Mining is: Practical analysis 2025

What is crypto mining in 2025? For beginners, the answer often sounds like complicated gibberish about mathematical problems and electricity. In reality, it’s simpler: mining is the core of the crypto ecosystem, a mechanism by which the blockchain exists and develops. However, over five years, conditions have changed dramatically. If previously anyone could earn on a home PC, now serious investments and cheap electricity are required for professional results.

How does all this actually work

Imagine: transactions constantly occur in the crypto network. Someone sends coins, someone buys, sells. All of this needs to be recorded, verified, and secured. This is where miners come into play.

Mining is a process where specialized devices (or ordinary computers) solve complex cryptographic puzzles. The first to find the correct answer adds a new block to the chain and receives a reward. Other participants get nothing — their work was wasted.

In practice, it looks like this:

• The computer performs billions of calculations per second
• Each calculation is an attempt to find a correct cryptographic solution
• If solved — the block is added, coins are yours
• If not — you start over from zero

This mechanism is called Proof-of-Work (PoW) — proof of work. Not the only one in cryptocurrency networks, but the most well-known and energy-consuming.

What equipment to buy and how to start

Mining is a choice among three main options:

Option 1: Video cards (GPU)

RTX 3090 or AMD Radeon cost about 31,000 ₴, deliver a hash rate of ~120 MH/s. On a regular coil, such a card will earn pennies. Why? Because electricity will eat up all the profit.

Example:

• Card price: 31,000 ₴
• Income from mining pool: 2–7 ₴/day
• Electricity costs: ~25–33 ₴/day
• Result: minus 20–30 ₴ daily

Option 2: Specialized ASICs

Antminer S21 costs ~170,000 ₴ and provides 200 TH/s of calculations. Performance is hundreds of times higher than GPU. But it also consumes 3.5–4 kW of electricity continuously.

Calculations per day:

• Electricity costs: ~291 ₴ (at 3 ₴/kWh) or ~388 ₴ (at 4 ₴/kWh)
• Income from pool: ~300–600 ₴
• Net result: from negative to +300 ₴ depending on the price, which can be disappointing
• Payback period: 1.5–6 years

Option 3: Small farm

6–8 video cards assembled together will cost 200–250 thousand hryvnias. A balance between flexibility and productivity, but still less efficient than ASIC.

How to start right now (without large investments)

Mining doesn’t necessarily require a lot of money upfront. Try on a home PC:

1. Install drivers for your video card (NVIDIA or AMD)
2. Download a miner — GMiner, NBMiner, or Kryptex (only from official sources!)
3. Create a crypto wallet for the coin you want to mine
4. Connect to a public mining pool (F2Pool, AntPool, ViaBTC)
5. Launch the process and monitor hash rate, temperature, fees

You won’t make money from this, but you’ll understand the mechanics and won’t spend a dime on equipment.

Which coins can be mined in 2025

Mining is not only Bitcoin. There are many alternatives on the market:

• Bitcoin (SHA-256) — classic, lowest profit per unit, but highest total investments
• Litecoin (LTC) — less competitive scenario, but more energy-intensive
• Ethereum Classic (ETC) — Ethash, popular on GPU
• Monero (XMR) — CPU-friendly, more decentralized
• Kaspa (KAS) — newer coin, interesting mechanics
• Ravencoin (RVN) — KawPow, survives thanks to community

The choice depends on your available equipment and the current network difficulty.

Actual costs: what is often forgotten

Equipment price is only half the story. There are also:

• Electricity (the main profit eater)
• Cooling — additional fans, heat pipes, evaporators
• Pool fees — from 1 to 3% of your reward
• Downtime — no miner runs 24/7 at 100%
• Repairs and replacements — thermal paste, plastic fans, setup time

Combine all this — and the payback period for a farm stretches to five years or more.

Profitability: who benefits in 2025

Mining is for those who:

• Have access to electricity cheaper than 3 ₴/kWh (in Ukraine — rare)
• Can invest tens of thousands of hryvnias
• Can maintain equipment professionally
• Believe in long-term price growth

For everyone else, mining is an educational project better suited to understanding how blockchain works rather than for stable income.

Mining is also a choice of consensus algorithm

Besides Proof-of-Work, the market also has:

• Proof-of-Stake (PoS) — no longer mining, but staking (Ethereum, Cardano). Less energy, more centralization
• Delegated PoS — users vote for delegates. Faster, but depends on the choice
• Hybrid — a combination of both. Complex, so rarely used

Conclusion: Mining is no longer easy money

The era when you could earn on a home PC is gone. In 2025:

• ASICs are more profitable than GPUs but expensive and specialized
• Electricity decides everything — a difference of 1 ₴/kWh can turn profit into loss
• New licensing and regulation requirements are being introduced in various countries

What should beginners do: Try on a home PC without investments. If you find it interesting and understand the mechanics — consider ASIC or farm as a serious investment project with a mandatory payback calculation. In most cases, it’s better to buy coins through Gate.io than to mine under exhausting conditions. But experience is priceless.