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Field report · Nov 6, 2026 · 3 min read
Retired on 3 November: the Whatsminer M30S ran 385 of its 866 days and kept every coin
A 38 J/TH machine needs a hashprice most days did not give it. The M30S bought in June 2024 spent more of its life off than on, crossed to Nigeria once, and was retired this week as hashprice slid under the line. Every coin it mined is still in the wallet.
MicroBT Whatsminer M30s (86 TH/s)
A 38 J/TH machine has a high line, and the bill is in the arithmetic
The first price we hold for the M30S that had settled, on 24 June 2024, was $479 for the 86 TH/s unit, $1,149 landed in Argentina with freight, duty and setup. It draws 3,268 W for 86 TH/s, which is 38 J/TH. Those are the figures in our store record.
A machine's line is the hashprice at which it stops covering its own power. At 38 J/TH a petahash uses 912 kWh a day: $54.72 at Argentina's 6¢ and $35.57 at Nigeria's 3.9¢. The guide to efficiency and halvings shows where every J/TH puts the line.
It ran 385 days and sat out the other 481
Hashprice was $48.05 on the day it was bought and peaked at $63.81 on 12 December 2024. Against Argentina's $54.72 line that was enough on 106 of the 364 days the machine spent there. It ran 98 of them: 30 days from the purchase, a stop on 23 July 2024, then two stretches of about a month each between December 2024 and February 2025.
On 23 June 2025 it crossed to Nigeria, the one move a machine makes, and the line fell to $35.57. Since then hashprice has been above that on 321 of 502 days, and the machine ran 287 of them: 234 days to 11 February 2026, then 53 days from 11 September to 2 November. The guide to crossing explains why the move happens once.
In all it has run 385 days and been off for 481.
What it banked, and what it did not
Over the days it ran, the M30S mined and kept 0.0137 BTC for $1,156 of power. At today's price the coins are worth $1,105, so the run finished just short of paying for its electricity. Electricity averaged about $84,200 a coin over the run. That is a lifetime average over 385 running days, and it sits above bitcoin's price today, which is $75,826.
The coins are in the wallet. Nobody sold one to pay a power bill, and a machine that is switched off spends nothing.
Off costs nothing, and nothing it mined was sold.
Retired on 3 November
Hashprice was last above the Nigerian line on 29 October, at $36.19. On 3 November it was $32.70 and the machine was retired: a machine is retired when it is off today, and its coins never are. At today's price a coin from an M30S in Nigeria costs about $87,500 in electricity, more than the $75,826 a coin sells for.
The lowest reading of the past two years, $27.74 on 6 June 2026, sat $7.83 under the Nigerian line. The machine could run again if hashprice rose past $35.57. The April 2028 halving halves the coins a petahash earns, and at today's conditions held flat that puts hashprice near $16, under half of this machine's line.
What we would tell ourselves
Efficiency sets how many cycles a machine can sit through. At 12 J/TH the line is $11.23 at 3.9¢, and the M74S+ makes a coin in Nigeria for about $27,600. At 8.9 J/TH it is $8.33, and the S23 XP Hyd makes one for about $21,300. The M30S makes one for $87,500.
For a miner the lesson is where the line sits. A machine whose line is a third of hashprice runs through a trough; one whose line is hashprice's own level does not.
Which machines this covers
Disclosure
Firsthand Bitcoin sells and hosts mining hardware, including this machine. No manufacturer, distributor or affiliate programme paid for or reviewed this page and we take no commission on the links above. Historical figures are computed from daily bitcoin price and network hashprice, each day valued at its own prices. Nothing here is investment advice.