8 cryptos to mine at home in 2023

Cryptocurrency mining is incredibly expensive. It requires you to spend thousands buying expensive GPUs (or ASICs), assembling them together, and spending more to buy power supplies and other computer components. However, not all cryptocurrencies require as much hashing power.

At its core, mining is about solving complex mathematical problems. For every complex equation solved, miners receive a small “fee” for their efforts. Mining is important as it helps verify transactions on the blockchain. However, the concept of diminishing marginal returns means miners are paid less and less over time. However, if you have a semi-decent GPU or better, you can mine too!

So here are the eight best cryptocurrencies to mine at home in 2023.

1. Monero (XMR)

Monero (XMR) is one of the easiest cryptocurrencies to mine using a home computer. Monero is a privacy-focused crypto, based on the CryptoNote protocol, that uses the RandomX hash function to create increasingly complicated mathematical equations. You can either mine alone or join a mining pool where your computer’s resources are shared with others in the pool to mine XMR.

This means frequent withdrawals, although you do have to pay a fee to join the pool. Of course, you can also mine solo, but your hashrate needs to be high to find a block. This can sometimes take months. Monero can be mined using a CPU or a GPU, although GPUs are more efficient. To mine with a CPU, you need special software like XMRig or CSminer.

The good thing about Monero is that it is ASIC resistant, so all miners only use consumer hardware to mine it (ASICs are expensive dedicated mining hardware). This also makes the mining competition a bit fairer.

2. Litecoin (LTC)

Litecoin is one of the oldest cryptocurrencies in existence and is cited by many as a viable secondary option to Bitcoin. It is an open source P2P digital currency. At the time of writing, each miner receives 12.5 Litecoins per block. The Litecoin block reward is halving every four years and the Litecoin block reward will drop to 6.25 LTC in 2023.

LTC mining is a great idea as it is widely accepted and based on the Scrypt protocol, eliminating the need to invest in ASIC chips. Since it is memory intensive, mining with a GPU is highly recommended. The reason LTC is a good choice for mining is simply that it is less volatile than many other altcoins.

It is also easily accepted on all major exchanges and has a relatively low transaction fee. So you don’t have to worry about the price drop overnight (although obviously anything can happen in crypto!). It is one of several cryptocurrencies with almost zero transaction fees.

3. Ethereum Classic (ETC)

Ethereum Classic is based on the Ethereum blockchain and is the original version of Ethereum, continued after a network hack in 2016. Ethereum became the newer version, with Ethereum Classic being the original.

ETC is an open source cryptocurrency that you can easily mine at home. It uses a slightly modified mining algorithm than Ethereum known as EtcHash. It supports smart contracts and decentralized apps and has many practical uses.

You need to sign up for a wallet to mine this cryptocurrency and it requires a powerful GPU. However, the block rewards are fixed at 3.2 ETC, so it is a good cryptocurrency to start mining.

4. Dogecoins (DOGE)

What started out as the first “meme coin” now has a market cap of over $20 billion. Dogecoin received a lot of attention from the likes of Elon Musk and Mark Cuban, which directly contributed to its almost meteoric rise in the crypto world.

Unlike most finite supply cryptocurrencies, Dogecoin’s supply is infinite, so don’t consider it a viable hedge against today’s inflation. Like Litecoin, DOGE also uses the Scrypt protocol for mining. This makes the mining landscape more competitive and fair, but that doesn’t mean you can mine it on a gaming laptop!

You can mine Dogecoin using software like GUIminer or CudaMiner and powerful GPU and CPU coupling.

5. Zcash (ZEC)

Zcash was explicitly designed with ASIC resistance in mind, making mining much easier for people using regular hardware. ZEC is another popular crypto that allows you to send and receive money quickly and efficiently.

For miners, this is a good choice. You can easily join mining pools to get a steady payout, and miners also have the option to protect their ZEC from being created with a shielded coin base. Not only does this improve privacy, but it also means miners can instantly transfer their mining rewards to a relevant wallet address.

Of course, you can mine ZEC solo using software like the EWBF Zcash Miner. However, to generate some tangible rewards quickly, you should start with a mining pool first.

6. Bitcoin Gold (BTG)

Bitcoin Gold is a Bitcoin fork, which essentially means it is a fork of the world’s most popular cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is mined using special mining equipment, while Bitcoin Gold is specifically designed to be mined using regular hardware.

Bitcoin Gold is very popular and you can easily buy it on any major exchange. For miners, Bitcoin Gold is a good choice as it uses the Equihash algorithm, which is ASIC resistant but requires a decent GPU to start mining. Additionally, there are a number of different Bitcoin Gold mining pools that you can join to spread the workload and earn mining rewards quickly.

You don’t necessarily need a heavy mining rig to start mining BTG as some mine it with Nvidia GTX 970s!

7. Vertcoin (VTC)

Vertcoin (VTC) is an open-source cryptocurrency that is structurally identical to Litecoin and Bitcoin, but much easier to mine from a home computer. It offers 25 VTC per block as a reward, which halves after every 840,000 blocks.

The entire purpose of Vertcoin was to make mining accessible, especially at a time when the cost of mining has increased significantly. Additionally, Vertcoin is ASIC resistant, making it easier for anyone with a decent GPU and CPU to mine the coin.

The Vertcoin blockchain was designed to break the monopoly of mining pools, thanks in part to its simplified mining software. All you need is a Windows computer to download the program and start mining Vertcoin.

8. Raven Coin (RVN)

Ravencoin is another easy-to-mine cryptocurrency. It launched as a Bitcoin fork in 2018, but with block reward time improvements.

More importantly, Ravencoin’s blockchain was designed to make it easy for users to move crypto assets from one entity to another. With a cap of 21 billion coins, anyone with a decent GPU and CPU can mine RVN.

Ravencoin seeks to improve on the technology introduced by Bitcoin with a Full Asset Aware Protocol Level System. This allows anyone to spend, transfer and even track crypto assets.

Mining Ravencoin is easy as all you need is the Ravencoin wallet, a decent graphics card and any mining program that can run the KAWPOW script. You can also join a Ravencoin mining pool.

You don’t need an ASIC to mine crypto

The cryptocurrencies on this list show that it is still possible to mine cryptocurrency at home without paying for expensive ASIC miners or investing your life savings in a GPU mining rig. Of course, these cryptos are also the tip of the iceberg. You will find many other cryptocurrencies to mine at home if you look around.

This article was previously published on Source link