Today we are looking at Alt coin Miners, the easiest coins to mine in 2022. We will do a deep dive into the best and most profitable cryptocurrency to mine.
There’s no shortage of stories of miners making full-time wages from Bitcoin mining. However, mining is a competitive space, so more people are turning to the often lucrative rewards offered by alt coins.
In fact, numbers run by Statista show that alt coin miners working with Litecoin have seen impressive average profitability increases between 2014 and 2021.
If you’re interested in trying out alt coin mining, we’ll give you easy-to-understand information on how to get started and the best crypto to mine.
Table of Contents
What Is Alt Coin Mining?
Alt coin mining is a crucial part of the cryptocurrency industry because it creates new coins and validates crypto transactions. If you’re thinking about mining Bitcoin, the information here will still be helpful, but it’s not entirely the same—alt coins are all cryptocurrencies except Bitcoin.
Therefore, when you’re embarking on your alt coin mining endeavor, you’ll need to select a specific coin to mine. Don’t worry—we’ll offer suggestions shortly.
Alt coin miners serve as a kind of accountant. You won’t have to do any of the math yourself, but your mining equipment will handle updating a digital ledger when someone buys or sells the alt coin you mine.
That way, you support the blockchain in remaining up-to-date on how many of that specific alt coin is in circulation and available for purchase. In exchange for your efforts (or, perhaps better put, your mining equipment’s efforts), you’ll receive awards in cryptocurrency.
Of course, you can’t single-handedly serve as a miner for an entire alt coin. In some cases, there’s high demand for mining certain alt coins. So, alt coins have a transaction validation strategy that incentivizes miners with larger mining capabilities.
Proof-of-work (PoW) is a term you’ll hear a lot as you research alt coin mining. PoW is an algorithm that ensures alt coin runs without a centralized authority. It also deters hackers wanting to act as miners in disguise.
Mining with GPU vs. ASIC
Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) and Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) are the two primary types of alt coin mining machines. There are several notable differences between them, but the first divergence to note is the type of coins each machine can mine.
ASIC offers limited opportunities for mining coins. Alt coins that you can mine using ASIC include:
● Ethereum
● Litecoin
● Zcash
In contrast, GPU miners can mine just about any altcoin, including those that you can mine with ASIC. Examples of GPU-friendly altcoins for mining include:
● Monero
● Ravencoin
● Ethereum Classic
There are other benefits with GPU mining, too. It’s less expensive to set up, and many gamers already have GPUs. So, most new alt coin miners start with GPU.
That said, it isn’t all doom and gloom for ASIC mining. Manufacturers make ASIC machines specifically for mining cryptocurrency. Although they tend to take up more power overall, they’re more efficient in utilizing the energy they consume compared to GPUs. They also tend to break down less frequently than GPU machines.
The Importance of Wallets
You can’t become an altcoin miner without a wallet since this is how you’ll receive your earnings. As with mining machines, you have options when selecting the type of wallet you use. They include:
● Exchange wallet
● Mobile wallet
● Desktop wallet
● Hardware wallet
The first three items on this list fall under “software wallets.” These wallets allow you to store your altcoin earnings online or on your phone or computer. One of the most significant advantages of these options is that you’ll have easy access to your mining earnings.
In contrast, hardware wallets store your altcoin earnings in a physical device. Hardware wallets are the safest way to keep your altcoin earnings since they make it impossible for hackers to access, as your coins are offline.
Regardless of the wallet type you choose, you’ll need to select a wallet that supports the altcoin you’ll be mining. Furthermore, you’ll need to know your wallet address, which is a series of letters and numbers, for the specific altcoin you’re mining so that the network can pay you.
Alt Coin Mining Pools
Mining cryptocurrency may feel like a solo type of investment opportunity. However, many alt coin miners have greater profits by joining mining pools than going at it independently.
Remember how we said that there’s competition in the mining space? By joining a mining pool, you and the other miners in your pool will show the network that you have larger, more powerful resources.
As a result, your pool group will have a higher chance of receiving a block to mine on the blockchain. Although the pool will divide your earnings among your group, you’ll often still come out ahead since you’ll be validating a more significant number of transactions than if you were mining alone.
If you’re interested in joining a mining pool, check if there are any fees. Fees aren’t necessarily the sign of a mining pool scam. However, you should do your due diligence before signing up to ensure miners feel they’re getting their money’s worth from the pool.
Another item to investigate is how the alt mining pool operates. It’s becoming increasingly common for miners to choose their work. That way, you have better control over the amount and range you mine. In contrast, some mining pools still operate on an assigned basis where the pool selects the assignments for you.
Must-Know Tips Before Becoming an Alt Coin Miner
There’s always a learning curve when embarking on a new endeavor. But since money is on the line, you’ll want to do as much due diligence before you get started to set yourself up for quicker success.
Below are some tips we recommend you keep in mind before joining the world of alt coin miners.
● You’ll need to download software in addition to owning a GPU or ASIC. You can access the mining software for free online.
● Regardless of the mining machine you buy, it’ll use energy. Your electricity bill will go up, so mining altcoins where electricity is cheap is crucial.
● Check if your electricity company offers fixed electricity rates for a set number of years. If so, and you can lock in the price for 14 cents per kWh or less, it’s a great opportunity.
● Hackers are prevalent in the mining space. Keep your wallet key in a secure place and consider storing your crypto earnings in a hardware wallet.
