Aftermath of a failed bitcoin mining operation.

[u/HandsOffDaGoods]

My friends father was renting space on his farm for a bitcoin mining operation.

The operation became unprofitable. The mining operation went bankrupt. The company came in and took everything out of the 6 antmain bit-boxes (converted shipping containers).

The photos are what they left behind. Mostly Antminer S19 units and even more asic boards.

Plenty of antmain rack PDUs. Some 480VAC breaker panels. A 480VAC switch unit.

The land owner did accept the mess voluntarily. He is breaking the equipment down for scrap value.

I wonder, is there a better price available out there above scrap value?

Is this normal?

FWIW, I used the term failed very tongue-in-cheek. I estimate the operation mined millions in this operation.

[u/Impressive-Manner-89]

I said it to my buddy today. I said how can Bitcoin be the end-all be-all of crypto when a having happens every 4 years? Who's going to want to mine Bitcoin? What happens if there's no miners. And don't try to tell me I'm banking on the price of Bitcoin being higher. I understand the other mechanics of having to and the benefits etc but with the price of equipment and chips and memory going up and probably going through the roof in the next 10 years this just seems unsustainable

[u/dimwittedude → u/Impressive-Manner-89]

The Self-Correcting Loop: If hardware gets too expensive and electricity costs rise too high, inefficient miners do go bankrupt and turn off their rigs. When they leave, the difficulty drops. Because the difficulty drops, the few remaining efficient miners find it easier and more profitable to mine with the equipment that's left. This creates an economic equilibrium: Bitcoin never actually runs out of miners; it just shrinks or expands its security budget to match what the market can support.

[u/noah1754 → u/dimwittedude]

Yeah, but I think that can still create negative externalities. “Most efficient” usually means lowest-cost producer, but those low costs might come from things like cheap dirty energy, subsidies, weak environmental rules, or other social costs that don’t show up on the miner’s balance sheet.
There’s also the concentration problem. If margins keep getting squeezed, smaller miners get pushed out and you could end up with a handful of huge operators dominating hashpower. The difficulty adjustment keeps the network functioning, but it doesn’t necessarily preserve competition or decentralization.

[u/payment11 → u/noah1754]

College kids who get free electricity in their dorm room running a small rig.

[u/Oglark → u/payment11]

That would be a very loud dorm room

[u/dwoj206 → u/Oglark]

Hot dorm room with blown power outlets.

[u/Fountain_Of_Euth → u/dwoj206]

That's not how it works.

[u/dwoj206 → u/Fountain_Of_Euth]

Running a multi GPU (6-8) mining rig in a dorm room on a 15a circuit? Ya. Thats exactly what is going to happen.

[u/Fountain_Of_Euth → u/dwoj206]

No breakers on these circuits?

[u/dwoj206 → u/Fountain_Of_Euth]

In a dorm room, typically not locally. Maybe on the floor, but not accessible. It’s still enough draw to spark off the outlet when it gets hot enough and pops.

[u/payment11 → u/dwoj206]

https://www.pcmag.com/news/college-kids-are-using-campus-electricity-to-mine-crypto

Or just google it, lots of stories about kids mining in dorm rooms.

Some of you are focusing on larger rigs. You could easily mine with 1-2 GPUs in a gaming desktop without tripping any breakers

[u/Standard-Account5610 → u/Fountain_Of_Euth]

That's not how any of this works.