Everyone heard about Bitcoin, but it’s hard to find someone who can explain how it works. A relative of mine wanted to try bitcoin mining, and he asked me to help him with setting things up. I only have a high-level grasp of Bitcoin’s inner workings, so it turned out to be quite a venture.

First, it’s pretty hard to figure out if bitcoin mining is profitable and if it’s a good investment. There are many variables at play, and most of them are unpredictable. Here is a few things I found interesting:

• Mining is far more profitable than I expected.
• Cost of electricity is important, but you can still mine with a good profit even if your electricity is rather expensive.
• ASICs are noisy, you can turn on your vacuum cleaner to get a glimpse on an expected noise level from a single device.
• You’re going to need a good ventilation if you want to mine bitcoins.
• ASICs are pretty durable if you treat them well, 5+ year lifespans isn’t something unheard of.
• ASICs are liquid, you can easily sell them even if you used them for quite some time.
• ASICs are super easy to set up, you just need to tell them where to send the money, and you’re good to go.