The 6 Weirdest Devices Ever Used to Mine Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies
By Felix Ng – Cointelegraph Magazine
When the word “mining” appears in a headline, most readers picture rows of ASIC rigs humming in purpose‑built data farms. Yet the history of proof‑of‑work mining is littered with oddball experiments that turn everyday gadgets into makeshift hash engines. From a game console raid in Ukraine to a brain‑wave‑based patent filed by Microsoft, these unconventional attempts underline both the relentless ingenuity of crypto enthusiasts and the security challenges that arise when “any device can become a miner.” Below is a roundup of six of the most eccentric mining platforms that have actually been built, tested, or proposed.
1. PlayStation Consoles – Gaming Meets Hashing
Even before ASICs dominated the market, hobbyists experimented with consumer‑grade hardware. Sony’s PlayStation 4, in particular, became a target for illicit mining operations. In 2021 Ukrainian authorities uncovered a network of roughly 5,000 devices, the majority of which were stripped‑down PS4 units, alongside graphics cards, laptops and even smartphones. The operation allegedly siphoned about $260,000 worth of electricity each month.
The appeal lay in the PS4’s relatively powerful GPU, which could be repurposed with mining software. A few years later, motherboard maker ASRock announced a $15,000 rig that integrated 12 AMD BC‑250 mining chips—silicon originally designed for the PlayStation 5’s graphics processor. The custom rig claimed up to 610 MH/s on Ethereum (pre‑PoS), demonstrating that console‑grade silicon can be re‑engineered for crypto work, albeit at a cost that dwarfs its performance compared with dedicated ASICs.
What it shows: Consumer electronics can be weaponised for mining, especially when operators hide behind the legitimate guise of a gaming device. The episode also highlights the regulatory risk of large‑scale electricity theft using off‑the‑shelf hardware.
2. Botnet of CCTV Cameras – The “Mining” Mirai
The 2016 Mirai malware first gained notoriety for creating massive DDoS attacks by hijacking insecure IoT devices. By early 2017, security researchers discovered a variant that repurposed the botnet for Bitcoin mining. The modified Mirai targeted Linux‑based devices—particularly CCTV digital video recorders (DVRs) and other cameras that still ran BusyBox.
A single infected camera contributed an almost negligible hash rate, but the botnet could potentially harness thousands of devices simultaneously, forming an ad‑hoc mining pool. IBM’s X‑Force team noted that, while the hashpower was insufficient to compete with modern ASICs, the sheer scale of compromised devices could still generate modest earnings.
What it shows: Weak default credentials on IoT gear create a low‑cost avenue for illicit mining. The case underscores the importance of firmware updates and proper network segmentation for devices that were never intended for high‑intensity computation.
3. Nintendo Game Boy – Retro Mining for Fun
In a 2021 YouTube experiment, creator stacksmashing attached a Raspberry Pi Pico to an original 1989 Game Boy via a voltage‑modified link cable. The handheld ran a custom ROM implementing the same SHA‑256 algorithm used by Bitcoin miners, while the Raspberry Pi served as a bridge to the Bitcoin network.
At roughly 0.8 hashes per second, the Game Boy’s performance was 125 trillion times slower than modern ASICs. Even so, the device emitted a distinctive whine when under load, offering a tangible demonstration of mining’s computational demand. The experiment was purely educational; at that speed it would take quadrillions of years to solve a block.
What it shows: The project is a reminder that mining can be explored as a teaching tool, illustrating cryptographic concepts without any profit motive. It also highlights the massive efficiency gap between hobbyist hardware and professional mining equipment.
4. Apollo Guidance Computer – Moon‑Landing Tech Meets Crypto
Ken Shirriff, a vintage‑computer enthusiast, attempted to run a Bitcoin miner on the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC), the 1960s micro‑computer that guided NASA’s lunar missions. The AGC’s 2 kB of memory and 0.043 MHz processor are astronomically under‑powered for SHA‑256, yet Shirriff managed to load a custom program via a core‑rope‑memory simulator and a bespoke interface board.
The resulting hash rate was about 0.1 hashes per second (≈10 seconds per hash). Extrapolated, the AGC would need a million times the age of the universe to discover a valid block. Though absurdly slow, the experiment demonstrates the flexibility of the Bitcoin protocol: any computational platform, however archaic, can technically attempt proof‑of‑work.
