Bitmain, a company specializing in ASIC miners' production, has released an atypical product, a server miner for the POST (proof-of-spacetime) cryptocurrency Filecoin. POST is a type of POC consensus (proof-of-capacity). POC cryptocurrencies differ from traditional ones in that mining is not based on computational power but on providing free space on various data storage devices such as HDDs and SSDs. Mining such cryptocurrencies does not require developing advanced ASIC chips with cutting-edge technological standards since regular data storage devices can be used. The cheaper the cost per Terabyte of space, the more economically advantageous such a miner will be.
Currently, the cheapest price per Terabyte is found in classical Hard Disk Drives (HDDs), which Bitmain utilizes in its Filecoin miner. To make the Filecoin mining device complete and not require additional equipment and setup, they place 16 HDDs along with a basic server computer in a standard server chassis. The server computer is equipped with an Intel XEON Silver4210R CPU, 32GB of ECC DDR4 RAM, a 480GB SSD for the operating system, and two 1200W power supplies.
The total capacity of the Bitmain Filecoin Miner for Filecoin mining is 430Tib* (tebibytes) or 472TB (terabytes).
*Note: While disks are sold in stores with capacity indicated in Terabytes, operating systems usually operate using Tebibytes. Thus, after formatting, the displayed volume is smaller than what the manufacturer claims.
Since the Bitmain Filecoin Miner consists of 36 HDDs, each with a capacity of 16TB, let's consider the cost of the Seagate Exos 16TB HDD, which is priced at 270 USD. 1TB in this disk costs 16.8 USD. If we gather a similar capacity of 472TB, their total cost would be 7,929 USD. The cost of other components, including the chassis, power supplies, and server computer, won't exceed 2,000 USD. Alternatively, if you were to build an ordinary consumer computer for setting up a NAS server, you could stay below 1,000 USD.
In other words, if you want to assemble a similar server for Filecoin mining, you could do it within 10,000 USD.
For comparison, Bitmain offers you to purchase the Filecoin Miner for 38,888 USD, of which 19,131 USD is for the equipment, and the remaining amount covers service in their data center for a period of 540 days. Additionally, a 10% commission will be charged on all mined coins.
According to the company's statements, such an installation will pay for itself within 400 days, even considering the cost of 38,888 USD.
Information about the FileCoin cryptocurrency network can be obtained on the website Filscout.com.
Filecoin mining calculator
Filecoin mining calculator can be used on the website fgas.io.
Let's input the data: 430TIB and the price in RMB (Chinese Yuan). 38,888 USD = 279,460 RMB
According to the calculator, the equipment will pay off in 2,738 days.
It is worth noting that for independent mining, you will have to pay a commission of 0.0026 FIL for each TIB and make a Pledge (a security deposit that is refunded in the future) of 6.3 FIL for each TIB. So, to start mining 430TIB of Filecoin, you would initially need to buy and deposit over 2,700 USD worth of Filecoin into a smart contract, without the ability to withdraw it. Bitmain, as a reminder, asks for an additional 5,544 USD + 14,213 USD for servicing their miner.
Conclusion: In the current realities, purchasing the Bitmain FileCoin Miner doesn't seem like the most profitable venture, as the equipment's payback with current FIL prices can be estimated at around 7-8 years, which is longer than the 540-day contract period offered by Bitmain. If you count on the potential increase in FIL coin value in the future, it may be more straightforward to directly buy the FileCoin cryptocurrency without the extra risks and additional payments.
