RUBS, multi-family, and bitcoin mining arbitrage

[Joe Lambert]

Has anyone looked into utilizing bitcoin mining to minimize utility costs, such as electricity, while integrating the heat in the winter?

My idea would be to use enough mining equipment to reach the industrial electrical rate, charge the resident the average electrical cost of a unit, and pocket the difference.  My calculations indicate that there is about 33% savings in the rate between industrial electrical rate and residential, this is before the mining profit and heat synergies. 

Thoughts?

[Joe Lambert]

Quote from @Denver McClure:

Hey @Joe Lambert, that idea has been floated around the crypto mining community for a while now. The problem is profitability of the actual at home mining rigs. You can go pick up a few Bitmains with fair hash rates and start mining bitcoin, but I don't see too many pools that are profitable for residential electric plans. You might have better luck mining a different coin/token right now if you'd like to achieve profitability first, then hope that the rigs actually warm the surrounding area. 

The money spent on the Bitmain or other mining rig might be better aimed at some form of insulation improvements. For reference, I mine Helium (HNT) using rigs in several of my rental properties. The miners don't use nearly as much electricity compared to BTC rigs, but it is a good way of adding additional diversified income streams to your portfolio.

If you RUBS your whole complex and include electrical costs, I think you could jump to an industrial rate. I’d like to test it sometime on one of mine but I think you could arbitrage the power rate between residential and industrial.