How many days of mining for a game
Let us start with the fun part. This is how many days a graphics card needs to mine to pay for a typical Steam purchase (at the rate of October 25, 2026, before electricity and withdrawal or exchange fees):
| GPU | Income / mo | $5 · item | $10 · DLC | $20 · game | $70 · new release |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RTX 3060 12 GB | $42.19 | 4 | 8 | 15 | 50 |
| RTX 4060 | $52.31 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 41 |
| RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB | $74.25 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 29 |
| RTX 4070 | $101.25 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 21 |
| RTX 4070 SUPER | $118.12 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 18 |
| RTX 3080 10 GB | $90.28 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 24 |
| RTX 4080 | $185.62 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 12 |
| RTX 4090 | $266.62 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
$5 is a typical price for an item or a skin, $10 for a DLC or a small indie game, $20 for a game on sale and $70 for a new AAA release at full price in a US-dollar region. Prices in your region may be lower. To account for electricity, open the calculator and enter your rate.
Two paths: straight to Steam or via crypto
Steam stopped accepting Bitcoin back in 2017 and has not accepted any cryptocurrency since. That is why FlowHash offers two paths:
- Straight to your Steam balance. When withdrawing, choose “Steam balance” and enter your Steam login — your Steam Wallet is topped up by the requested amount. The minimum is $5, no crypto wallet needed.
- Via crypto. Withdraw your earnings in Bitcoin (from $50) or Litecoin (from $5), then buy a Steam gift card or sell the coins for regular money and fund Steam with a bank card.
If you buy a gift card, remember that a Steam Wallet is tied to your account’s region and currency. The card must match your account’s region and currency — Steam no longer converts currencies, so a card from another region simply will not redeem. You can see your region and currency on the “Account details” page in Steam.
Step 1. Withdraw your earnings from FlowHash
Option 1. Straight to your Steam balance
- Find your Steam login — the account name you sign in to Steam with (not the nickname on your profile). It is shown on the “Account details” page in Steam.
- In your FlowHash dashboard, press “Withdraw”, choose “Steam balance”, and enter your login and the amount — from $5.
- Requests are reviewed and paid manually. Once your balance is topped up, the request status in your dashboard changes to “Paid”.
Only your login is needed. Your password, Steam Guard code and card details are not needed for a top-up — never share them. Anyone asking for your password on behalf of FlowHash is a scammer.
Option 2. In Bitcoin or Litecoin
- Set up a Bitcoin or Litecoin wallet — on a crypto exchange or in a wallet app. Our guide “A crypto wallet for Bitcoin and Litecoin” explains how.
- In your FlowHash dashboard, press “Withdraw”, choose Bitcoin (from $50) or Litecoin (from $5) and paste your wallet address.
- Once the payout is sent, the transaction hash appears in your dashboard — use it to see the transfer on the blockchain.
Check the network and the address. A Bitcoin address starts with bc1, 1 or 3, and a Litecoin address with ltc1, L or M. A transfer to the wrong address or on another network cannot be reversed.
Step 2. Turn Bitcoin or Litecoin into Steam Wallet funds
If you withdrew straight to your Steam balance, skip this step — the money is already in your Steam Wallet.
Option 1. A Steam gift card bought with crypto
Gift card stores sell Steam Wallet codes for crypto — for example, Bitrefill accepts Bitcoin and Litecoin and emails the code almost instantly. Pick a card for your account’s region, pay, and redeem the code on the Steam Wallet page (“Redeem a Steam Gift Card or Wallet Code”).
Pros: no bank card needed and it takes a few minutes. Cons: the store adds a markup (more noticeable on small denominations), and codes are not available for every region.
Option 2. Sell the crypto and pay with a card
Sell your BTC or LTC on a crypto exchange — through its P2P section or the regular market — and withdraw the money to your bank card. Then fund Steam with the card. This path works well if you want to spend your earnings outside Steam too.
Regional notes
- Ukraine. Steam accepts Visa and Mastercard cards from Ukrainian banks, so selling BTC or LTC for hryvnias on an exchange and paying by card works well — or withdraw straight to your Steam balance.
- Russia. Steam does not accept bank cards issued in Russia. Withdraw from FlowHash straight to your Steam balance by login, use Steam gift cards for the Russian region, or sell items on the Steam Community Market.
- Elsewhere. The simplest options are a FlowHash payout to your Steam balance, a gift card for your region bought with crypto, or selling BTC or LTC and paying by card.
Do not change your account region with a VPN to get lower prices. It breaks Steam’s rules and can get your account banned along with all your games.
Step 3. What to buy
- Games and DLC — in the Steam store, paid from your wallet.
- Items and skins — on the Steam Community Market. It is not available straight away: for example, Steam Guard must have been enabled for at least 15 days, and new accounts face other restrictions too — see Steam Support for details.
- In-game currency and battle passes — many games let you pay for in-game purchases from your Steam Wallet.
- Gifts for friends — you can buy a game and send it as a gift.
Remember: Steam Wallet funds cannot be withdrawn — spend them only on things you really want.
How to speed up “mining for games”
- Add the CPU. Together with the GPU it mines Monero and adds a few dollars a month.
- Mine at night. With a time-of-use tariff night electricity is cheaper, and the computer is idle anyway.
- Watch temperatures and dust. An overheating card throttles and earns less — see the tips in “Does mining damage your GPU?”.
- Withdraw less often, in larger amounts. Exchange fees and gift card markups are lower in percentage terms on bigger sums.
Bottom line
The path from mining to Steam: FlowHash → Steam balance by login (from $5), or FlowHash → Bitcoin or Litecoin → gift card or bank card → Steam Wallet. The RTX 4070 earns a $10 DLC in about 3 days and a $70 new release in about 21 days. The mining calculator shows what your GPU makes after electricity.
How much will your PC earn?
Pick your GPU and CPU in the calculator — it estimates income and profit at your electricity rate.