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Not everyone who wants to invest in Bitcoin needs to become a miner. In 2026, in Switzerland, BTC mining is primarily an activity for individuals or companies with a significant energy advantage. For most users, buying the cryptocurrency directly proves to be a much more cost-effective option.
Let's be honest: for the vast majority of individual enthusiasts, Bitcoin mining is usually not a profitable strategy.
This only makes sense under very specific, almost ideal conditions: when you have access to exceptionally cheap electricity, you use the latest and most powerful specialized equipment, your system runs almost nonstop, and you have a truly solid plan for recouping a large investment.
If your main goal is simply to acquire Bitcoin, buying it directly is definitely a simpler and less complicated option than trying to mine it yourself.
The mining profitability calculator shows only a snapshot of the situation at a given moment, not a definitive forecast for the future. Its results can change significantly because of many factors, such as mining difficulty, hashprice, the price of Bitcoin (BTC), transaction fees, equipment downtime, and energy costs.
Conditions on the Bitcoin network are constantly changing. For example, as the global hash rate increases and more powerful miners join the network, your current equipment receives a smaller share of the total block rewards. As a result, even if the price of BTC remains relatively stable, profitability can look completely different after just a few weeks.
Therefore, the mining calculator should be viewed as a starting point rather than a guarantee of earnings. Actual profitability depends not only on the calculator’s results, but also on access to cheap energy, efficient hardware, stable and uninterrupted operation of the entire setup, and prudent management of all costs.
The main cost of Bitcoin mining is energy. Mining equipment runs around the clock, constantly converting electricity into computing power and heat. Therefore, even a small difference in the price per kilowatt-hour can determine the profitability of the entire operation.
In reality, mining is only really viable when the operator has access to exceptionally cheap electricity, efficient equipment, and well-managed infrastructure. When the cost of electricity exceeds about $0.05–0.06 per kWh, it becomes increasingly difficult to compete with professional companies that benefit from industrial energy rates, economies of scale, better cooling systems, constant monitoring, and dedicated technical support.
That’s why home mining is often at a disadvantage right from the start. Private users typically pay higher electricity rates and must also deal with noise, heat dissipation, ventilation, electrical load, equipment failures, and downtime on their own. An ASIC should not be treated as a “computer for earning BTC,” but rather as a noisy, high-maintenance industrial device.
Is Bitcoin mining profitable? For an operator with cheap electricity, large-scale operations, and professional infrastructure—sometimes yes. For an individual paying standard residential electricity rates—usually not. If the main goal is simply to gain exposure to Bitcoin, it’s worth comparing mining with buying BTC directly—through an exchange, a broker, or a physical Bitcoin ATM in Zurich. .
When assessing the profitability of mining, it's not enough to look at a miner's hashrate. The key question is: How much revenue does a given unit of hashing power generate on the Bitcoin network today? This is what hashprice shows.
Hashprice is most commonly quoted as USD/PH/s/day, and sometimes as BTC/PH/s/day. In practice, this is the daily revenue per 1 PH/s of computing power before deducting costs for electricity, cooling, maintenance, mining pool fees, and equipment depreciation.
The hash price is primarily influenced by the price of BTC, network difficulty, block rewards, transaction fees, and competition among miners. Therefore, it is an important market signal, but not a parameter that an individual miner can control.
A 200 TH/s miner is equivalent to 0.2 PH/s.
With a hash price of approximately 35–40 USD/PH/s/day, this gives approximately:
0.2 × $35–$40 = $7–$8 in daily revenue
If the same mining rig draws 3.5 kW, it consumes per day:
3.5 kW × 24 hours = 84 kWh
At an energy price of $0.10/kWh, the cost of electricity alone is:
84 × $0.10 = $8.40 per day
In this scenario, the mining rig generates approximately $7–8 in revenue at an energy cost of $8.40, meaning it is already operating at a loss even before factoring in cooling, maintenance, pool fees, taxes, and equipment depreciation.
The main point is simple: miners have no control over the hash price. What they do control are costs—primarily the price of electricity, hardware efficiency, and the quality of operations. That is why mining Bitcoin is not simply an easy alternative to buying BTC. It is a complex business, highly dependent on energy, infrastructure, and operational risk.
Mining profitability isn't just about the numbers on a calculator. A calculator typically shows revenue, electricity costs, and a simple daily profit, but in practice, there are operating costs that can significantly reduce the actual return on investment.
ASIC devices generate a lot of heat and noise and require stable operating conditions. Dust, humidity, voltage fluctuations, or poor ventilation can lead to malfunctions and reduced performance. With a single miner, every outage results in the loss of the entire hashrate.
