When Bitcoin first launched in 2009, mining it was relatively easy. Anybody with a decent computer could do it.

As more and more people got into mining, the difficulty increased. Nowadays, you need specialized hardware, and you need to join a mining pool to have a chance of making any money.

In 2009, you could have mined hundreds or even thousands of bitcoins with a decent computer. Today, you’d be lucky to mine a single bitcoin with anything other than specialized hardware.

And even then, you’d probably never see that bitcoin, as the pool would keep it.

Mining pools are groUPS of miners who work together to mine bitcoins and split the profits. If you solo mine, your chances of ever finding a block are very slim.

Even if you find a block, the reward would be so small that it wouldn’t even cover the electricity costs of mining.

So how much could you have made if you started mining in 2009? It depends on how much you invested in hardware and how lucky you were. If you had a decent computer and were lucky enough to find a few blocks, you could have made a few thousand dollars.

If you had invested in specialized hardware and joined a mining pool, you could have made tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But regardless of how much money you could have made, it’s important to remember that mining is now a very different beast than it was in 2009. It’s now an expensive and competitive endeavor that requires significant investment and luck to make any money at all.