In time, it is close to around 14 days. This algorithm ensures that the time taken to complete Bitcoin mining on a block remains ten days on average.
What is Bitcoin Proof of Work?
Proof of Work is the algorithm responsible for securing cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. It is thanks to the Proof of Work algorithm that makes Bitcoin works without any governing agency or government ruling over it.
So, how does it work? To recall, Bitcoin is a blockchain, which means every transaction that ever occurred is stored publicly on it that can be accessed. The blockchain has no blocks on it, the newest blocks have the most recent transactions recorded on it.
The miners are the ones who create new blocks on the crypto Blockchain, each time they verify transactions and solve that complex mathematical problem. They can create a new crypto block each time one of them comes up with a new proof-of-work that is the winner. It happens in 10 minutes approximately, every time.
Finding the combination of the winning proof-of-work is very hard, especially on networks such as Bitcoins. Thus, mining is more profitable only for people who used specialized equipment with high computing power. The more computations they try out, the more chance they have for finding the winning proof-of-work.
So, every 10 minutes, Bitcoin has a current target which the miners have to find. Good miners compute around 10 trillion combinations in a second, so it takes roughly 10 minutes for someone to reach this target.
How Long Does it Take to Mine a Bitcoin? Is it Profitable to Mine Bitcoin?
Several factors determine if Bitcoin mining is still profitable. First, consider the electricity cost to power the Bitcoin mining equipment. You also have to consider the upfront investment you make on the Bitcoin mining equipment, including its price and maintenance.
Since there are just too many miners in the Bitcoin network, it is not profitable for all except some.
You can find equipment by spending as little as $100, and the more powerful ones can cost upwards of $10,000. You have to probably invest in a storage space for Bitcoin mining through specialized equipment because they generate a lot of heat and noise while occupying a lot of space.
The best way to start is to calculate the profitably you can expect, through a web profitably calculator. You can then analyze the cost and benefit equation of the Bitcoin mining process. While their values are still estimations, you can get a rough estimate of how much profit you can make.
Change the different parameters on the calculators to see how much profit you can make with the parameters. If it is a loss for you, there are some other options you can consider.
For example, you can join a mining pool where you and other members contribute mining power together, and once your pool mine Bitcoin, you get a share of the reward. It can probably provide you more profits if you are a small-scale individual miner.
Overall, to determine the profits, start with a profit calculator. Determine how much capital you can provide upfront. Talk to existing Bitcoin miners. Analyze how Bitcoin can move in the future. Use all of these factors to make an informed decision.
Wondering how much time will it take to mine a Bitcoin? Read below.
How Long Does It Take To Mine Bitcoin?
At the time of writing, it takes 10 minutes for a miner to discover each new block on the Bitcoin network. In return, they get a reward of 6.25 BTC. But note that it is not easy, because the entire network of miners in the Bitcoin network is competing to find the winning proof of work.
Only one of them will be successful to find the new block. There are tens and thousands of miners currently in operation, and some of them have specialized equipment, so it is not easy to discover a crypto block at all.
So, miners become a part of mining pools so that it becomes easier for them to earn some degree of profits. Regardless of which miner in the mining pools cracks the block, the rewards are for all the mining pool members.
If you want to find out the duration of mining BTC as an individual miner, use a profitable calculator. If you like to go solo, you need to provide a lot of computing power to stand a chance to earn 1 BTC per day. The practice is indeed risky, miners do not even find a block for years together.
How Long Does it Take to Mine A Bitcoin With One Computer or PC?
It is tough to do Bitcoin mining through a regular home PC. But even considering the higher range ones like, it will mine around 0.00000840 BTC per year considering measurements and values on the CryptoCompare website. So, in dollars, it could be a few pennies per year.
Going by this calculation, it will take hundreds and thousands of years, minimum to mine one BTC. You can even input your CPU specifications on a mining calculator to see the duration.
How Long Does it Take to Mine A Bitcoin With GTX 1080?
The base clock of the GTX 1080 is 1607 MHz, and the GPU Power is 180 W. Wondering how long it will take to mine a Bitcoin with this GPU? It can provide close to 36 MH/s hash rate on a single day.
