The rebirth of the retired "king of machines" Antminer S9: from "loss as soon as it is turned on" to "recovery in two months"

Our reporter Xing Meng

The Ant S9 mining machine is recognized as the "king of the generation" in the Bitcoin mining circle.

On the eve of the second Bitcoin halving in 2016, this Bitcoin mining machine independently developed by Bitmain was snapped up by the market as soon as it was launched, and the price of each unit was once hyped up to more than 20,000 yuan. As Bitcoin computing power increased sharply and mining difficulty continued to rise, the benefits of the S9 mining machine became negligible. Especially after the third halving in 2020, the price of this old model of mining machine plummeted, and it has already fallen to the level of hundreds of yuan, and no one is even interested in it.

However, things change over time. With the recent record highs of Bitcoin prices, which once reached $24,000, this retired "king of machines" has once again become popular in the market. The Securities Daily reporter learned from the Xianyu App that the latest prices of second-hand Antminer S9 mining machines are mostly above 250 yuan, while 20 days ago the price of the mining machine was only about 110 yuan. The price has doubled in such a short period of time.

According to the current price of the currency, this reborn flagship is quite cost-effective. According to relevant mining pool data, based on the electricity price of 0.34 yuan/kWh, the current daily output value of the Antminer S9 mining machine is 14.8 yuan, and the daily net income is 4.2 yuan. Even though the price of this model has skyrocketed to 250 yuan, the payback period is only about two months.

The price of mining machines doubled in 20 days

Some salted fish sellers regret selling it too early

In the Bitcoin industry chain, mining machines are particularly important. For miners, mining machines are not only tools for mining Bitcoin, but sometimes more like financial products.

When the price of coins soars, the price of mining machines in the hands of miners will rise sharply, because most mining machines are futures and in short supply. During this period, miners "make money on both ends", not only the bitcoins they mine are valuable, but also the mining machines in their hands become more valuable. When the price of coins soars, even the old models that have been eliminated will be put into use again and continue to play their residual heat. The reporter of "Securities Daily" witnessed many "really fragrant" scenes of the retired "king of machines" Ant S9 mining machine on the Xianyu App.

"Ant S9, four units for 888, free shipping." There are many similar hawkings on the Xianyu App. This seller has been targeted by many people because of its high Sesame Credit rating and cheaper mining machine prices. When the reporter paid attention, more than ten people said they wanted it, and the number of views reached more than 200. After the reporter of Securities Daily obtained the seller's approval after asking for the price, he went to check the product and found that it was already displayed as "sold". This shows how popular the sales of this model are and how fast the price changes.

A similar situation also occurred with another seller. This seller also had good credit and low product prices, and finally sold a second-hand Antminer S9 mining machine for 200 yuan. In his introduction, he said, "It has not been dismantled or repaired, and the seals are still there." At the end of the article, he specifically emphasized that it was "a bargain." This move really attracted a lot of people, and more than 10 people "wanted" it. But after the seller hurriedly responded to the reporter's questions, the mining machine quickly showed "sold."

The most popular item in the Xianyu App is a second-hand Antminer S9 miner priced at 180 yuan. In the product description, it says "second-hand machine, no invoice, guaranteed to be on the shelf", the miner can be picked up or mailed (postage paid), and there are several photos of the miner. The miner is very popular, with more than 140 people "wanting" it, and the number of views is more than 2,000 times. Under this situation, it is obviously difficult to get this "king of machines" for 180 yuan. In the subsequent communication, the seller said that the price of the machine was 260 yuan.

After inquiring with several sellers, the reporter found that the current price of second-hand Ant S9 mining machines is mostly above 250 yuan, and a few sellers even show an attitude of "no worries about selling": the asking price is more than 300 yuan, and no bargaining or free shipping.

