Estimated All-in Cost of Bitcoin Mining

While the cost of bitcoin production captures the direct costs of proprietary mining activities, the all-in cost of bitcoin mining analyzed by TheEnergyMag takes an extra step by stacking corporate overhead and financial expenses on top.

Some public mining companies disclose the bulk of corporate overhead as Selling, General, and Administrative (SG&A) cost on their income statements. Such a cost can include a variety of items, such as executive payments, office expenses, employee payrolls and benefits, professional fees, insurance, R&D, etc. Some provide a more detailed cost breakdown of each item while some only disclose a lump sum SG&A. 

Dividing the corporate overhead cost over the amount of BTC mined offers additional color on how much a company is paying to keep the office and team running and whether it is able to generate meaningful net profits for shareholders. TheEnergyMag’s analysis of corporate overhead per BTC excludes share-based compensations because those are not cash-based. 

For companies that have a diversified business model, TheEnergyMag’s analysis takes a fair share approach to estimate the corporate overhead for the proprietary hashrate segment specifically.

Similarly, the interest expense per BTC captures the cost of loans and financial leases that a company is paying to sustain or expand its bitcoin mining operations.