Simply looking at the “daily profit” from a calculator does not reflect the actual ROI. You need to factor in the cost of equipment, electricity, cooling, maintenance, taxes, and the risk of market fluctuations. An ASIC may be profitable today, but it can quickly lose its edge due to an increase in network difficulty, a drop in the hash price, or the release of newer models.
This highlights the difference between mining and simply buying Bitcoin. When you buy BTC, your main risks are price volatility and the security of your storage. With mining, there are additional operational risks: equipment, energy costs, breakdowns, noise, and the time required to maintain the setup.
That is why, for many people, simply buying Bitcoin may be a more sensible option than trying to mine it at home without a clear advantage in terms of energy costs.
Bitcoin mining can be profitable, but only if it’s run as a well-planned energy and technology project, not a home experiment. So, do you have an advantage that most of the market doesn’t?
Bitcoin mining should be treated as a normal business operation, not as a quick way to make money. The simplest model looks like this:
It’s worth returning to a simple example: a 200 TH/s miner, at a hash price of about $35–40 per PH/s per day, generates approximately $7–8 in revenue per day. If it draws 3.5 kW, it consumes 84 kWh per day. At an electricity price of $0.10/kWh, the electricity alone costs $8.40 per day. This represents a loss even before factoring in pool fees, cooling, maintenance, downtime, and depreciation.
That’s why gross revenue alone doesn’t tell the whole story. Mining only makes sense when the calculation still holds up after adding real operating costs. If a project looks good only in an ideal calculator but, after accounting for energy, equipment failures and downtime, becomes unprofitable, it’s not an investment — it’s speculation on a very thin margin.
For most individuals, mining Bitcoin is difficult to justify economically today. Home users are competing against professional operators who have access to cheaper energy, better infrastructure, and lower operating costs.
This means that unless you have a clear advantage—such as very cheap electricity, a suitable location, or the ability to utilize the heat generated— it is often more sensible to simply buy Bitcoin rather than invest in mining equipment.
Bitcoin mining makes sense mainly if you have access to modern ASIC miners, cheap electricity, effective cooling, and a well-calculated return on investment strategy. Today, it is more of an infrastructure business than a simple way to make a quick profit.
Therefore, the key question is not whether Bitcoin has a future, but whether you can operate more cheaply and efficiently than the rest of the market. If not, buying BTC directly is usually the simpler and more rational option.
Usually not. Home mining is at a disadvantage due to high electricity costs, noise, heat, breakdowns, and a lack of scale. A single miner in an apartment, garage, or basement rarely stands a chance against large operators, who have access to cheaper electricity, better cooling systems, and professional infrastructure.
It depends on the miner's power consumption and the price per kWh. An ASIC that draws 3.5 kW consumes 84 kWh per day. At $0.10/kWh, that comes to $8.40 per day, and at $0.05/kWh, it comes to $4.20. The cost of electricity is one of the most significant expenses in mining.
A miner is considered cost-effective if it has a high hashrate and low power consumption. The key metric is J/TH—the lower, the better. A new ASIC typically offers better efficiency but is more expensive. A used ASIC can lower the entry barrier but increases the risk of failure, overheating, worn-out fans, power supply issues, and a shorter payback period.
For a small-scale miner, practically none. The chance of a single miner finding a block on their own is very low. That’s why most miners join a mining pool, which doesn’t magically increase profits but stabilizes payouts. The miner receives a portion of the reward proportional to their computational power.
It depends on the hash price, the miner’s hash rate, electricity costs, ASIC efficiency, pool fees, cooling, maintenance and downtime. After the 2024 halving, the base block reward is 3.125 BTC plus transaction fees, so hardware efficiency and energy costs matter even more. What matters is not gross revenue but profit after all costs.
It depends on the price of the equipment and the daily net profit. If a mining rig costs several thousand dollars and earns a few dollars a day, it could take many months or even years to recoup the investment. During that time, the equipment may wear out, lose value, or become less competitive as network difficulty increases.
For most people, yes. If your goal is simply to own Bitcoin, buying BTC is easier than purchasing, setting up, and maintaining a mining rig. Mining mainly makes sense if you have access to cheap electricity, good hardware, adequate cooling, and technical infrastructure. Check out our article How to buy Bitcoin to learn more.
Rothbard.eu is developing a platform that aggregates Bitcoin ATMs in Switzerland, allowing users to find locations where they can buy and sell BTC and other cryptocurrencies for cash. The machines are available in cities such as Zürich, Genève, Basel, Lausanne and Luzern, and their current status and cash availability can be checked online on the service’s map.
This material is for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, tax, or legal advice.
