Bitcoin has gained more and more popularity in recent years, and the times when anyone could easily generate Bitcoins from home are long gone. However, a USB stick for €24 is said to make it possible again.
What kind of USB stick is this? In the early days of Bitcoin, users could easily produce hundreds of units with their home computer. As the number of Bitcoins increased, the difficulty of mining also rose significantly. Today, it has become so difficult to mine Bitcoins that there are special machines designed specifically for this purpose.
However, it is not entirely impossible to mine a Bitcoin at home; it just has a low probability. A USB stick for €24 on Amazon is said to make this possible.
So-called “Lucky Miners” or “Nerd Miners” are small devices that connect to a power supply via USB stick or cable and attempt to mine Bitcoins with a power consumption of just one watt per hour.
Once set up, it’s best to forget about them and, with astronomically low odds, potentially find a Bitcoin at some point. These devices are not competitive and, as the name suggests, require extreme luck to generate a Bitcoin block.
In Germany, hundreds of USB sticks are embedded in concrete; here’s why:
Odds worse than in the lottery
Is it worth it to buy? Although the “Lucky Miner” is inexpensive at €24 on Amazon and the energy costs of one watt per hour are minimal, the chances of success are extremely low. It takes extreme luck to actually generate a Bitcoin block with the tool.
Experts from PCGamer have calculated that the chance of receiving even one Bitcoin block per year is 1 in 210.7 trillion. For comparison: the “6 out of 49 + Super Number” in the classic Lotto has a winning chance of 1 in 139,838,160 and would pay out more money than the Bitcoin block, which currently has a value of about 3.125 BTC, or €290,000, if won.
The increasing popularity of Bitcoin also has negative aspects. Especially for gamers, the hype surrounding the cryptocurrency often leads to a shortage of hardware. We have explained why this is the case in the following article: Bitcoin is booming – Why this is bad for gamers who want better performance
