Bitcoin mining in Nigeria, and why the power maths decides everything
Somebody has shown you the machine. It is a grey metal box with a fan at each end, and the caption promises $8 a day. Every pitch for bitcoin mining in Nigeria quotes the dollars. Few quote the power bill.
So I worked out the bill. On 7 October 2026 prices, an Antminer S21 pays for its power only when a unit (kWh) costs below about ₦126. At the Band A price of ₦209.50 a unit, it loses money.
On cheaper bands, the machine covers the bill on paper, but power flows for fewer hours. At scale, crypto mining in Nigeria runs on power that nobody else buys.
There are no referral links here, and I recommend no vendor. This is desk research, not financial or legal advice. I am not a tax adviser, and this is not tax advice. New to bitcoin? Start with what Bitcoin is.
Key takeaways
- On NERC Band A power at ₦209.50 per kWh, an Antminer S21 mining machine running all day uses ₦17,598 of electricity. It earns about ₦10,612 a day on 7 October 2026 prices.
- On 7 October 2026 prices, an Antminer S21 breaks even at about ₦126 per kWh, or 9.5 US cents. Lower grid bands cost less than that but promise fewer hours.
- I found no Nigerian law that bans bitcoin mining. The Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) guidelines of 31 July 2026 list mining rewards as taxable income.
- Free bitcoin mining does not exist, because somebody always pays for the machine and the power.
Table of Contents
- The short answer, by power source
- How bitcoin mining earns money
- What one machine costs to run in Nigeria
- What it costs before you switch it on
- Who runs bitcoin mining in Nigeria, and why their maths is different
- Is bitcoin mining legal in Nigeria?
- "Free bitcoin mining" and cloud mining sites
- What I would do with the same money
- Conclusion
- Work with me
- Frequently asked questions
- Related reading
The short answer, by power source
Is bitcoin mining profitable in Nigeria? On Band A power, no. In a day, an Antminer S21, a recent bitcoin mining machine, earns about ₦10,612 and uses ₦17,598 of Band A electricity.
- Band A grid. The machine loses about ₦6,986 a day on power alone.
- Lower-band grid. The machine earns more than its power costs, but only while the grid is on.
- Generator. Generator power costs many times the break-even price.
- Solar. The inverter and batteries alone cost about as much as ten years of break-even power.
- Stranded power. Mining companies use cheap power that has no other buyer.
These results move with the naira and mining income.
How bitcoin mining earns money
How does bitcoin mining work? Specialised computers called ASICs compete to add the next block of transactions to Bitcoin's record. The network pays the winner in new bitcoin plus fees. Most miners join a mining pool, which splits each payout by the work each machine did.
- Hashrate is a machine's speed, in terahashes per second (TH/s).
- Efficiency is the energy used per unit of speed, in joules per terahash (J/TH).
- Hashprice is what one unit of hashrate earns in a day, in dollars.
As more machines join, the network's difficulty rises, and each machine's share shrinks. About every four years, a halving also cuts the new bitcoin paid per block by 50%. The April 2024 halving cut it to 3.125 BTC. So the $8-a-day figure in a 2023 Legit.ng story about an Antminer S19 is out of date. A 100 TH/s machine of that generation earns about $4 a day on 7 October 2026 prices.
What one machine costs to run in Nigeria
My example is the Antminer S21. Bitmain's specification lists it at 200 TH/s on 3,500 watts, or 17.5 J/TH. The older S19j Pro, a common second-hand model, runs at 100 TH/s on 2,950 watts, or 29.5 J/TH.
Hashrate Index's 28 September 2026 roundup, the newest on 7 October, put hashprice at $39.87 per PH/s a day. One PH/s is 1,000 TH/s, so that is $0.03987 per TH/s a day. The Central Bank of Nigeria's official rate for 6 October 2026, which I use throughout, was ₦1,330.87 to the dollar.
The formula
A miner breaks even when its electricity price equals hashprice per TH/s per day divided by (efficiency in J/TH × 0.024).
The 0.024 turns watts into kWh per day. For the S21, 17.5 times 0.024 is 0.42, and $0.03987 divided by 0.42 gives 9.5 US cents per kWh. That is about ₦126 per kWh. The S19j Pro breaks even at about ₦75 per kWh. More efficient machines break even higher.
