Ever since the interview with Lukas Seyfrid (CZ), the chief of the hardware team, it was clear that Braiins is pivoting from the development of mining software, to building their own hardware.
This, I believe, is the first iteration of their effort in form of a consumer product, and while it is unlikely to make you a financial return on the investment, it's small form factor and nice anodized aluminum case can allow pretty much anyone to become familiar with the process of bitcoin mining. Or terrorize the testnet. The choice is yours.
I think I might buy one, just to try the viability of a pure solar setup.
HW specifications:
| Price (pre-order) | $199.00 |
| Hashrate | ~1Th/s |
| Power Consumption | 40W - 55W |
| Number of hashboards | 1 |
| Number of ASIC chips | 4 |
| Cooling Type | Active |
| Noise | 40 dB |
| Air outlet temperature | 40-50 °C |
But really, how much would it make in a year?
If we assume the current price and difficulty stays the same, the block subsidy is 3.125 BTC, median fees around 0.2212 BTC, free electricity, you'd get 0.001 BTC per 12 months, which is roughly 65 USD. A little more than 3 years to break even.
It's not going to break any records, but I'm still excited for what's to come next.
A lot of people already do this with !boinc@sopuli.xyz for free. They use their computers to help scientists do medical, space, and other forms of research. There are cryptos which reward this work as well, though it is far from profitable. That being said, I'd rather heat my house curing cancer (or hashing for Bitcoin) than with space heaters or electrical heat. For people with electrical heat who don't have heat pumps, it literally costs the same. I think there is absolutely a market for this. Maybe not a massive one, but I for one would be interested.