One Tesla owner is putting his vehicle to good use, telling CNBC he is running free bitcoin mining software on a computer plugged into his Tesla’s 12-volt power socket to mine up to $800 in cryptocurrency per month.
Siraj Raval has also put his 2018 Tesla Model 3 to work by wiring interconnected graphics processing units to the “frunk” of his car, which draws power from the vehicle’s battery.
When ether prices peaked in 2021, he said he was netting about $800 per month. Now that ether has fallen, he is likely making a fraction of what he made in 2021, though is still in the black.
Bitcoin miner Alejandro de la Torre told CNBC: “The main component is the price of the electricity. If it’s cheaper doing it through an electric vehicle, then so be it.”
In 2018, Chris Allessi was the first to bring up the idea of mining crypto via his Tesla. “I like electricity. I like zapping stuff, building stuff. You give me an electric motor, I give you a finished product,” he said at the time.
He tried to mine using a Bitmain Antminer S9 hooked up directly to his car battery using a power inverter. He used the vehicle’s internal software to do the mining, telling CNBC: “It was no big deal. I could run the mining program within the browser.”
www.zerohedge.com/markets/tesla-owner-claims-he-mines-800-month-crypto-using-his-car-power