Putting this into perspective for Bitcoin, it will take more than a lifetime to mine one single BTC. With mining becoming harder every day, it may not even ever generate a single BTC.
How Long Does It Take to Mine A Bitcoin on Your Phone?
It is possible to mine Bitcoin through your Android phone with several apps released on it. But it is not close to mining through traditional and more powerful equipment. It might not bring you profits with cryptocurrency mining through the phone.
Well, the phones today are more powerful but many other miners use more specialized equipment that gives them more incentive to win BTC. Also note that mining apps use a lot of computing power on your phone, and it can potentially damage it.
So, on a technical scale, the BTC mining on your phone will take more than a lifetime for sure. It is recommended instead, that you install popular apps such as MinerGate, or Bitcoin Miner to try mining BTC or other altcoins that require less computing power.
How Long Does It Take to Mine A Bitcoin Solo?
It depends on the mining hardware you have that is its performance per watt. Note that there are a lot of overheads to this, which you should be able to bear. Also, note that mining is a long–term investment so the longevity of your equipment also matters. So considering all these acquisition investments, the time it takes to mine a bitcoin solo can vary from a few months to a lifetime or even more.
If you use proper machinery and equipment, including the ASIC machines, etc, you can mine BTC in a year or two. But note that this is a heavy investment. The difficulty of BTC mining will only increase.
How Long Does It Take To Mine Bitcoin in A Pool?
Depending on the mining pool you join, and the strength of the pool in general, you can expect small rewards now and then. The biggest mining pools like Slushpool own roughly 10% of the total Bitcoin hash rate. BTC.com is also a mining pool, that is responsible for finding out 17% of the new mining blocks.
Joining any of such crypto pools can provide great rewards without any upfront investments. Note that there is a certain percentage of mining fees on these platforms, which is generally quite minimum.
How Long Does it Take to Mine A Bitcoin With A Macbook Pro or Similar Laptop?
The current generation of laptops cannot generate enough has the power to mine Bitcoin regularly. In many of them, including the powerful ones like MacBook Pro, it might take decades and even centuries to mine a small portion of the Bitcoin.
Since the difficulty is ever-increasing, you will hardly earn a few pennies each year out of mining through a laptop. The highest-end laptops can generate 2 billion hashes per second. Compared to one of the lowest ranges of ASIC machines out there, this laptop will be around 7000 times slower.
Also, consider the electricity and air-conditioning cost to run your laptop continuously to mine Bitcoin. It is highly impractical at the current levels of Bitcoin.
How Long Does It Take To Mine Bitcoin with ASIC?
Considering how the Bitcoin mining difficulty increased between 2017 and 2018, there will be around six times increase each year. But note that the difficulty increases each year may vary depending on the Bitcoin demand. Here are some of the estimates considering this difficulty increase:
The Ebang Ebit E11++ may average around 0.233 BTC per year. Similarly, the ASICMiner and ASICMiner Pro may mine an average of 0.233 BTC and 0.424 BTC per year.
Some lower range mining hardware may provide 0.149 BTC per year. But with the increasing difficulty, it may take more years to mine BTC. One way to optimize this is to have several ASIC machines of the current generations run together. If you get around 190 TH/s to mine BTC, you can earn 1 BTC per year or two approx.
How Long Does it Take to Mine a Bitcoin? – What is the Fastest Way to Mine Bitcoin?
The best way to mine Bitcoins is to use the latest ASIC machines running simultaneously with each other if you want to go solo. If you like to earn without much upfront investment, join a mining pool. It is faster and the best too.
How Long Does it Take To Mine a Bitcoin? – Conclusion
Bitcoin mining is an exciting activity for crypto-lovers out there. While some do it as a hobby, there are any who undertake it as a source of income.
But having said that, it will take a lot of investment upfront to create profits out of this activity, which is seriously risky. However, if you want to mine Bitcoin as a hobby and want to explore how it works, go ahead with minimal investment, which you may even not mind losing.
Beware of the Bitcoin miner virus that spreads and cryptojacks people’s computers and mines bitcoin. How long does it take to mine a bitcoin on an infected computer? Forever, but they are ok with any small profits they can get without much effort.
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