Crypto Mining In Australia: 15 Things You Should Know

Is It Possible To Mine Crypto In Australia?

Mining crypto in Australia is possible, just in the same way that it is possible to mine cryptocurrencies in most parts of the world.

However, be aware that you might need an expensive computer (or specific hardware) to mine crypto optimally and make any money at all, whether it's in Australia or anywhere else in the world that allows it. These computers and/or hardware are known as miners or mining rigs and depending on the particular crypto you want to mine, they can reach into the thousands of dollars.

Is Crypto Mining Legal In Australia?

Mining Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in Australia is perfectly legal and you shouldn't have much issue when mining across most of the country. Just as how Bitcoin transactions are legal, you also shouldn't have any problem with mining overall: central processing unit (CPU) mining, graphics processing unit (GPU) mining, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) mining, field-programmable gate array (FGPA) mining, and cloud mining are all fair game throughout most of the Australian territory.

Additionally, keep in mind that cryptocurrency is not considered legal tender in Australia, which means that there isn't any federal or provincial insurance available on cryptocurrency holdings, and no merchant is obligated to accept it as a form of payment.

Is Crypto Mining Safe In Australia?

Yes, mining Bitcoins and other cryptos is completely safe in Australia, and you shouldn't have any issues conducting mining operations on your own as far as the government is concerned. However, you should always be monitoring the amount of energy that you're consuming when doing this, as local electrical companies will always be there to see just how much energy you're allocating to crypto mining.

However, if you're able to come out on top of the electricity costs with Bitcoin mining, then you shouldn't have to worry about much else with this investment prospect, which makes it very safe to engage in.

Is Crypto Mining Profitable In Australia?

Crypto mining in Australia is a good investment prospect overall, particularly if you're interested in earning passive income. Anyone in the Australian mining landscape can earn up to $50 AUD per day or more, but this, of course, depends on the hardware or mining rig being used, how powerful the rig or hardware is, what cryptocurrency is being mined, and whether or not you're renting a rig for cloud mining.

In Australia, energy consumption fees are higher than those in the US, the UK, and Canada, averaging 25 to 30 ¢/kWh. Still, crypto mining can be very profitable if you have the right setup.

If you find crypto mining difficult and want an alternative way to invest in crypto, you could also use an Australia-regulated cryptocurrency exchange like Capital, VirgoCX, Binance, or Coinbase to buy, sell, and trade a wide variety of different cryptocurrencies with some of the lowest trading fees in the industry.

What’s The Easiest Cryptocurrency To Mine In Australia?

The easiest cryptocurrency to mine in Australia, especially if you're a beginner, would have to be Monero (XMR). This token uses privacy-enhancing technologies to prevent transactions from being traced, which is something that tokens like Bitcoin (BTC) don't do.

One reason that makes mining Monero easy is that you have to spend less money on mining rigs because you can use your CPU to mine the token (and CPUs tend to be way cheaper than GPUs). Additionally, Monero can be mined via browser extensions and free software over websites, which only makes mining the token even easier, and the token also has a high price as well, with each Monero (XMR) token being worth around 250 AUD.

What’s The Best Cryptocurrency To Mine In Australia?

One of the best cryptocurrencies to mine right now in Australia would certainly have to be Ethereum (ETH), the second most popular cryptocurrency and the most popular altcoin worldwide. It's more profitable to mine compared to coins like Bitcoin (BTC), and you can also rely on its price to remain relatively consistent for the next couple of years, as opposed to other altcoins that work similarly to Ethereum.

Ethereum is a cryptocurrency that uses “smart contract” technology, which directly results in increased privacy and lower transaction fees by removing middlemen from the equation. Currently, a cap on the number of Ether that can be in circulation doesn't exist, meaning that an infinite amount of Ether can be in circulation at any time (unlike Bitcoin, which has a cap of 21 billion).

What’s The Most Profitable Cryptocurrency To Mine In Australia?

If what you're looking for is to mine one of the most profitable crypto tokens in Australia, then you won't have to look further than Ethereum Classic (ETC). It's a slightly modified version of the original Ethereum (ETH) before it suffered a DAO attack way back in 2016, but the modifications that were made to the crypto token improved it considerably.

Although the price of this token may not seem like much at first (1 ETC = 22.08 AUD), the fact that it's an established cryptocurrency and the fact that it is so easy to mine make it more profitable in the long term, even if it can be a bit rough to get going at the beginning of your ETC mining journey.

How Much Does It Cost To Mine Crypto In Australia?

