I'm still unsure as to who exactly my readership will comprise of here on Steemit. I'm a young black, male adult with interest ranging from rap and spoken word to cryptocurrencies and decentralisation. So my posts here will be a mixture of both as they remain close to my heart.
Over the course of the upcoming weeks, we'll be exploring my journey into creating an inexpensive mining rig(s) and the lessons learned on the way there.
So let's get to the main question you've been asking, what has any of this to do with the title? What is this tiny island? Well, I'm sure a great deal of you are from well-known areas of the globe, whose nations are probably in the news for much better news than mine might be. Negatives aside though, I'm from the beautiful twin island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
The factors that made me interested in cryptocurrencies will be dealt with extensively in some of the following blog posts. For now, we'll touch on the three basic considerations for mining any cryptocurrency:
- Electricity cost,
- Capital cost (machinery and miscellaneous equipment) and
- Opportunity to spend (whether in its crypto form or exchanged into fiat).
The cost of electricity (running cost) and the cost of investment (initial/capital cost) are the two major considerations every potential miner should be making note of.
Let me say this. If I had to compete with miners from the US on potential profitability based on electrical cost alone I would undoubtedly lead the entire pack. Here's a look at the average price per kilowatt for the various states. The highest goes to Hawaii at 26.17 cents per kWh and the lowest goes to Washington at 7.4 cents per kWh.
Trinidad's cost per kWh works out to be just 4 cents (PDF download) per kWh when converted from our local TTD to USD.
That's right, electricity cost in my home country is lower than every single state in the USA.
With that said, you must be wondering what the initial investment will be like. The more curious readers would have noted that the exchange rate between the TTD (Trinidad and Tobago Dollar) and the USD is a paltry 0.15 to 1.
We could have a lengthy discourse over the various cost of living metrics, however, for now, it'll suffice to say that we aren't going to employ the traditional route of sourcing equipment to mine on.
And for any concerned parties, everything done will be completely legal.
I hope this post served as a whet to keep you all coming back. Exciting things are up ahead, so to everyone, thanks for your time and it's great to be part of the same community here with you all.
-- Jon