Can you really make money mining with a home computer? A complete breakdown of feasible plans for 2024.

Core Truth: BTC is no longer viable, but there are still a bunch of coins to mine.

Someone asked me if I could mine at home with a laptop to make quick money. My answer is: Don't think about mining BTC, that thing now requires professional ASIC miners to have a chance. But if you're willing to spend some money on a GPU, there are indeed opportunities.

Which coins are worth mining?

DOGE (Dogecoin): Market cap of 21.8 billion, daily trading volume over 2.5 billion. The meme coin of the past has now become mainstream and continues to produce new coins, with decent mining incentives. It is slow with CPU mining, but can accelerate with GPU.

ETC (Ethereum Classic): Market cap of 4.35 billion. After ETH switched to PoS, this guy became the new favorite for GPU mining. The entry barrier is low, and you can do it with a regular desktop.

XMR (Monero): Market cap of $2.5 billion. Specifically designed to prevent ASIC monopoly, making it particularly suitable for home mining. Privacy coins have a strong inherent appeal.

ZEC (Zcash): Market cap of 470 million. The Equihash algorithm is inherently ASIC-resistant and GPU-friendly.

There are also RVN (Ravencoin), BTG (Bitcoin Gold), ZEN (Horizen), etc., all following the same approach - ASIC resistance design + GPU mineable + large enough market cap to be viable.

How much can you really earn?

Hashrate = Earnings. The better the graphics card, the faster the mining.

Entry-level graphics cards start at $600, while high-end ones are over $2000. The key factor is 哈希率 (Hashrate) — this is the unit of computing power, the higher it is, the more valuable.

Real Data (from actual feedback of miners):

• 13 hosts, each equipped with 8 AMD RX5700 XT graphics cards
• Normally $4/day for electricity, can mine $20/day worth of coin
• In a bear market, earn only $500/month, in a bull market directly $17000/month

So whether you make a profit really depends on the coin price and electricity costs.

Cost Killer: Electricity Bill

The essence of mining is burning electricity. The average electricity price in the US is $0.1611 per kWh, with cheap rates in Idaho at $0.0799 per kWh and expensive rates in Hawaii at $0.4318 per kWh. The cheapest in the world is found in Myanmar and the Middle East.

A high-end graphics card = 1000 watts electric heater. The cheaper your electricity bill, the more you earn.

How to determine if you can make a profit?

Use the WhatToMine calculator to input your hardware and local electricity price to see the expected earnings. The variables are quite simple:

1. Coin price (the most volatile factor)
2. Electricity fee (fixed cost)
3. Hardware Computing Power (One-time Investment)

Entry Suggestions

✓ Wealthy and Leisurely: Set up an 8 GPU host, join a mining pool, and enjoy considerable profits during a bull market.

✗ Common Misunderstanding: Don't believe in “cloud mining”—most of them are scams

✗ CPU mining: the speed is frustratingly slow, and the electricity costs end up losing money.

Final words: This is not an investment, it is gambling on coin prices. Do your homework, calculate the electricity costs, and then decide whether to get in.