The S21 earns 200 times $0.03987, which is $7.97 a day, or about ₦10,612. It draws 3.5 kW for 24 hours, which is 84 kWh, or 84 units on a prepaid meter. This is how to calculate bitcoin mining profit by hand. Any online bitcoin mining calculator runs the same sum.
Grid power, Band A to Band E
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) places each area's supply line, or feeder, in a band by hours of supply. Its Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO) prices each band for every distribution company (DisCo). Band A promises 20 hours a day, and Bands B to E promise 16, 12, 8, and 4 hours.
NERC's July 2025 order for Ikeja Electric listed Band A at ₦209.50 per kWh for ordinary single-phase and three-phase connections. It listed Band B at ₦62.48, Band C at ₦45.80, and Bands D and E at ₦31.24 per kWh. NERC's report for the second quarter of 2026 says that tariffs were still frozen at July 2024 rates. Check the latest NERC order for your DisCo.
On NERC Band A, a full day of mining bitcoin in Nigeria takes 84 kWh at ₦209.50 each, a bill of ₦17,598. The S21 earns ₦10,612 a day, so it loses ₦6,986. For Band A's promised 20 hours, it earns ₦8,844, uses ₦14,665 of power, and loses ₦5,821. Hashprice would have to rise by about two thirds to cover that bill.
The lower bands change the answer. The power is cheap, but a miner earns nothing while the grid is off. On Band B, the S21 runs for 16 hours a day, earns ₦7,075, and uses ₦3,499 of power. That leaves about ₦3,576 a day before any other costs. For the S21, Bands C to E each leave less than Band B.
I would not rely on that margin, for three reasons.
- The promised hours are a monthly average. Individual days can fall short.
- The price is subsidised. NERC's second-quarter report showed the government paying about half of generation costs.
- The next halving is expected in 2028. If nothing else changed, it would cut that margin to about zero.
Petrol and diesel generators
A generator turns fuel into electricity, so the test is litres per kWh. FG Wilson's spec sheet for its P9.5-4 diesel set lists 1.5 litres an hour at half the 6.8 kW prime rating, which is 3.4 kW. That is about 0.441 litres per kWh.
Channels TV's report on National Bureau of Statistics data for May 2026 put diesel at ₦3,277.47 a litre. Each kWh then costs about ₦1,446, more than 11 times the break-even price. Diesel would have to fall to about ₦286 a litre for the S21 to break even.
Petrol also fails the test. Honda lists its EU70 petrol generator at 3 litres an hour and a rated output of 5.5 kVA. At that output, each kWh costs at least ₦870 at the May 2026 price of ₦1,596.25 a litre.
Solar and inverter
Global Solar Atlas data for Lagos gives about 3.6 kWh a day per kW of panels. For 84 kWh a day, the S21 needs about 23 kW of panels, roughly 42 at 550 watts each, plus batteries for the night.
On 9 October 2026, Arnergy's shop listed a 20 kW inverter with 60 kWh of lithium batteries at ₦38.76 million, without panels or installation. The discounted price was ₦36.18 million. Ten years of 84 kWh a day at the break-even price comes to about ₦38.7 million. At full price, the inverter and batteries alone cost more than that. At the discounted price, they cost ₦118 per kWh, which leaves about ₦2.6 million for all 42 panels and their installation.
The break-even tariff list
The break-even tariff per kWh is ₦126.34, or 9.5 US cents.
- Band A grid, 24 hours. At ₦209.50 (15.7 US cents), the S21 uses ₦17,598 of power, earns ₦10,612, and loses ₦6,986.
- Band B grid, 16 hours. At ₦62.48 (4.7 US cents), the S21 uses ₦3,499 of power, earns ₦7,075, and leaves ₦3,576 before other costs.
- Diesel generator, 24 hours. At about ₦1,446 (108.6 US cents), the S21 uses about ₦121,500 of power, earns ₦10,612, and loses about ₦110,900.
