ViaBTC Supports Merged Mining with FB, Boosting BTC Miners’ Earnings by 3%

Recently, ViaBTC announced its support for merged mining of Bitcoin (BTC) and Fractal Bitcoin (FB), further increasing the earnings of BTC miners. FB is a scalability solution on the Bitcoin network, utilizing the same mining algorithm as Bitcoin. This allows BTC miners to switch over and participate in FB mining seamlessly.

Merged mining is a vital aspect of the FB mining process. In the following analysis, we will detail the expected increase in earnings for BTC miners under this, providing users with a clearer understanding of their recent earnings composition.

BTC Earnings

Bitcoin has a block generation time of ~10 minutes. Following this year’s fourth halving, the block reward stands at 3.125 BTC. Calculations indicate a theoretical daily output of 144 blocks × 3.125 BTC = 450 BTC. With the Bitcoin price at $63660.23 on September 23, the daily value of BTC is approximately $28.65 million.

As of September 23, Bitcoin’s hashrate is 635.44 EH/s, which translates to daily earnings of about 0.0000007 BTC per TH/s of hashrate, valued at roughly $0.0451.

FB Merged Mining Earnings

To enhance scalability, FB has reduced the block generation time to one block every 30 seconds. Notably, FB mining is divided into permissionless mining, which requires BTC miners to switch their hashrate to FB, and merged mining, which allows BTC miners to earn additional FB rewards simultaneously. According to FB’s difficulty adjustment mechanism, the block generation ratio for permissionless mining compared to merged mining is approximately 2:1.

FB offers a block reward of 25 FB, with halving events occurring roughly every two years; the next one is anticipated around August 2026. Thus, the current theoretical daily output for FB is 72,000 FB, with 48,000 FB from permissionless mining and 24,000 from merged mining. Since miners engaged in permissionless mining will adjust their hashrate based on actual earnings from BTC and FB, the earnings per unit hashrate for both are expected to align. This article will specifically focus on the revenues from FB merged mining.

As of September 23, FB’s price is $13.28, leading to a daily value of $318,700 from merged mining. While the emission of FB is considerably lower than that of BTC, many mining pools and BTC miners have not yet initiated the node programs for merged mining, resulting in lower competition in hashrate compared to BTC. Currently, the hashrate for FB merged mining stands at 243.281 EH/s, with a theoretical daily earning of 0.0000987 FB per TH/s of hashrate, equivalent to approximately $0.0013.

How Should BTC Miners Choose?

Before the launch of FB, BTC miners had the opportunity to earn rewards from other cryptocurrencies through merged mining. For instance, BTC miners can get various coins such as NMC, SYS, ELA, and FB from ViaBTC. However, due to the tokenomics of these projects, rewards for coins other than FB are granted only after mining 1 BTC, and their values are significantly lower than BTC. Consequently, the shared rewards other than FB from merged mining do not substantially enhance BTC miners’ earnings.

In contrast, FB uses a PPLNS payment method and boasts a solid daily value. Based on the earlier theoretical earnings estimates, adding FB increases BTC miners’ earnings by 3% without any extra costs, indicating an overall rise in profits.

For example, with the Antminer S21 and an electricity cost of $0.04 per kilowatt-hour, the theoretical daily earnings for BTC are about $9.02, with daily electricity expenses at $3.36, resulting in a net profit of $5.66. After incorporating FB merged mining, the theoretical daily earnings rose to $9.28, leading to a net profit of $5.92, which reflects a 5% increase in profits.

The earnings from FB merged mining are promising, but miners should closely monitor FB’s coin release schedule. Since only 50% of FB’s total supply comes from PoW mining, a large influx of coins from other sources could dilute the price. However, with the current circulation outside of mining at about 1.06 million coins and mining output exceeding this, any impact is manageable in the short term.

While most coins are released proportionally each year, it’s important to note that there is a 7-month lock-up period for pre-sale and core contributors’ coins. After this period, 42 million coins will be released linearly, which may create significant selling pressure in the market.

Overall, miners who engage early in FB merged mining will benefit substantially, especially when considering inflation and the considerable BTC hashrate yet to participate. ViaBTC has launched support for BTC merged mining with FB and a 30-day fee-free promotion for the FB mining pool. This presents an excellent opportunity for BTC miners seeking higher returns. For further details, visit: www.viabtc.com