Analysis of Cryptocurrency Mining in Gaming Consoles

Abstract

Ever since the invention of the bitcoin cryptocurrency in the year 2009, many blockchain ledgers have been initiated by several parties, offering over 1600 different types of cryptocurrencies all around the world by them. This increase in popularity has not only moved the masses toward performing trade using these currencies but also start earning them through mining with sophisticated computing hardware. In this article, an analysis is performed to estimate the performance and the profitability of mainstream gaming consoles, developed by the Sony Entertainment Company and Microsoft Corporation when subjected to mine five different types of cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Dogecoin, Litecoin, Dash). The article also provides real-time test results on the mining performance and profitability of the consoles under study. Although the Microsoft Corporation consoles can provide a monthly profit of 0.00096 and 0.00319% of the initial investment, an overall net loss of over 80% of the initial investment is observed in all the consoles.