Surprisingly, just 20 days ago, the price of a second-hand Antminer S9 was only 110 yuan. When the reporter inquired about the price of a certain model with a seller, he found that the seller had sold a second-hand Antminer S9 mining machine for 110 yuan based on the market price 20 days ago. "The price of the coin went up right after I sold it," the seller regretted "selling it too early." The seller revealed that he had also sold another type of mining machine during this period, saying that "after the goods were shipped, the price of the machine went up before the buyer received it."

The retired "king of aircraft" is popular again

"Earn 4 yuan a day and get your money back in two months"

In sharp contrast to the current situation, in March this year, due to the plummeting price of Bitcoin, more than 2 million Ant S9 mining machines were forced to shut down and withdraw from the market for a time.

The March 12 crash caused Bitcoin to suffer its biggest setback this year. On March 12 this year, the price of Bitcoin plummeted from nearly $8,000 to $4,000. In the following week, Bitcoin never recovered, fluctuating repeatedly between $4,000 and $6,000.

This plunge brought disaster to the mining industry, from mining machine manufacturers to mine owners and miners. No one was spared. At that time, the "king of machines" Ant S9 mining machine "made a loss as soon as it was turned on": based on the electricity price of 0.38 yuan per kilowatt-hour at the time, the daily output value of the Ant S9 mining machine was 7.52 yuan, and the daily electricity bill was as high as 11.86 yuan. If it was turned on and running, it would have a net loss of 4.34 yuan per day. "According to a rough calculation based on F2pool's network computing power data, from March 10 to 19, about 2.3 million Ant S9s were forced to shut down." An industry insider analyzed to reporters at the time.

Now, as the price of Bitcoin hits record highs, the story has turned around again. The Antminer S9 not only makes a comeback, but also gets a new lease of life.

According to the online data of cryptocurrency mining pool F2pool, as of December 22, based on the electricity fee of 0.34 yuan per kWh, the daily output value of Antminer S9 mining machine is 14.79 yuan, the daily electricity fee is 10.61 yuan, and the daily net income is 4.18 yuan. Based on the current price of 250 yuan on Xianyu App, without considering the influence of other factors, the payback period of buying an Antminer S9 mining machine is about 60 days, which is two months.

It has to be said that under the catalysis of the unrestrained surge in Bitcoin, the Ant S9 mining machine, which has been on the market for four years and is known as the "king of machines", could not escape the "law of true fragrance" after all.

The scene of the "first-generation mobile phone king" retiring and rebirth highlights the high-risk characteristics of the currency and mining circles, "one side is heaven, the other side is hell". It is also the sharp rise and fall of Bitcoin prices that has brought the "first-generation mobile phone king" that has been "retired" back to the forefront. With such a high volatility risk, Bitcoin is obviously not suitable for ordinary people to invest.

Ding Feipeng, director of the criminal department of Beijing Luning Law Firm, told reporters that first of all, ordinary investors mainly trade Bitcoin through third-party trading platforms or wallets. If the trading platform or wallet is hacked, occupied, or "runs away", it is easy to cause investors to lose money and it is difficult to protect their rights. Secondly, in the process of investing in Bitcoin, it may be impossible to avoid the exchange of Bitcoin with legal currency, because there is a lack of supervision in the field of digital asset trading, and there is a high probability of telecommunications fraud and capital disks. In the process of Bitcoin trading, it is easy to cause funds and Bitcoin assets to be frozen and forcibly deducted, resulting in losses to investors. Finally, Bitcoin is an anonymous decentralized digital asset. If the Bitcoin key stored in the investor's digital wallet is lost or forgotten, the invested Bitcoin will not be able to be retrieved, resulting in losses.

Ding Feipeng warned that holders and traders of encrypted digital currencies such as Bitcoin need to be alert to criminal risks. With the launch of the "Net Cleaning" and "Card Cutting" operations, some places have filed criminal cases against those who inadvertently received black money when selling encrypted digital assets, with charges such as "assisting information network criminal activities", "concealing criminal proceeds", and "obstructing credit card management".