Crypto-miners reemerge with market recovery

It has been over a year since Nguyen Binh unplugged his cryptocurrency mining machine.

But he finally decided to wake the machine, made of 80 GTX 1660 Super graphic cards, out of its slumber earlier this month.

Since the end of October, the cryptocurrency market has been defrosting and even reheating after Bitcoin values eclipsed $35,000.

Dong Nai Province resident Binh and miners across Vietnam have agreed: it’s time to mine again.

"The first reason is because no matter how well you maintain your machines, even if you vacuum-seal them, you cannot keep them [dormant] for too long, or else they’ll be prone to damage. Next, mining cryptocurrency is stable and profitable now," he said.

Binh’s machines are used to mine Ethereum Classic (ETC). After deducting the costs of revitalizing his worn-down machines, with ETC values hovering around $20, he expects to earn some 40% profits on each ETC coin’s value.

Cao Thanh Thinh, a professional cryptocurrency miner in Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, said Bitcoin mining is becoming profitable again.

"When the market went down, people began to unplug their machines, reducing the competitiveness of the entire network, making mining easier. Combined with rising Bitcoin prices, several miners now do not have to shoulder losses incurred due to power costs," Thinh said.

While he did not specify exactly how much profit he expects to gain from new mining, Thinh said that as long as Bitcoin prices remain at over $35,000, he will expand the scope of his mining facility at least through the end of the year.

Hoang Quan, an administrator of a cryptocurrency mining community with 70,000 members, said one of the signs of a recovering cryptocurrency market is that the number of people selling off their mining machines is lower than the number of people buying them.

"For every 10 posts in the group, there are eight posts looking for graphic cards, Asic or other components," he said, adding that topics on which cryptocurrency to mine and which mining machine should be used have garnered hundreds of discussions.

"This time last month, there were only a few new posts a day, mostly people trying to sell off their mining machines," Quan said.

Trong Son, who sells mining machines in Vietnam, said the number of people looking to buy them has been increasing since the beginning of the month. Among them, the Bitmain E9 Pro is one of the most popular systems, and Son’s stocks of the popular equipment have already run out. A new machine costs around VND55 million (US$2,270), while a secondhand one costs around VND40 million.

Experts said miners need to be able to afford electricity costs for the next six months, no matter what the state of the market is, in order to gain profit.