Bitcoin’s Price Surge Gives Miners a Boost
Bitcoin’s recent climb—up nearly 15% in the last month—has mining operations breathing a little easier. With the current rate for 1 petahash per second (PH/s) sitting around $60.49, the top-tier ASIC rigs are finally seeing some daylight. It’s not a gold rush, but for those with the right hardware, the numbers are looking better than they have in a while.
The jump from $53.20 to $60.49 per PH/s might not sound huge, but for miners operating at scale, that 13.7% bump matters. At $0.06 per kWh, Bitmain’s Antminer S21e XP Hydro 3U is leading the pack, churning out 860 TH/s. Of course, it’s not exactly energy-efficient—11,180 watts is a lot, roughly equivalent to running several air conditioners around the clock. Still, it’s pulling in about $35.66 a day in profit, which isn’t bad at all.
The Contenders: Who’s Making the Cut?
Not far behind is Auradine’s Teraflux AH3880, an American-made rig pushing 600 TH/s at 8,700 watts. It’s a bit more efficient than Bitmain’s top model, though it doesn’t quite match the raw output. Then there’s Bitmain’s S21 XP+ Hydro, a 500 TH/s machine that sips power at 5,500 watts, netting around $22.17 daily.
Older models are still hanging in there, too. Bitdeer’s Sealminer A2 Pro Hydro, released earlier this year, manages 500 TH/s at 7,450 watts, earning just under $20 a day. And Canaan’s Avalon A1566HA 2U, despite its higher power draw, brings in $17.27 daily with 480 TH/s.
But not everyone’s winning. The once-dominant Bitmain S9 series, for example, is now a money pit unless you’ve got dirt-cheap electricity. At standard rates, most S9 models are losing a dollar or more per day.
Small-Scale Miners: Still in the Game
For hobbyists, the profits are tiny but not nonexistent. Bitmain’s aging S17+ scrapes together $0.19 a day, while newer micro-rigs like the Nerdminer NerdQaxe++ (just 76 watts) manage $0.18. Even the compact Bitaxe Supra Hex 701, with its modest 4.2 TH/s, pulls in $0.14 daily.
It’s a far cry from industrial mining, sure, but for tinkerers and small-time operators, it’s something. And in a market as volatile as Bitcoin’s, sometimes “something” is enough to keep the lights on—literally.
