I get this question all the time (and shout out to @tvlachak over on Noise, follow him here) in regards to how much power my computers are running when I mine for Cryptocurrency and is it even worth it based on the cost of the power used.

Now don't get me wrong I am a curious person and have wondered how much electricity my computer and my son's computer use. I use both computer to mine with their GPU's. Shoot I bought 2 GTX 1050 TI's so him and I can play video games together and then to mine with them when we are not using them for gaming.

I built my own PC with top tier specs (except the GPU... for now) and I know it takes more than the average PC when it comes to power. But I do a lot of things on my PC besides gaming and mining. I run my Plex server off of it. I run my print server off of it. I do all my daily things and even some work 'work' I do on my PC. So needless to say it stays on 24/7 regardless. I also keep my son's PC on 24/7 as well because well that is my habit when they are desktop PC's.

But let's dive into the question of 'is mining even cost effective'. I personally right now am mining for RavenCoin with my 2 GPU's. I love the coin and have a lot of hope in the project. For the past week one RavenCoin has been around $0.09. That is not a lot.

First let's break down how much RavenCoin I actually make with mining with 2 GTX 1050 TI's. I recently switched pools so we are going off of the past 9 days I have earned roughly 76.8 RVN. Which comes out to 8.53 per day which at current market price is $0.81 per day. Assuming a month is 30 days that is $24.38 per month I am making in RavenCoin for having my 2 computers run 24/7 which they normally would be so the extra power consumption for running my GPU's at a high rate.

Now is that $24.38 enough to cover the cost of power for my 2 PC's for a month? Probably, yes. However that is not the point. People who do not mine cryptocurrencies are missing 2 key points to mining and I don't understand why.

Key Point #1: Mining for a specific cryptocurrencies helps solidify that cryptocurrencies. You are helping create blocks on it's blockchain and also making that network more secure and my adding Hashrate to a broader selection of pools (making sure not any few pools or people control the majority) you are making it safer to attacks. There is a reason I "mine" for TFUEL (Theta) and mine for RavenCoin. I believe in both projects and want to help out as much as I can without being a developer.

Key Point #2: When do you ever get a cryptocurrency and not want/expect the price to increase? I am not mining RavenCoin so that in 10 years I can sell all my RVN for $0.09 each. I am assuming/hoping that the price is going to double and then double again and who knows from there. I am mining now when the coin is young and the price is cheap so that when it moons I will have WAY more value invested in that blockchain.

I think Point #1 speaks for itself but Point #2 needs more background. I do not understand why soo many people forget about this fact that they apply to everything else they do in crypto. People who purchase crypto with fiat are doing so to make money because the price of crypto will rise. People who do faucets are doing the same. People who play blockchain games are again, the same. So why would it be any different.

Let's assume that in 5 years the price of one RavenCoin is $0.45. I personally think that is super reserved price predication but it will make the math easy for me :) Now if we time travel back to today I would have made $24.38 at today's market price per month. But those 255.9 RVN (8.53 times 30 days) I would have made this month would not be worth the $24.38 they are worth now. In 5 years that 255.9 RVN would be worth $115.15. And would that $115 cover the cost it took to power my GPU's to mine them in 2021? Well yes absolutely. That would almost cover the cost of one GPU.

That is why asking miners if it is cost effective to mine for a cryptocurrency is pointless and honestly stupid. Listen we are all taking a gamble with cryptocurrency. No matter how sure we are that Crypto will take over as a payment means years down the road we can't guarantee it. Sure it looks like we are going down that road but all it takes if a few laws in our countries and the fad could die off. Now I personally don't think blockchains can go away because of what they have shown up they can do but fiat to crypto may die. So is it cost effective to write articles on Publish0x for crypto tips? Is it cost effective to play those little blockchain games and earn NFT's? Is it cost effective to collect from faucets? Those all take time and energy and believe it or not but power as well to perform those tasks.

We are all in the same boat people. We are trying to get as much crypto as we can while it is still relatively new and cheap.