Crypto mining in Australia can have wildly different costs, depending on the mining method being used and the cryptocurrency being mined. However, in general, mining in Australia can cost anywhere between 600 to tens of thousands of Australian dollars, and that's just what you'd pay for the mining rig. These costs could be even higher if you take electricity costs into account.

How Is Crypto Mining Taxed In Australia?

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) considers crypto to be a commodity for tax purposes, which means that any income you earn from crypto will be taxed as either business income or as capital gains, depending on whether you're operating as a business or if you're operating solo.

Additionally, the CRA treats losses as either business or capital losses for tax purposes. These two types of income (business income vs. capital gains) are taxed differently in Australia: business income is 100% taxable, whereas 50% of capital gains can be taxed.

Can The ATO Track How Much Cryptocurrency You’ve Mined?

Yes, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) can track cryptocurrency trades and transactions—and not only when your digital assets interact with real-world institutions like banks or crypto exchanges.

All Australian exchanges are required by law to register with AUSTRAC. Exchanges are also required to provide all information about their users’ transactions, including purchase price, purchase date, sale value, and all associated KYC data. If your tax returns don’t match the data the ATO receives from AUSTRAC, you may get slapped with a fine. 

Another important fact to consider is if you qualify as a Crypto Investor or Crypto Trader. The former can declare their profits as capital gains, and take advantage of the 50% Capital Gains Tax reduction that applies for long-term gains. Keep in mind that to qualify for the Crypto Investor 50% tax rebate, crypto assets have to be held for at least 1 year.

Crypto traders, on the other hand, have to declare all profits as income and pay the full amount in taxes.

How Do You Mine Helium In Australia?

The Helium Network is a new blockchain network which was designed to create decentralized public wireless networks. To mine Helium in Australia, you'll need to buy a Helium miner (or “hotspot”), which is a small router that enables anyone to contribute to a wireless network for Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

Helium mining is becoming more and more popular as more people are becoming aware of its existence, mainly because it consumes an extremely minimal amount of electricity overall (often consuming less than $1 of electricity per year).

What Are The Best Crypto Mining Stocks In Australia?

Currently, some of the best crypto mining stocks in Australia include the Galaxy Digital Holdings Stock, the HIVE Blockchain Technologies Stock, and the Hut 8 Mining Stock. All of these stocks have been performing really well as of late, with at least two spikes for each stock in the last 2 to 5 years.

What’s The Best Crypto Mining Rig In Australia?

Currently, the best Bitcoin miner that you could get is the Antminer S19 Pro-ASIC. It showcases one of the highest hash rates in the market today, and it also has the highest efficiency for one of the lowest power consumption rates. To put it into perspective, one of these rigs could generate nearly 15 CAD on a daily basis at an electricity cost rate of 13 ¢/kWh.

What’s The Best Crypto Mining Software In Australia?

If you're looking for the best crypto-mining software in Australia, CGMiner would be an excellent option. It's a crypto mining software that was developed in 2011 by Con Kolivas (an Australian programmer), and it was designed with Bitcoin and Litecoin mining in mind. It has become pretty popular among the crypto mining community, mainly because it's open-source and it has both cross-platform and cross-hardware compatibility.

Although advanced users will be the ones getting the most out of this software, it has plenty of positives going for it, such as the fact most major operating systems support it, and it's compatible with ASIC, GPU, and FPGA systems. Additionally, this software is open-source, meaning that the code can be improved and contributed to by just about anyone.

Is It Better To Mine Crypto In Australia Or The US?

Overall, it can be considered better to mine crypto in Australia compared to the US for a variety of reasons. For starters, cryptocurrencies are pretty much unregulated across most of the Australian territory, which is in stark contrast to the US as it places very strict regulations on crypto (often requiring cryptocurrency exchanges to register with FinCEN, implement an AML/CFT program, maintain appropriate records, and more).

Another key point that makes Australia a better location to mine crypto is that it has lower electricity costs compared to the US, with an average electricity cost of 9.8 to 11.5 ¢/kWh compared to the US's 10.66 ¢/kWh (around 14 ¢/kWh in CAD).

In Summary

Crypto mining is both possible and completely legal in Australia, and the country is also a great location for you to mine Bitcoin, especially considering the lower electricity costs and the hands-off approach that the Australian government has been taking with cryptocurrency in general. In this post, we'll be discussing 15 of the most important things you should know about Bitcoin miners in Australia.

If you find cryptocurrency mining not to be your cup of tea, don't worry — you still have many ways to invest in crypto. One option we recommend is using a cryptocurrency exchange like Capital, Zengo or VirgoCX to buy, sell, and trade many different crypto tokens with some of the lowest trading fees in the industry. With platforms as efficient as these, it’s hard to go wrong trading crypto in Australia.