● You’ll get paid in the cryptocurrency you mine. If your altcoin goes up in value, that’s great for you. But you also need to know that the opposite could happen.
Best Alt Coins for Mining
Are you ready to dip your toes into the altcoin mining world? The coins below are among the most profitable crypto to mine.
- ZCash (ZEC)
Users love ZCash for the privacy it offers, ensuring no one can trace transactions. Nevertheless, ZCash is versatile because it gives businesses and individuals the choice to make their transactions publicly available.
A 0.001 Zcash fee per transaction makes this an attractive altcoin to mine. A block reward will arrive every 75 seconds, and you can mine ten blocks every 2.5 minutes.
You have several mining pool options with ZCash, including ZEC’s internal pool. You can also try external pools like Slushpool or Flypool.
Algorithm: Equihash PoW
Hashing function: SHA256
Mining options: GPU & CPU
View Zcash’s mining profitability calculator here.
- Ravencoin (RVN)
Ravencoin is filling an essential need in the crypto space—modeling a Bitcoin fork so that users can transfer large assets between one another. For example, large companies like Medici Ventures utilize Ravencoin for its transfers.
Beginner miners will be glad to know that Ravencoin is one of the most profitable coins to mine because of its low start-up costs.
Furthermore, there’s a chance for decent earnings since miners generate a new block every 60 seconds with a total of 5,000 RVN as a reward.
Algorithm: PoW
Hashing function: X16R
Mining options: GPU & CPU
View Ravencoin’s mining profitability calculator here.
- Monero (XMR)
Monero is yet another privacy coin among the easiest cryptocurrency to mine. Transactions are entirely untraceable, making it an attractive option for people wanting to remain anonymous.
Every 24 seconds, one Monero needs mining, and miners receive nearly five XMR for every Monero they produce.
People using GPU machines can mine Monero on their own. However, if you’re using a different type of mining machine, pools will likely be your best option to secure a higher profit.
Algorithm: PoW
Hashing function: RandomX and CryptoNight
Mining options: GPU, ASIC, ARM, x86, & x86-64
View Monero’s mining profitability calculator here.
- Vertcoin (VTC)
Vertcoin is a decentralized cryptocurrency geared towards GPU miners. It follows Litecoin’s footsteps and offers several options for mining it on different cards.
You can use two main network pools to mine VTC—Network 1 and Network 2.
Network 1 is for people with more than two graphics cards, meaning they have more computing power. In contrast, Network 2 is a good fit for people with less computing power.
Algorithm: PoW
Hashing function: Verthash
Mining options: GPU & FPGA
View Vertcoin’s mining profitability calculator here.
- Litecoin (LTC)
Litecoin is one of the older coins in the crypto world, and its function is to outperform Bitcoin’s slow transaction speed time.
Although miners can use GPU or ASIC machines to mine Litecoin, they often have better returns using ASICs.
Like Bitcoin, Litecoin undergoes halving. Currently, miners produce one Litecoin block every 2.5 minutes with a 12.5 LTC reward. You can join several Litecoin mining pools, including Litecoinpool and Antpool.
Algorithm: Salsa20
Hashing function: Scrypt
Mining options: GPU & ASIC
View Litecoin’s mining profitability calculator here.
- Grin (GRIN)
Privacy is everything in crypto, so Grin carved out a role in supporting platforms and individuals to make their transactions without the public being able to watch it happen.
If you wish to mine Grin independently, it’s best to use an ASIC machine. However, should you want to join a mining pool, 2miners and f2pools.com are excellent options when using GPUs.
Grin is among the best crypto to mine for being lightweight, thanks to its MimbleWimble protocol that eases scalability. You can choose from several software options like Gminer and lolMiner, both of which are free to download.
Algorithm: PoW
Hashing function: Cuckatoo32
Mining options: GPU & ASIC
View Grin’s mining profitability calculator here.
- Ethereum Classic (ETC)
Ethereum Classic is an offshoot of the crypto powerhouse Ethereum. Its goal is to help support decentralized applications (DApps) and smart contracts using Ethereum’s original strategies and with as little need for a hands-on approach as possible.
The block time for creating Ethereum Classic is an impressive 10.3 seconds, and the reward amount is 3.2 ETC per block. Since ETC has been around longer than many other cryptos on this list and has a high market cap, there’s relatively less of a chance of the coin permanently losing value.
Using a GPU machine is the most popular way to mine ETC, although you can do so on a VPS server. Popular pools for mining Ethereum Classic include 2Miners and Ethermine.
Algorithm: PoW
Hashing function: Ethash
Mining options: GPU
View Ethereum Classic’s mining profitability calculator here.
FAQ About Alt Coin Miners
Do you still have questions about altcoin mining? We’ve rounded up answers to some mining enthusiasts’ most common inquiries.
Is coin mining legal?
Most countries allow altcoin mining. However, you should keep careful track of your earnings since many countries consider payments from mining as taxable income.
What equipment do I need to mine crypto?
The type of mining you choose will impact the exact equipment you need. However, as a general rule, you’ll need to download the mining software, use mining hardware, and set up a wallet for the cryptocurrency you’re mining.
What are the risks of crypto mining?
One of the biggest risks in crypto mining is scams or malicious hardware. Therefore, you should do your due diligence before choosing the coin you mine and purchasing your mining hardware to avoid these scenarios.