RIOT continues to work to increase hash rate and decrease energy consumption
Bitcoin was created by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 as a peer-to-peer payment system. It has captured the minds of millions of people and many people have been lucky enough to get their hands on those precious coins without even buying them. But how exactly have people gotten their hands on such a valuable asset?
People have used a process called mining, which is a way of processing recent transactions by using computational power to solve complex equations and add new blocks to the blockchain. When these complex equations have been solved, new bitcoins are released as a reward.
In the early days when bitcoin was just gaining some traction, it was as easy as using a standard computer because the difficulty to mine was so low that it didn’t require as much energy. However, because the crypto currency is so popular now, specialized equipment that is capable of outputting high quantities of power for extended periods of time is required.
Some of the specialized hardware an individual would need include:
- Graphics cards: This is what is going to be doing the hard work by solving the complex equations
- Power Supply Unit: It is crucial that you invest in the right power unit because you need one that is able to output a high amount of energy for extended periods of time (often 24 hours).
- Motherboard: When searching for a dedicated motherboard, it is recommended that you get one with as many PCI slots as possible as these offer you more slots for graphics cards.
Even owning all the necessary hardware that enables you to mine bitcoin doesn’t mean you will be profitable. However, what if there was a way you could be profitable and not even need to mine bitcoin yourself? Let's introduce Riot Blockchain Inc (NASDAQ:RIOT), which is a bitcoin mining company that supports the bitcoin blockchain through its rapidly expanding industrial scale mining focused in the U.S. Riot Blockchain is forever looking to improve and increase its bitcoin mining hash rate, all while decreasing costs of production.
The main problem these days with mining is that it is incredibly expensive, not to mention the profit margins are extremely small. This is especially true when mining popular cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. The amount of energy required to mine bitcoin is considerably higher than that of physical. The bitcoin network uses 80% more energy now than in early 2020, 128 terawatt-hours per year. Weighing the cost of electricity is a serious question you need to consider before committing yourself to mining bitcoin.
Instead of investing all that money into expensive hardware to mine something that you won’t see a profitable return on investment for a long time, you could instead invest that money into RIOT stock, focusing on a company that has the hardware required to mine bitcoin at an inexpensive rate while maintaining profitability. Riot Blockchain has strong leadership that is looking to increase their hash rate and decrease their energy consumption, making the company even more profitable in the future.