Much like every area of cryptocurrency, mining has changed a lot of the years, moving from a simple hobby for “techy” people to a industry dominated by large-scale operations.
We are now 3 months into 2025 and many people are just starting to learn about cryptocurrency and I have been asked the same question many times. Can I still mine cryptocurrency or am I too late?
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What is crypto mining?
Crypto mining is the process of verifying transitions and then adding theses transaction to a blockchain ledger. Miners use powerful computers to solve complicated maths puzzles, securing the network and earning rewards in the form of cryptocurrency in the process.
The most well-known mined cryptocurrency is Bitcoin (BTC). Bitcoin follows a “Proof-Of-Work” consensus mechanism.
Crypto mining has found itself losing popularity due to increasing competition, high energy usage and regulator changes. The profit margins from mining cryptocurrency has changed drastically in recent years.
Cost #1 – The hardware:
If you wish to mine effectively for any cryptocurrency, you are going to need a rather powerful computer system to do so. There are options out there that are more budget friendly, but they bring in very small amounts of cryptocurrency, this being said they are mostly ignored by people considering getting into mining.
Anyone who is looking at entering into crypto mining needs to understand the significant upfront cost with no promise of much return on the investment for a good while.
Cost #2 – Energy:
The biggest cost for a crypto mining setup, after the setup of the hardware is the energy needed to run a mining setup.
When a computer system is “mining” it will be drawing the almost maximum amount of electricity that it is able to. Add this to the fact that a miner needs to be running almost 24/7 to be the most efficient, you are going to see a big jump in the cost of your electric bill if you are planning on running a mining setup at home.
Many larger scale mining setups have recently moved to renewable energy, such as solar or wind power to lessen the costs and increase the profits. While this have proved effective, this is rarely an option for your every day user.
Given the cost of living crisis in the UK, the almost constant increase in electricity has forced some users to stop mining cryptocurrency.
So you’re past the costs, now for your next problem…
The difficulty you are likely to encounter adjusts automatically depending on the number of miners that are currently active on the network. As more miners join the network, solving blocks becomes harder. When this happens, the rewards for solving the blocks is greatly reduced for the individual miners.
In 2025, there are a record number of large-scale institutional investors who are all competing in the crypto mining space. Given the funds they are backed by, they are very rarely concerned with the overall running costs and look more at the overall amount of crypto they are able to mine. While this is good for them, they are usually running much more advanced and powerful systems than the average user.
Now you’ve got your crypto;
The profit you are going to make from mining crypto is tied directly to the market price of whatever cryptocurrency you have chosen to mine.
If Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are in the middle of a bull market, miners can generate large sums of money in a relatively short period of time. While this seems great, if the market crashes and enters a bear market, the running costs of the mining setup will remain the same, while the currency you are mining will be worth a lot less than it was before.
This relies on you making enough money to cover the bad times, and due to the increase in competition and the volatility around the crypto market can be a very hard balance to find.
Stop mining, start?
As much as people are still able to make a profit while mining, a lot of the crypto community has recently transitioned over to “staking” cryptocurrencies instead. This involves purchasing your chosen currency and “staking” it on their platform to earn rewards.
When you are staking your crypto, you will be shown an estimated earning potential for the amount of the currency that you are staking. Other than the purchase of the currency, there are no further costs related to staking. This removes any ongoing costs or overheads that you would get with a mining setup.
Head on over to Crypto Analyst’s guide section by clicking here to learn all about staking cryptocurrencies.
Crypto Analyst‘s Final Thoughts.
So, now we have gone through crypto mining, would we recommend it in 2025? There isn’t an easy answer to that. There are so many factors that need to be taken into account when deciding whether mining cryptocurrency is right for you. Location, electricity costs and hardware efficiency are just a number of things that need to be considered.
While crypto mining is by no means “dead” we do believe there are better, safer options out there for people on a budget.