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Mining cryptocurrency plays an important part in helping the blockchain by verifying transactions. Many miners choose to participate thanks to the rewards for successfully completing a block.
No matter the reason you choose to mine, cryptocurrency mining with a GPU is one of the most popular methods. Provided you have the necessary equipment to engage in this activity, you just have to figure out which is the best crypto to mine.
How to Determine the Best Crypto to Mine with a GPU
Selecting the best cryptocurrency to mine with a GPU requires you to evaluate the difficulty compared with the reward you will receive. Determining profit includes considerations for the coin’s market value, the coin’s difficulty, the pool’s reward system and fees, your hardware and power costs, your miner, your GPU’s drivers and how much you spent to buy your GPU.
Luckily, there are several calculators online that can do the mathematics for you based on the latest information. CryptoCompare and CoinWarz both have calculators for mining a range of cryptocurrencies.
They include all the information you will need to make this decision on your own via a clear interface. There are also numerous other similar comparison and calculation tools, including What to Mine.
To use CryptoCompare, enter your hashing power, power consumption, cost per KWh and pool fee. The calculator for mining will automatically show you statistics by day, week, month and year. These figures include your profit and pool fees in one column, the amount mined in that period in the next column and the amount spent on power in that period.
Above the chart of calculations, you can see the profit ratio per day and profit per month. CryptoCompare supports these mining calculations for BTC, ETH, ETC, XMR, ZEC, PASC, DASH and LTC.
CoinWarz delivers the same information but in a slightly different way. There are nine fields that you enter or get automatically filled by CoinWarz including the hash rate, power, power cost, pool fees, hardware costs, value of the cryptocurrency, difficulty and block reward.
You see statistics for hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and annual profits in the cryptocurrency mined; the equivalent in BTC; the equivalent in USD; the power cost; the pool fees and the profit. The last three are displayed in USD, hence the previous calculations.
While the CoinWarz calculator is not as sleek in appearance as that of CryptoCompare, it supports many more cryptocurrencies, with dozens listed.
Bitcoin Gold
Bitcoin Gold follows the Equihash algorithm. It began in 2017 as a fork from the Bitcoin blockchain and has since been independent. The big difference with Bitcoin Gold is the option of a different algorithm that makes it harder for ASICs to complete proof of work thanks to higher memory requirements. Bitcoin Gold specifically uses the Equihash algorithm for this reason, making it resistant to ASIC mining.
That, in turn, provides an opening for GPU miners. Because of this, Bitcoin Gold is accessible for the average person who wants to mine, provided they can invest in a mining rig, allowing for a more democratic crypto and mining experience.
Dash
Many experts will suggest that you consider mining Dash with your GPU thanks to its increase in value. While it is much more difficult to mine than it was in the past, many predict that its value will continue to rise, making this type of mining a smart investment.
There are several factors at play that make Dash profitable to mine including its X11 algorithm that makes it relatively easy to mine compared to other cryptocurrencies, even with its growing difficulty level. Even so, it is possible to mine Dash efficiently without using up too much energy.
Dash is also a good choice because of its extremely low fees that make moving and converting your cryptocurrency or performing other transactions cost effective. Its instantaneous and anonymous nature are also strong points in its favor.
Just remember to pay close attention to the calculations before choosing to mine Dash since some argue that Dash’s introduction of ASICs has made mining it via GPUs unprofitable.
When mining Dash, keep in mind that the total supply for Dash will be 18 million coins, and there are currently about 8 million in circulation. The 18 million should be in circulation by about 2030.
Mining an average Dash block takes around 2.5 minutes, and it is mined in the same way you would mine any other cryptocurrency with a GPU.
Electroneum
Electroneum uses the CryptoNight algorithm and works well for GPUs like RX 570, X 580 and VEGA 56. This cryptocurrency was built on its own Bitcoin-derived blockchain.
It aims to become the world’s “first common crypocurrency”, targeting online gambling and mobile gaming markets. It is convenient for those with mobile devices, aiming to take advantage of the rise of smartphones and tablets worldwide.
Amazingly enough, while you can certainly mine Electroneum with your GPU, you can even do so via the mobile application, although to a lesser extent. The currency also has quick microtransactions, which makes it fast to convert it to other more common cryptocurrencies before using it.
Ethereum
According to many sources, Ethereum remains the best cryptocurrency to mine with a GPU, although it will depend on your specific situation, including your graphics card. If you have an AMD Polaris card, then you should certainly consider Ethereum mining if profit is your goal.
However, some argue that Ethereum’s profitability for mining will not last for long, so it is best to keep your eye on the calculations as you mine.
On the other hand, Ethereum is the second most popular cryptocurrency, so you will find support for it nearly everywhere you look. You can even withdraw the Ethereum you mine at an Ethereum ATM if you have one by you.
It will also be supported by any exchange you find so you can convert it to fiat currency without having to waste money on transaction fees while converting it to Bitcoin first.
LBRY (LBC)
Those interested in mining a unique cryptocurrency might want to consider LBRY, which is currently just mined with GPUs. In fact, CPU mining isn’t currently viable from an economic standpoint.
