A Bitcoin forum post from September 7, 2010, has resurfaced 16 years later, revealing the stark economics of early Bitcoin mining. According to the post by miner TTBit, a computer consuming 140 watts while producing approximately 2.2 million hashes per second required 47.3 kilowatt-hours to mine a 50 BTC block. At $0.12 per kilowatt-hour, this calculation resulted in an estimated electricity cost of $5.68. The miner, using the name TTBit, calculated this figure based on their computing power, Bitcoin's difficulty at the time, and an estimated 338-hour average waiting time for finding a valid block.
The calculation reflected Bitcoin's limited market liquidity in 2010, with the miner calling the projected expense a 'net loser'. According to the post, Bitcoin's subsidy was 50 BTC per block in 2010, but the cryptocurrency remained below $1 throughout the year with estimates placing late-2010 prices between $0.10 and $0.30. At Bitcoin's current price of approximately $78,810 on September 8, 2026, 50 BTC would be worth about $3.94 million. The miner's conclusion was based on expected electricity expense compared to the value available at that time, rather than a guaranteed 50 BTC payment.
The post captured a technical transition already underway in Bitcoin mining. As reported, TTBit's setup produced 2.2 million hashes per second, while graphics cards were reportedly producing approximately 25,000 kilohashes per second and consuming around 200 watts for about 33,000 kilohashes per second. Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto estimated that a 24-core AMD system could reach approximately 66,000 kilohashes per second. Modern Bitcoin ASICs now operate at terahashes or petahashes per second specifically designed for SHA-256 calculations, with the entire network currently near 966 exahashes per second.
Bitcoin's current block subsidy stands at 3.125 BTC per block following the April 2024 halving, with the next reduction expected around 2028 to 1.5625 BTC. According to live estimates, Bitcoin's difficulty was near 127.45 trillion on September 8, 2026, with the network hashrate at approximately 966 exahashes per second. The miner's original conclusion that it could become 'quite difficult to generate coins' if trends continued has proven accurate, as specialized machines displaced general-purpose computers from mining operations. The stark contrast between the $5.68 electricity cost from 2010 and current mining economics demonstrates how dramatically Bitcoin mining has evolved in terms of both efficiency and profitability.
