TOP mining profitability November 2022: ASIC/GPU

Which mining machines were the most profitable in November 2022, with the market tumbling after the FTX crash? In this video (in French), we launch our monthly mining profitability update: Kadena, Litecoin/Dogecoin, Bitcoin and Ethereum Classic ASICs, then graphics cards, with the payback time of each machine under several price scenarios.

Video from November 2022: 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.

The method: three price scenarios

Our calculations are based on electricity at €0.10 per kWh and on machine prices excluding VAT, imported into Europe. For each machine, we calculate the return on investment in three cases:

• at the current price (Bitcoin was then worth about €16,500);
• at all-time-high levels (ATH), using as reference values €56,000 for Bitcoin, €0.50 for Dogecoin, €10 for Kadena and €75 for ETC;
• at 50% of those highs, a middle scenario that avoids showing figures that are "too science-fiction".

We also rerun the calculations with electricity at 5 cents per kWh, for example with solar panels: payback times then become much shorter.

Kadena: Bitmain's new ASIC far ahead

The most profitable machine of the moment is Bitmain's new Kadena ASIC, the Antminer KA3: 166 TH/s for a little over 3,000 W. The largest model until then, from Goldshell, ran at around 40 TH/s: you go to more than 160 TH/s for the same power consumption. Profitability follows: about $40 per day, against $2.40 for the Goldshell.

Imported into Europe, it sells for around €11,000 to €12,000 excluding VAT. Once electricity is deducted, it earns about $1,000 to $1,200 per month: it pays for itself in about a year at the current price, in two months at 50% of the highs and in one month at ATH levels. Be careful, though: we expect the difficulty to double or triple once these machines are switched on, which will bring profitability down.

Litecoin and Dogecoin: the Antminer L7

Bitmain's L7, at around 9 GH/s, mines Dogecoin and Litecoin among others. Selling for around €10,000 to €11,000 excluding VAT, it pays for itself in under two years at the current price, in 7 months at 50% of the highs and in 4 months at ATH levels. In our view, it is a really interesting machine.

Bitcoin: ASIC prices at rock bottom

The S19 XP, the latest-generation model (140 TH/s for 3,000 W), was selling at the lowest prices ever seen for this machine. With Bitcoin at €16,500, it still takes about 4 years to pay it back.

A 100 TH/s model could be found for about €2,600: it earns about €240 per month for €216 of electricity, so there is almost nothing left. The 110 TH/s models, more expensive (€3,000 to €3,300), take 33 months to pay back at 50% of the highs.

Ethereum Classic: the GT Miner V66

A newcomer, the GT Miner V66 mines ETC at 600 MH/s for only 420 W, with 6 GB of memory. At €1,450 excluding VAT, delivered, it is very affordable and accumulates a little over 2 ETC per month. But at the current price, it makes only about €15 profit per month, i.e. 95 months to pay it back. The picture changes with the price: 11 months with ETC at €75, under two years at 50% of that level.

Graphics cards: mining struggles

On the graphics card side, the situation is complicated. On WhatToMine, even with an efficient card such as the RTX 3070, mining runs at a loss at 10 cents per kWh: you need to get down to around 8 cents to break even.

Card prices have dropped sharply: the RTX 3070M, which we were selling not long ago for around €600 to €680, can now be found for around €400. But without cheap electricity, that is not enough. Our conclusion: right now, profitability lies with ASICs.

What about today?

These figures reflect the market in November 2022: prices, network difficulty and machine prices have changed a great deal since. For Bitcoin, the April 2024 halving cut the block reward in half, from 6.25 to 3.125 BTC. On the graphics card side, the arrival of Kaspa ASICs in 2023 made Kaspa GPU mining marginal. Before any purchase, redo the calculation with current figures.

To estimate the profitability of a miner today, use our Bitcoin mining profitability calculator and browse our ASIC miners. To follow the series, read our December 2022 mining profitability update, and to learn more about this quiet ETC miner, our GT Miner V66 review.