<p>An earlier answer claims it would burn around $2M worth of electricity to confirm one block using an ordinary CPU.  See:
<a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/36513/energy-to-confirm-one-block">Energy to confirm one block?</a>
Can anyone estimate what this figure would be for today's state-of-the-art mining hardware?</p>

<p>E.g., suppose I am presented with a chain of 8 block headers with mining difficulty at or above current level.  Without any other information, how certain could I be that they were generated by current blockchain network?  How much would it cost to create a fake, ignoring equipment cost?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-30T01:25:36.517Z
Distinguish what a "fake" chain of blocks is.
Claris
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-30T02:05:12.200Z
@eponymous "fake" that includes a transaction which is not really on the Bitcoin public chain.
user1055568
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-30T02:22:27.627Z
I have just added an answer to that question explaining how to calculate this for yourself.  It's not that I don't want to help you directly, but we have had this question several times, with people wanting updates every time, and I want to end the cycle.
Nate Eldredge
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-30T16:42:19.527Z
@NateEldredge thanks, I come up with $61,502 for one block at $.08/kwh using miner with 111,00 MH/J.
user1055568
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-30T18:11:54.097Z
Yes, that sounds right.  A good sanity check is to compare with the current block reward: 12.5 BTC, at a market price of about $6,600/BTC, is $82,500.  So there is a decent  but not ridiculous margin to cover hardware costs, maintenance, cooling, infrastructure, and overhead, and hopefully still turn a profit.
Nate Eldredge
<mining-theory><mining-hardware>
Energy to confirm one block with state-of-the-art hardware at current difficulty level
user1055568
# Energy to confirm one block with state-of-the-art hardware at current difficulty level

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-09-30)

An earlier answer claims it would burn around $2M worth of electricity to confirm one block using an ordinary CPU. See:
[Energy to confirm one block?](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/36513/energy-to-confirm-one-block)
Can anyone estimate what this figure would be for today's state-of-the-art mining hardware?

E.g., suppose I am presented with a chain of 8 block headers with mining difficulty at or above current level. Without any other information, how certain could I be that they were generated by current blockchain network? How much would it cost to create a fake, ignoring equipment cost?

**Tags:** mining-theory, mining-hardware

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Distinguish what a "fake" chain of blocks is.  
> **username_0**: @eponymous "fake" that includes a transaction which is not really on the Bitcoin public chain.  
> **username_2**: I have just added an answer to that question explaining how to calculate this for yourself.  It's not that I don't want to help you directly, but we have had this question several times, with people wanting updates every time, and I want to end the cycle.  
> **username_0**: @NateEldredge thanks, I come up with $61,502 for one block at $.08/kwh using miner with 111,00 MH/J.  
> **username_2**: Yes, that sounds right.  A good sanity check is to compare with the current block reward: 12.5 BTC, at a market price of about $6,600/BTC, is $82,500.  So there is a decent  but not ridiculous margin to cover hardware costs, maintenance, cooling, infrastructure, and overhead, and hopefully still turn a profit.  

---

## 0 answers

