Cloud Mining

Cloud mining is a service where users rent hashrate from a remote data center instead of buying and operating their own hardware. The provider owns the physical ASICs or GPUs; the customer pays a fee and receives a share of mining rewards.

How it works

1. A user buys a hashrate contract (e.g., 100 TH/s for 12 months)
2. The provider allocates that hashrate from their physical miners
3. Mining rewards minus fees are credited to the user's account
4. The user never touches or configures any hardware

Risks

Cloud mining has a long history of fraud and unprofitable contracts:

• Scams — many platforms collect upfront payments and disappear
• No proof of hardware — users can't verify the provider runs the miners they claim
• Unprofitable contracts — fees are often structured so the provider always profits
• No flexibility — if mining becomes unprofitable, you're still locked into the contract

Cloud mining vs owning hardware

	Cloud mining	Owning hardware
Upfront cost	Low	High
Control	None	Full
Hardware ownership	No	Yes
Resale value	Zero	Hardware has resale value

See also

• ASIC
• Hashrate
• Mining pool
• Profitability