Strategy
I'm a business — should I mine or just buy crypto?
For UK businesses, mining offers AIA equipment write-offs, electricity deductions, and loss relief that DCA buying cannot. See the full tax comparison.
For pure coin accumulation on standard UK rates, DCA buying is usually more efficient per pound. For a business, coin count is not the only relevant metric.
🎯 Mining is not an investment strategy — it's an energy monetisation business. You're converting electricity spend into crypto assets, creating deductible expenses, and building a physical asset base. DCA is a capital allocation strategy. They are structurally different instruments.
What businesses get from mining that DCA can't offer:
| Advantage | Mining | DCA Buying |
|---|---|---|
| AIA equipment write-off | £28,000 — 100% Year 1 | No deduction |
| Electricity deduction | £10162 over 10yr | No deduction |
| Loss relief | Trading losses offset other income | Not available |
| Est. tax saving (20% rate) | ~£7632 | £0 |
| Est. tax saving (40% rate) | ~£15265 | £0 |
| Net cost after tax (20%) | £30529 | £38162 (no relief) |
| Net cost after tax (40%) | £22897 | £38162 (no relief) |
| Hardware resale | ~60% back | Nothing if coins crash |
| Fallback use | AI/rendering/cloud GPU rental | No physical asset |
Where it makes most sense for a business to mine:
- You're a 40%+ taxpayer — the tax deductions alone can cut your effective cost by nearly half
- You already heat premises — mining rigs replace heating, dropping your effective electricity cost to £0.02-0.03/kWh
- You want deductible business expenses rather than non-deductible crypto purchases
- You want downside protection — hardware retains ~60% value even if crypto goes to zero
- You know you'd stop buying during a crash — mining forces consistent accumulation
⚠️ Where DCA wins for a business: If you have iron discipline, don't need tax deductions, pay standard UK grid electricity (£0.26/kWh), and want maximum coin volume above all else, simply buying crypto is the more capital-efficient choice.
💡 The real question for a business isn't "which gives me more coins?" — it's "which gives me the best risk-adjusted, tax-efficient return on my capital?" When you factor in AIA, expense deductions, hardware resale, and heat offset, mining's effective cost drops dramatically — and the DCA gap narrows or disappears entirely for higher-rate taxpayers.