How Long Does It Take to Mine 1 Bitcoin? The Math Behind Mining

Forget that idea of mining Bitcoin alone in the garage with a gaming PC. The reality is much more complex.

The Numbers

The Bitcoin network creates a new block every ~10 minutes, and each block rewards 3.125 BTC ( after the halving of 2024). But this time is for the entire global network working together, not for you individually.

For a solo miner with basic equipment? It can take months, years, or even never to happen. Why? Because the chance of finding the correct hash directly depends on your computational power relative to the total power of the network.

That's Why There Are Pools

99% of professional miners do not mine alone. They join mining pools – basically cooperatives where hundreds or thousands of miners combine their computing power, share found blocks, and divide the rewards proportionally.

In a large pool, you receive small amounts of BTC regularly, instead of betting everything on finding a block alone ( that may never happen ).

The Decisive Factor: Hardware

A professional ASIC miner ( like the Antminer S21) can process trillions of hashes per second. A regular PC? Billions. The speed difference is astronomical.

Simple account: If the network has 600 exahashes/second and your miner has 200 terahashes/second (modern ASIC), your chance of mining a block alone is 1 in 3 billion.

Conclusion

Mining 1 Bitcoin solo with amateur equipment in 2024 is practically impossible. The electricity costs alone would make it all a loss. Profitable mining today requires:

• Specialized pools
• Next-generation ASIC hardware
• Cheap electricity
• Large scale operation

If you want to earn Bitcoin, a mining pool is the realistic way.