Mining BTC Was Initially Seen as a Costly Endeavor in 2010

A 16-year-old forum post reveals how the economics of mining have changed dramatically over time. In September 2010, an early Bitcoin user named TTBit calculated that producing a single block on their home computer would cost roughly $5.68 in electricity.

The block subsidy was then 50 BTC, but the miner described the setup as 'a net loser.' To calculate this figure, TTBit connected a Kill-a-Watt meter to their machine and measured power consumption at approximately 140 watts with monitors switched off.

TTBit's machine produced around 2,200 kilohashes per second. They estimated it would take roughly 14 days and two hours to mine one Bitcoin block based on the difficulty at that time.

The total electricity consumption for this process was approximately 47.3 kilowatt-hours. At an electricity rate of 12 cents per kilowatt-hour, the resulting cost worked out to $5.68.