- Solar with batteries, 24 hours, discounted price. At ₦118 (8.9 US cents), the S21 uses ₦9,912 of power, earns ₦10,612, and leaves about ₦700 for panels and installation.
I checked every input on 7 October 2026 and the solar prices on 9 October. This is arithmetic on dated inputs, not a forecast. Each line counts power only, before pool fees, tax, and repairs.
If you want my writing by email, join my newsletter, Staying Liquid.
What it costs before you switch it on
How much is a bitcoin mining machine? Its price is only one of five bills that bitcoin mining hardware in Nigeria brings besides the power bill. Miner prices move with hashprice, so I print no naira figure.
- The machine. Whether the machine is new or used, get a dated quote.
- Freight. An ASIC ships as heavy air cargo.
- Customs. Duty depends on how Customs classifies the machine, and a licensed clearing agent can quote the duty in writing.
- Power setup. The machine needs its own 20-amp circuit, ventilation, and voltage protection.
- Running extras. Internet costs, pool fees, and repairs follow once the machine is on.
On Band A, the machine leaves nothing for these bills.
Who runs bitcoin mining in Nigeria, and why their maths is different
Commercial crypto mining in Nigeria skips the household grid. The companies below mostly use flare gas or spare power instead.
Oil producers burn off gas that they cannot sell, and a generator at the oil field turns that flare gas into electricity. Stranded power is electricity that a plant could make but has no line to deliver. In the list below, announced megawatts are not running megawatts.
- Terrahex. TechCabal reported in September 2026 that Terrahex's first site would have up to 9 megawatts (MW) of capacity. The site would run on spare power from oil and gas facilities. Terrahex had no revenue then, and its first phase was targeted for December 2026.
- Green Flare. TechCabal's 2025 report described three flare gas sites in Delta State, in the Niger Delta, with 53 MW of potential capacity. I found no later report of a running site.
- Trojan Mining. A Forbes contributor wrote in December 2024 that Trojan Mining's Nigerian operations had crossed 1 MW. I could not find its site locations.
- NRG Bloom. TechCabal's September 2026 report said that NRG Bloom had been running a 1 MW flare gas site in Bayelsa since February 2025.
Hosting means paying a company to run your machine at its site. Treat every such offer as a claim to test. In a July 2025 post, OneMiners advertised hosting in Nigeria from $0.048 per kWh, with "no crypto tax on hosted mining". I found no independent report that confirms its Nigerian site. Before trusting any offer, I would want the site address, the power source, the contract, and proof of who holds the machine.
A working bitcoin mining business in Nigeria runs on megawatts, containers, and a power contract. It is not a socket in a flat.
Is bitcoin mining legal in Nigeria?
Bitcoin mining is not banned in Nigeria, as far as I can tell. On 7 October 2026, I found no law or regulatory notice that bans it or requires a licence. People mix up three questions.
- Who regulates crypto firms? The Investments and Securities Act 2025 puts exchanges and virtual asset service providers under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
- Does a mining business need an SEC licence? The SEC's digital asset rules define virtual asset service providers as firms acting for others, and the rules never mention mining. Running your own machine does not fit that definition, as I read it. A bitcoin mining business in Nigeria that hosts machines for other people should ask a lawyer.
- How are mined coins taxed? The NRS guidelines of 31 July 2026 list mining rewards as taxable income on the day you receive them. My guide to Nigeria's crypto tax rules explains the 10% withholding on mining rewards and the annual return.
Some pages call mining tax-free in Nigeria. Those guidelines say otherwise. Other pages claim that miners answer to FinCEN, which is a bureau of the US Treasury, not a Nigerian regulator.
The Central Bank of Nigeria's December 2023 guidelines bar banks from trading crypto but let them serve SEC-registered platforms. A miner turns coins into naira on Nigerian crypto exchanges or in a peer-to-peer (P2P) trade. My guide to converting bitcoin to naira covers that step.
"Free bitcoin mining" and cloud mining sites
Many mining pitches aimed at Nigerians involve no machine at all. Some come from sites and apps that promise free bitcoin mining. Others sell cloud mining, which means renting a share of somebody else's machines.
Mining cannot be free. Somebody pays for the machine and the power. If you do not, the site earns from you another way, often through deposits, fees, or recruits.
