A New Bitcoin Mining Calculator Aims to Tell 'Truth' on Profitability

That's how CEO of RandomCrypto, Josh Metnick, described his newly released tool that calculates the profitability of bitcoin mining - the process of solving puzzles to earn bitcoin, usually only possible with expensive processors called ASICs.

Revealed exclusively to CoinDesk, Metnick hopes the new calculator will improve on other tools out there, which he thinks don't depict the full truth on whether mining equipment is worth buying and using.

Using its new measurements at today's prices, RandomCrypto's calculator shows that all of the most popular mining hardware is unprofitable.

"Our goal is not to show mining as profitable or unprofitable - our goal is to bring more truth, accuracy and transparency to mining. Sometimes mining is profitable, and sometimes it isn't. The bigger picture is to create tools and reporting systems to keep the hardware manufacturers honest," Metnick told CoinDesk.

Metnick's quick to point out previous mining scams in the industry as examples of where the industry leaves transparency and honesty to be desired.

"This calculator is born of many years of getting screwed in numerous ways by mining companies."

"What we have found, over several years now of observations, is that all of the major bitcoin mining calculators out there show bitcoin mining output as 'profit,' instead of what it really is: output," Metnick said.

One key thing these calculators don't include is bitcoin's programmed-in "Difficulty" rating - the higher the difficulty, the more power it takes to solve the puzzle required to mine bitcoin.

"Mining difficulty has been growing exponentially since the advent of bitcoin. To deny this, or not incorporate this fact, this reality, into a mining calculator, should be illegal," Metnick argued.

Metnick went on to say that, based on bitcoin's price at the time, smaller scale mining is basically not profitable currently.