One of the fastest-growing trends in the bitcoin mining world today is the increasing demand for retail ASICs for home mining, taking Bitcoin full circle from where it all began.
While big industrial mining companies like Atlas, Compute North, Hut8, Riot, Bitfarms are consolidating their operations into high-powered mining machines, Compass Mining is pushing the other way, helping individuals who want to be part of the Bitcoin revolution by having one or several ASICs at home.
Compass Mining is a bitcoin-first, proof-of-work mining hardware and hosting company which says it “is on a mission to strengthen Bitcoin’s network by democratizing hash rate.”
“Bitcoin was started by home miners and now we are seeing a renaissance of home mining,” noted Thomas Heller, the chief business officer of Compass Mining in a recent Bitcoin Magazine interview.
Whit Gibbs, CEO of Compass Mining, recently announced that in addition to their At-Home Mining service, Compass is launching a secondary sales platform for individual miners, an “eBay of ASICs.”
Anyone in the world can register as a vendor to buy and sell used ASICs on this site.
Gibbs said in the announcement:
“…we are continuously looking to make bitcoin mining accessible for everyone. With At-Home Mining, we are bringing bitcoin mining back to its roots…we have found that there is significant interest from our customer base to set up operations in their own home. By creating this new product line, it gives more flexibility and options of where to host their machine and mine bitcoin.”
On recent online podcasts, anxious bitcoin miners-in-waiting have expressed their frustration at the apparently long wait times for home mining ASICs, mostly caused by supply chain congestion and chip shortages.
Why all this interest in home mining? The new ATH bitcoin price has likely increased demand. Other reasons to have your own miner(s) include:
- you can mine from the comfort of your home
- use heat from miners for home heating, greenhouse operations
- there are no hosting facility fees
- no KYC
- online communities like Twitter Spaces for home miners are growing rapidly
Compass Mining Provides Both At-Home Mining Services And An “eBay Of ASICs”
Compass Mining first announced home mining sales – equipment and service (to those in the U.S.) on September 21, 2021 and has been so successful that there are long wait lists with many potential clients having to wait three to four months.
Compass’s new eBay-style service is intended to enable used ASIC sales, especially in older models like the S-9 which has turned out to work well in home mining settings.
Gibbs recently cautioned in a CoinDesk interview that at-home mining is clearly not as lucrative as hosting in a large centre. He noted the following comparisons:
Mining at home
- $20/day potential earnings from an ASIC
- 10 to 13 cents per kh likely cost of power
Mining in a hosted service venue
- $30 – $35/day potential earnings from the same ASIC
- 5.5 to 6.5 cents per KWh for power
On a recent Compass Mining podcast, Diverter, the author of “Mining for the Streets” said there is a new enthusiasm for home mining that is sparking an online community and is effectively a part of the Bitcoin revolution.
In addition, the privacy offered by home mining, with no KYC, is an important component of uncoupling from government control.