I will not name the best bitcoin mining site in Nigeria. A ranking is the endorsement that a bad scheme needs. Run five checks on any free or cloud mining site.
- Location. Ask for a named site that you could visit.
- Hashrate. Ask to see the claimed hashrate on a public mining pool page.
- Withdrawals. Look for a record of paid withdrawals, not screenshots.
- Hardware. Ask who holds the machines and under what contract.
- Recruitment. Walk away if payouts depend on recruiting people.
A phone or a laptop cannot mine bitcoin at a useful rate. Free bitcoin mining in Nigeria is a sales pitch, not a product.
What I would do with the same money
My rule is to compare one delivered miner with the same sum spent on buying bitcoin in Nigeria, or kept as naira. Mining and holding bitcoin both depend on the price of bitcoin, and neither is safe. Mining adds a power bill, a customs bill, and a machine that ages.
One condition would make me look at mining. It is a signed contract for power priced below the break-even tariff per kWh, at a site that I could visit first. Without that, is bitcoin mining worth it? Not for me.
That is my rule, not advice. Bitcoin itself can lose value fast.
Conclusion
The power maths is the whole question for bitcoin mining in Nigeria. On 7 October 2026, the number that answered it was about ₦126 per kWh. When hashprice or the naira moves, the formula above gives the new figure. The next time somebody shows you the machine, ask for the power bill first.
Work with me
If you are building in Web3 and the growth side is not handled, work with me.
Frequently asked questions
Is bitcoin mining profitable in Nigeria?
On NERC Band A power, no. A miner breaks even when its electricity price equals hashprice per TH/s per day divided by (efficiency in J/TH × 0.024). For an Antminer S21, on 7 October 2026 prices, the formula gives about ₦126 per kWh. Band A costs ₦209.50 per kWh, so the machine loses money.
How much does it cost to mine bitcoin in Nigeria?
One Antminer S21 uses 84 kWh in a full day. That costs ₦17,598 on Band A, or about ₦121,500 on a diesel generator at May 2026 fuel prices. Bitcoin mining hardware in Nigeria also carries freight and customs costs. On 7 October 2026 prices, the S21 breaks even at about ₦126 per kWh.
Is bitcoin mining legal in Nigeria?
On 7 October 2026, I found no Nigerian law or regulatory notice that bans bitcoin mining or requires a mining licence. The Securities and Exchange Commission regulates firms that handle crypto for others, so a hosting business needs legal advice. The Nigeria Revenue Service guidelines of 31 July 2026 list mining rewards as taxable income.
How do I mine bitcoin in Nigeria?
How to mine bitcoin in Nigeria comes down to four things. They are an ASIC miner, a mining pool account, a bitcoin wallet, and steady power priced below break-even. That price was about ₦126 per kWh on 7 October 2026. The first three can be arranged. The fourth is the hard part in Nigeria.
Can I mine bitcoin for free?
No. Mining needs a machine and electricity, and somebody pays for both. Sites and apps that offer free bitcoin mining in Nigeria often return very little, or they pay early users with later users' deposits. Treat any offer that depends on recruiting people as a warning sign, and never pay to withdraw.
Can I mine bitcoin on my phone or laptop?
Not at a useful rate. Bitcoin is mined with ASICs, which are machines built for that single job. One ASIC is millions of times faster than a phone or a laptop. An app that offers to mine bitcoin on a phone is a rewards scheme or a scam. It is not mining.
How long does it take to mine 1 bitcoin?
For one machine, it takes decades. The network creates 3.125 BTC about every ten minutes, and each miner's share follows its hashrate. At the network hashrate that Hashrate Index reported on 28 September 2026, an Antminer S21 earns about 0.00284 BTC a month. If nothing changed, mining one bitcoin would take about 29 years.
Who is mining bitcoin in Nigeria?
A few companies mine with power that has no other buyer. TechCabal reported in September 2026 that NRG Bloom had been running a 1 MW flare gas site in Bayelsa since February 2025. It added that Terrahex was preparing a site of up to 9 MW. In 2025, Green Flare announced plans for 53 MW.