What it shows: Even legendary hardware can be repurposed for modern cryptographic tasks, but the exercise is purely a curiosity and underscores the importance of specialized hardware for profitability.
5. Pen and Paper – Hashing the Old‑School Way
Long before the first ASIC, Ken Shirriff also proved that the SHA‑256 algorithm can be executed manually. In a 2014 blog post and accompanying video, he walked through a full SHA‑256 round on paper, taking 16 minutes and 45 seconds for a single iteration. Since a Bitcoin block requires 128 double‑hashes, the manual process would consume roughly 1.5 days per block attempt—equating to a meager 0.67 hashes per day.
For perspective, Bitmain’s Antminer S21 Pro delivers 234 TH/s, a speed that is on the order of 30 quintillion times faster than a human hand. While clearly impractical, the demonstration serves as a pedagogical tool for understanding the cryptographic foundations of Bitcoin.
What it shows: The experiment reminds us that the security of proof‑of‑work hinges on computational difficulty, not on the impossibility of performing the underlying math manually. It also highlights the absurdity of attempting to mine without dedicated hardware.
6. Brain‑Wave Mining – A Microsoft Patent
In 2019 Microsoft filed a US patent titled “Cryptocurrency System Using Body Activity Data.” The proposal envisioned a proof‑of‑work scheme where physiological signals—brain waves, facial expressions, heart rate, or eye movements—served as the mining input. Users would generate “body activity data” through everyday actions (e.g., watching ads or solving CAPTCHAs) and, if the data met certain criteria, receive a crypto reward.
The concept was pitched as a low‑energy alternative to computational mining, leveraging biometric data that would be difficult for bots to spoof. However, the patent was abandoned in 2021, and no commercial implementation has emerged to date.
What it shows: The idea reflects ongoing attempts to diversify consensus mechanisms beyond pure computation. While not yet viable, it hints at future intersections between biometric authentication and decentralized finance.
Analysis
All six examples share a common thread: they expose the boundary between legitimate mining hardware and everyday devices. The motivations differ—some are driven by profit, others by curiosity or a desire to showcase technical skill. Yet each case also underscores wider implications for the cryptocurrency ecosystem:
| Device | Primary Motivation | Real‑World Impact |
|---|---|---|
| PlayStation 4 | Illicit profit via electricity theft | Highlights regulatory challenges and the need for monitoring of consumer‑grade hardware usage |
| CCTV‑based Mirai botnet | Stealthy exploitation of IoT | Reinforces the urgency of securing default passwords and firmware updates |
| Game Boy | Educational demo | Demonstrates mining concepts for hobbyists, no economic relevance |
| Apollo Guidance Computer | Historical curiosity | Proves protocol flexibility, but underscores inefficiency of legacy tech |
| Pen & paper | Pedagogical experiment | Offers a tangible illustration of SHA‑256’s complexity |
| Brain‑wave patent | Conceptual research on alternative PoW | Suggests future directions for low‑energy consensus, though still speculative |
The key takeaway is that while the proof‑of‑work algorithm is technically agnostic to the hardware performing the hash calculations, profitability is strictly a function of efficiency. Modern mining farms rely on ASICs delivering terahashes per second at minimal power consumption; any device that falls far short of this benchmark can only survive as a novelty or a security liability.
Key Takeaways
- Ingenuity is abundant: Crypto’s open‑source nature encourages tinkering, resulting in creative but impractical mining rigs.
- Security risks multiply: The same ease of repurposing consumer devices for mining also opens doors for malicious actors to hijack IoT gear, as seen with Mirai.
- Economic viability remains hardware‑driven: All six weird devices produce hash rates orders of magnitude below ASICs, confirming that mining profitability hinges on specialized equipment.
- Educational value persists: Experiments with Game Boys, vintage computers, or even pen‑and‑paper serve as powerful teaching tools for cryptographic fundamentals.
- Future consensus may diversify: Concepts like brain‑wave mining indicate ongoing interest in moving beyond raw computation, though practical implementations are still years away.
In a landscape dominated by industrial mining rigs, these out‑of‑the‑ordinary approaches remind us that the spirit of experimentation still thrives at the edges of the blockchain world—whether for profit, protest, or pure curiosity.
Source: https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/6-strangest-devices-you-can-mine-bitcoin-on/?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound
