The word "break-even" gets thrown around in mining discussions as if it were a single fact. It is actually a calculation, and a simple one, that you can do yourself with numbers you measure. This article walks through the math with illustrative figures so the mechanism is completely transparent. The numbers here are examples to show the method; yours will differ, and that is the point.

Setting up the example

Suppose you have a mining PC. You measure these inputs, all of which you can verify yourself:

  • Wall power draw: 250 watts, measured with an inline meter under real load.
  • Run time: 24 hours a day.
  • Electricity rate: 0.14 in your local currency per kilowatt-hour, from your actual bill.
  • Daily MLRT earned: measured over a real 24-hour session at current network conditions.

These four inputs are everything the calculation needs. No price forecast, no assumptions about the future.

Step one: daily energy

250 watts times 24 hours is 6,000 watt-hours, or 6 kilowatt-hours per day. This is a physical fact about your hardware, not an estimate.

Step two: daily power cost

6 kWh times 0.14 per kWh is 0.84 in your local currency per day. That is what it costs to run the machine for a day. Again, measurable and fixed, not a guess.

Step three: the break-even price

Say your measured daily output was 4 MLRT. The break-even price is your daily cost divided by your daily output: 0.84 divided by 4, which is 0.21 per MLRT. That is the number. At an MLRT price of 0.21, your mining exactly covers its electricity for the day. Above it, you are net-positive on power; below it, you are subsidising the network from your own pocket.

What the number means and does not mean

This break-even figure is a clean floor, and it is honest precisely because it makes no promises. It does not say MLRT will trade above 0.21. It does not say you will profit. It says: at this price, the electricity is paid for. Whether the market price is above or below that floor on any given day is information you read off the live price, not something this calculation predicts. The math tells you the threshold; the market tells you where you stand against it.

What the floor leaves out

Be honest about what the floor excludes. It does not include hardware depreciation, the cost of cooling in summer, or your own time. Those are real and they sit on top of the electricity floor. A more complete picture adds them, which raises the price you would need to truly come out ahead. The electricity break-even is the simplest and most verifiable threshold, which is why it is the right place to start, but it is a floor, not the whole story.

Do it with your own numbers

The entire value of this exercise is that you can run it yourself, today, with measured inputs and no faith required. Plug in your real wattage, your real rate, and your real measured output. The result is a number you trust because you built it. That is the opposite of a promise; it is a tool.