Mining data methodology

Revenue is derived from the network, not from anyone's advertised return. For a SHA-256 machine the daily coin yield is:

coins/day = (hashrate × 86,400 × block reward)
            ÷ (difficulty × 2³²)

That yield is reduced by the pool fee, then multiplied by the current coin price to give revenue. We then report four distinct figures, and keep them distinct because they answer different questions:

• RevenueGross mining output before any costs.
• Operating profitRevenue after electricity and pool fees. This is what the machine earns day to day.
• Break-even electricity priceThe highest price per kWh at which the machine still covers its power cost. Compare it against your own tariff: above this rate the machine loses money on every kWh it burns.
• Payback periodThe time to recover the hardware and setup cost from operating profit. We do not show a payback figure when a machine is running at a loss — dividing a hardware cost by a negative daily profit produces a number that looks like an answer and is not one.

• Coin prices — CoinGeckoRefreshed at least every five minutes and rendered on the server, so the figure in the page is real before any JavaScript runs.
• Bitcoin difficulty, network hashrate and retarget estimate — mempool.spaceRefreshed every ten minutes.
• Pool block counts and block health — mempool.spaceA rolling seven-day sample, refreshed every fifteen minutes.
• GBP and EUR ratesDerived from Bitcoin quoted in each currency, so the whole snapshot stays on one provider rather than mixing two.

Every page carries the source and the age of the data it used. When a source is unreachable we fall back to a stored value and label it as an estimate rather than presenting it as live.

Live network difficulty is available for Bitcoin only. The other six coins in the calculator use a stored difficulty estimate, which drifts as those networks change. Each page says which it is using. We would rather tell you a figure is an estimate than let you assume it is live.

We hold 20 machines. Specifications come from manufacturer datasheets as published by retailers, cross-checked against each machine's stated efficiency — if the quoted hashrate and power do not produce the quoted J/TH, we do not publish them.

Bitmain and MicroBT both block automated access to their own product documentation, so we corroborate across independent sources instead. Where those sources disagree, we say so on the machine rather than picking one: 9 of 20 records currently carry such a note.

Fields we have not verified are left out entirely. An absent noise rating or warranty term means we do not know it, not that it does not exist. Every record shows its source and the date it was last checked.

This method has already caught two of our own errors, both found by re-checking figures we had previously published:

• Whatsminer M60SWe published 3,348 W. The datasheet figure is 3,441 W, which moved its break-even electricity price by about 4%.
• Antminer Z15 ProWe published 2,500 W. The datasheet figure is 2,780 W, confirmed by the stated efficiency of 3.31 J/Ksol, which moved its break-even price by about a tenth.

Both corrections are recorded on the machines themselves. We change figures in the open, because a data product that quietly edits its numbers is not one you can rely on.

Pool performance — share of blocks found, estimated hashrate, empty blocks and block health — is read from the blockchain and needs no operator's cooperation. Share is a seven-day sample rather than a measure of committed hashrate, so a lucky week moves a small pool up the table.

Commercial terms are a different matter. We record only what we confirmed on the operator's own site: 3 of 24 terms across 6 pools. Several major pools publish no fee at all, and third-party comparison sites fill that gap with figures that contradict one another. We show an empty cell instead.

Pools are ordered by blocks found, which nobody can buy.

• Hardware pricesWe have no verified retailer feed. Publishing an unverified price would make every payback figure on the site fiction, so payback only appears when you supply your own purchase cost.
• Hosting ratesThe hosting directory is not live. When it is, provider figures will be verified against the provider and dated, on the same terms as everything else here.
• Cloud mining contractsWe do not promote them.

Every figure on this site is an estimate of present conditions, not a forecast. Difficulty adjusts roughly every two weeks, coin prices move continuously, and pool luck varies. A payback period calculated today assumes conditions that will not hold for the length of that payback. Treat these numbers as a starting point for your own analysis, and never as a guarantee of return.

Nothing on this site is investment advice.

If a figure here is wrong, tell us and we will check it against the source. Corrections to data are handled the same way as corrections to articles, under our corrections policy. Email info@miningpool.co.uk with the page and the figure in question.

How the mining tools are funded, and the rules that separate that funding from the figures above, are set out in our commercial policy.