Question
I bought expensive mining rigs/GPUs. Is zakat due on the machines' value, or only on the mined coins?
Ruling (Fatwa)
Short answer: No zakat on the machines' value — mining rigs are means of production, fixed assets like a craftsman's tools or factory machinery. Zakat falls on the output: mined coins are your income — on your annual zakat day pay 2.5% on unsold coins at market value plus accumulated sale proceeds, once above nisab.
Details: The one exception: if you trade in rigs themselves (stocking them to resell), they become trade goods zakatable at market value. Depreciation of used rigs changes nothing, since their value carries no zakat anyway. After business costs (electricity etc.), whatever remains saved enters the reckoning.
Evidence: Sahih al-Bukhari 1464 (the exemption principle for productive/use assets); Quran 2:267 (zakat on earnings); Shaykh al-Uthaymin and the Permanent Committee that factories/machines owe zakat on income, not on the plant.
For complex individual cases, consult a qualified scholar.
References
Quran
Quran 2:267
Hadith
Sahih al-Bukhari 1464
Fiqh
al-Uthaymin; Permanent Committee on productive assets