Mining profitability at the end of April 2023 (ASICs, GPUs, etc.)
At the end of April 2023, which mining machines were still profitable? In this monthly video update (in French), we review ASICs (Bitcoin, Kadena, CKB, Litecoin/Dogecoin, Ethereum Classic, Kaspa) and then graphics cards, with one conclusion that keeps coming back: difficulty is rising, and the price of electricity decides everything. In the introduction, we also mention the small 6,000 W solar panel installation under way at our place.
Video from the end of April 2023: the figures below date from that time. See "What about today?" at the end of the article.
Update: Kadena is dead. The organisation behind Kadena ceased operations in October 2025 and KDA lost more than 60% of its value within hours. The Kadena earnings and Kadena miners (Antminer KA3 and others) covered in this article are no longer relevant.
Kadena and CKB: new ASICs send difficulty soaring
On Kadena, the launch of Bitmain's new model, the Antminer KA3, pushed the network hashrate from about 300 PH/s to 700, almost 800 PH/s. The result: the KA3, which at one point showed earnings of around €1,500 a month, was down to about €180 a month with electricity at 10 euro cents per kWh.
The same story, slightly less brutal, on CKB (Nervos Network): difficulty doubled after the arrival of the Antminer K7. The K7's earnings went from about twenty dollars ($20 to $25) in February to $6 or $7 at the end of April. For both the K7 and the KA3, the payback time had stretched to around 34 to 35 months.
Bitcoin: only one model still profitable
On the Bitcoin side, difficulty keeps rising without a pause, and the price has only recovered slightly. In our view, the only truly profitable miner at that time is the newest and most efficient one, the Antminer S19 XP (141 TH/s for about 3,000 W), whose price was then at its lowest ever.
- At 17 cents per kWh: you are losing money, even with this model;
- The maximum for mining Bitcoin: 12 to 13 cents per kWh;
- At 5 cents per kWh: payback in around two years, two and a half at most, thanks to low machine prices.
Litecoin/Dogecoin and Ethereum Classic: the L7 and E9 Pro lead the way
The Antminer L7 is then the most profitable miner. Its price has dropped significantly, and some offers with a 3 to 4 week wait bring it about 15% cheaper. Among the coins it mines, Dogecoin earns the most: if Dogecoin climbed back to 50% of its all-time high (ATH), the L7 would pay for itself in 4 months, and in 2 months at its ATH.
Its successor, the L9, has been announced for around September–October: it will use half as much power. That still leaves L7 buyers some time.
For Ethereum Classic, we now recommend the Antminer E9 Pro: 3.5 to 3.7 GH/s for 2,200 W, at about €1 per MH/s, a price "we could only have dreamed of back then". It is noisy, but there are ways to soundproof it. Quieter models such as the iPollo, GT Miner or Jasminer unfortunately cost more per MH/s.
Kaspa: ever more powerful ASICs
For Kaspa, the Superscalar K10 (30 GH/s) shows fairly attractive profitability compared with other machines, but it remains expensive: nearly €10,000 excluding VAT. Above all, ASICs announced at 1 and 2 TH/s are on their way, and according to American YouTubers they do not appear to be a scam.
Graphics cards: a few options
On GPUs, Kaspa still offers very attractive returns, for example with an RTX 3070 or an RTX 3060. On the hardware side, three cards are worth mentioning:
- RTX 3070 Ti Laptop: one of the most efficient cards, available for around €400 including VAT (we made a video about it);
- RTX 4070: recently released and really cheap (about €650). It does not have the efficiency of an RTX 4070 Ti, but it is the cheapest card in the 4000 series in price per hash;
- RTX 3060 Ti GDDR6X: a new version we had not yet had time to test.
As for coins, Radiant, Nexa and Dynex remain attractive, as does Ergo + Kaspa dual mining, and Alephium offers "not bad at all" profitability. The newcomer, Iron Fish, is very attractive in terms of power consumption: it uses the same algorithm as Alephium. Flux, on the other hand, was clearly in the red: its price had not yet recovered.
What about today?
These figures are out of date. The Kaspa ASICs we mentioned did arrive in 2023 (IceRiver, then Bitmain's KS series), which made Kaspa GPU mining marginal. And the April 2024 halving cut the Bitcoin block reward from 6.25 to 3.125 BTC. The rule we pointed out still holds, though: the price of electricity and network difficulty decide whether a machine is profitable.
To estimate a machine's profitability with your own figures, use our Bitcoin mining profitability calculator, then browse our Litecoin and Dogecoin miners or our full range of ASIC miners. And if ASIC noise worries you, see our method to build a soundproof box.