LBRY credits will be extracted via work testing over 20 years, with the block rewards increasing every 100 blocks by 1 LBC until a maximum of 500 before decreasing slowly. In the following 20 years, a trillion BLC should arrive.
This is a platform that gives users a large decentralized market and library. LBRY will have a worldwide library with a range of multimedia content, along with the choice of digital marketing of the works.
Users decide if the content has a value and how much, and only users collect profits, so they do not have to worry about intermediaries.
One of the few downsides to mining LBC is that this cryptocurrency is not very popular yet, so its value is still relatively low. Additionally, you will have a limited number of exchanges where you can trade it at the moment.
Even so, it is worth consideration, particularly because GPU mining is currently the most popular and only truly feasible method of mining LBC.
MonaCoin (MONA)
MonaCoin is a bifurcated cryptocurrency from Litecoin that launched in Japan in January 2014, earning the title of the first Japanese cryptocurrency. The total token supply is set to four times the supply of Litecoin, and the mining difficulty focuses on the Dark Gravity Wave calculation.
Compared to Litecoin, MonaCoin has a much faster block time, 1.5 minutes compared to 2.5, a factor that can improve profits for GPU miners.
If you choose to mine MonaCoin, you will find many places to use it, particularly within Japan. There is also a platform designed specifically to facilitate buying and selling items with MONA.
Monero (XMR)
Multiple experts in the field of cryptocurrencies agree that mining Monero with a GPU is still profitable. This is one of the altcoins that has seen massive growth over the past year or so, with the price rising about 200 percent in a very short period of time.
Additionally, Monero transactions are completely anonymous, so you cannot track the receiver or sender. One of the things that ensure mining Monero is still profitable with a GPU is that it is ASIC resistant.
Monero uses a proof-of-work algorithm, CryptoNight, as its basis. Although it is nearly impossible to mine it with ASICs, it is easy to use your GPU. Those who mine Monero tend to suggest using an AMD graphics card, although NVIDIA ones will also deliver results.
As an added bonus, XMR is among the altcoins with the highest prices since it gained traction in 2016, and is found on many of the major exchanges, making it easy to convert Monero to Bitcoin or even fiat currency in some cases.
In terms of electricity consumption, mining Monero will use less than Ethash Dagger Hashimoto coins like UBQ, Ethereum Classic and Ethereum, or Equihash coins like Hush, Zencash and Zcash. In addition to reducing electricity costs, this can also reduce the risk of overheating, letting you mine for longer periods of time without worrying about damaging your GPU.
Vertcoin (VTC)
Another of the older cryptocurrencies worth mining with a GPU is Vertcoin. This cryptocurrency is part of a software and peer-to-peer project that began in January 2014.
Vertcoin is a Bitcoin coin that adds a PoW function, which resists mining ASICs and stealth address technology. The former of these is what makes it so attractive for GPU miners.
Vertcoin was actually the very first cryptocurrency that developed and implemented stealth technology on the blockchain network. Compared to Bitcoin, Vertcoin is highly resistant to centralized mining and the developers behind it promise to do their best to keep it that way.
The Adaptive N-Factor technology plays a key role in letting regular users with graphics cards mine the coin instead of those in large data centers.
Zcash (ZEC)
Zcash is among the most popular cryptocurrencies, meaning that you should have no problem finding a crypto exchange that will support numerous trading pairs for your mining profits.
Zcash stands out from other blockchains with its selectively transparent transactions. While the payments appear in the public blockchain, the recipient, sender and quantity stay private. Zcash was a pioneer, being one of the first open cryptocurrencies to use zero-knowledge cryptography.
Because Zcash relies on Equihash, it is not feasible for ASIC miners to mine this cryptocurrency via its status as an asymmetric PoW algorithm based on high RAM requirements to bottle test generation.
ZenCash (ZEN)
Although ZenCash is relatively new in the cryptocurrency world, it has already gotten a lot of attention. It is a fork of ZClassic that is focused on privacy (remember that ZClassic is a Zcash fork).
Zcash is particularly attractive to miners and users alike because of ZenTalk, its secure communication protocol. This protocol makes it possible to securely exchange short messages using blockchain technology.
The total maximum coin supply of ZenCash is 21 million, with growth funded by redirecting a portion of mining rewards. 8.5 percent of tokens earned within the ZenCash network go to maintenance, marketing and community development, so the network always has sufficient resources for growth.
Like many of the other best cryptocurrencies to mine with a GPU, ZenCash relies on the Equihash algorithm which prevents ASIC miners from participating, leaving opportunities open to GPU miners.
Conclusion
Although ASIC mining has somewhat decreased the profitability of mining with GPUs, it is still possible to make a profit as long as you know the right cryptocurrency to choose. You will need to make a personal decision based on the hardware you have and other factors, but any of the above cryptocurrencies can generate a profit.
When deciding, remember to use the various mining calculators to your advantage so you can compare the profitability of mining various cryptocurrencies with a GPU.