Bitcoin mining is the process that adds new blocks to the Bitcoin blockchain and issues new bitcoin. Specialised machines known as ASIC miners try trillions of random numbers per second until a block produces a hash below the target set by the network. Whoever succeeds first collects a block reward of 3.125 BTC, the amount in force since the halving of April 20, 2024, plus the transaction fees in that block. Whether mining pays off in Germany comes down almost entirely to the price of electricity: a current Antminer S21 XP only covers its power bill below roughly 10.4 cents per kilowatt hour (as of October 22, 2026).
The sections below explain proof of work without formulas, run the numbers for two current machines on German household and business electricity rates, and put halving, pools, locations, tax and cloud mining into context.
Bitcoin mining: the key facts at a glance
- Block reward: 3.125 BTC per block since the halving on April 20, 2024, plus an average of 0.0166 BTC in fees (last 1,008 blocks up to October 22, 2026).
- Rhythm: A block is meant to arrive every ten minutes. Every 2,016 blocks the network adjusts the difficulty; the latest change, on Oc...
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