Crafting performance-based cryptocurrency mining strategies using a hybrid analytics approach

Crafting and executing the best cryptocurrency mining strategy is vital to succeeding in cryptocurrency market investments. This study aims to identify the best cryptocurrency mining strategy based on service providers' performance for cryptocurrency mining using a hybrid analytics approach, which integrates the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy-TOPSIS techniques, along with sensitivity analysis. The results show that hosted mining is the overall best cryptocurrency mining strategy, followed by home mining and cloud mining, based on both total cost of operations and cryptocurrency payout criteria. The empirical findings also suggest that the critical features of the highest performing service providers (i.e., hosted mining strategies and cloud mining) were their flexibility of contracts and the superior efficiency in terms of the daily payout. Finally, of the three location alternatives for home mining, Turkey ranks first compared to the U.S. and Europe.