<p>Keep in mind that <em>difficulty</em> also evolves over time: the more hashes the network produces, the higher the difficulty becomes.  As of this writing the difficulty is 148,819,199.  By my computation, each additional 275GH/s rig that joins the network will increase the difficulty by about 40,000; if 4,000 of them are sold, the difficulty will more than double (not counting all the competing mining rigs that may join the network).  And of course, in a few more months, there may be even more powerful rigs available.  So you should expect difficulty to rise, perhaps sharply, and this will decrease your profitability over time.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-01T15:20:19.633Z
2013-10-01T15:20:19.633Z
Nate Eldredge
<p>I am a beginner looking into Bitcoin mining. I don't want to waste time (or electricity) so I started looking into hardware mining rigs, for example:
<a href="https://www.kncminer.com/categories/miners" rel="nofollow">Saturn</a></p>

<p>priced at $3000 USD, 
275GH/s, consumes ~400Watt
(or even Monarch from butterfly labs which claims 600GH/sec @ 350W, priced $4700)</p>

<p>I put these numbers + my local electricity price + current difficulty into a decent <a href="http://blockchained.com/profit/index.php" rel="nofollow">calculator</a>, 
and I get >7,000 $USD profit for 3 months time frame (or >18,000$ for the Monarch). Sounds a bit too good to be true.</p>

<p>I know BTC/USD rate might fluctuate, and that the miner will produce heat, but still. - Where's the catch/mistake, if at all?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-11-07T12:07:40.220Z
possible duplicate of [Why does mining profitability tend towards zero?](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/2154/5406)
Murch
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-20T20:33:37.707Z
possible duplicate of [Do these new ASIC miners really pay for themselves in 5 days?](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/9148/5406)
Murch
<mining-profitability><mining-hardware>
Mining profitability sounds too good, where is the catch?
mindbomb
# Mining profitability sounds too good, where is the catch?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-10-01)

I am a beginner looking into Bitcoin mining. I don't want to waste time (or electricity) so I started looking into hardware mining rigs, for example:
[Saturn](https://www.kncminer.com/categories/miners)

priced at $3000 USD,
275GH/s, consumes ~400Watt
(or even Monarch from butterfly labs which claims 600GH/sec @ 350W, priced $4700)

I put these numbers + my local electricity price + current difficulty into a decent [calculator](http://blockchained.com/profit/index.php),
and I get >7,000 $USD profit for 3 months time frame (or >18,000$ for the Monarch). Sounds a bit too good to be true.

I know BTC/USD rate might fluctuate, and that the miner will produce heat, but still. - Where's the catch/mistake, if at all?

**Tags:** mining-profitability, mining-hardware

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: possible duplicate of [Why does mining profitability tend towards zero?](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/2154/5406)  
> **username_1**: possible duplicate of [Do these new ASIC miners really pay for themselves in 5 days?](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/9148/5406)  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2013-10-01. Score: 12 | Accepted answer

Keep in mind that *difficulty* also evolves over time: the more hashes the network produces, the higher the difficulty becomes. As of this writing the difficulty is 148,819,199. By my computation, each additional 275GH/s rig that joins the network will increase the difficulty by about 40,000; if 4,000 of them are sold, the difficulty will more than double (not counting all the competing mining rigs that may join the network). And of course, in a few more months, there may be even more powerful rigs available. So you should expect difficulty to rise, perhaps sharply, and this will decrease your profitability over time.


---

