What Crypto Can Be Mined?
A look at the different types of cryptocurrency that can be mined, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Monero.
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Bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) is the world’s first cryptocurrency and remains the most valuable coin on the market. Bitcoin is mined using expensive ASIC processors and requires a lot of energy to run. As a result, it’s not profitable to mine Bitcoin for most people.
Ethereum (ETH) is the second most valuable cryptocurrency after Bitcoin and can be mined with consumer-grade hardware. Ethereum is based on the proof-of-work algorithm Ethash, which is ASIC resistant. This means that anyone with a gaming PC or a good graphics card can mine Ethereum.
Litecoin (LTC) is similar to Bitcoin in many ways but is designed to be faster and cheaper to transact. Litecoin is also mined with consumer-grade hardware but uses the Scrypt algorithm instead of SHA256 like Bitcoin. This makes it more accessible to people who don’t have access to expensive ASIC processors.
Monero (XMR) is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency that can be mined with consumer-grade hardware. Monero uses the CryptoNight algorithm, which is designed to be resistant to ASIC processors. This means that just about anyone can mine Monero on their own computer.
Ethereum
Ethereum is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of fraud or third party interference.
In the Ethereum protocol and blockchain there is a price for each operation. The general idea is, in order to have things transferred or executed by the network, you have to blow up a few coins. The blow up analogy is not quite precise, because when you do blow up some coins they are not really destroyed. Rather, more correctly, they are indefinitely locked up and are unspendable. A more precise analogy would be burning paper money: the value of the paper money is destroyed but the ashes left behind can still be used as proof that it was burnt if someone disputes your claim.
The price of an Ethereum transaction is set by the so-called gas price, and gas costs are paid in ether. So if you want your transaction to happen sooner rather than later, you are willing to pay more gas for it than someone who doesn’t mind waiting a while. The higher the gas price, the sooner your transaction will be processed.
Litecoin
As early as November 2013, Litecoin started to receive media attention as the next Bitcoin. While Litecoin is not as well-known as Bitcoin, it has become a popular digital currency in its own right.
Litecoin is a digital currency that can be used to buy goods and services online. Like Bitcoin, Litecoin is a decentralized cryptocurrency that is not subject to government regulation or financial institution control. One of the main advantages of Litecoin over Bitcoin is that it can be faster and cheaper to transact.
Litecoin can be mined using a personal computer or specialized mining equipment. The process of mining Litecoin is similar to that of Bitcoin, but there are a few key differences. For one, Litecoin uses a different proof-of-work algorithm than Bitcoin, called Scrypt. This means that miners need different hardware to mine Litecoins than they do Bitcoins.
Another difference is that the total supply of Litecoins is four times larger than the total supply of Bitcoins. This means that there are more Litecoins in circulation and more litecoins will be mined in the future. The larger supply of coins could make Litecoin more attractive to investors over time.
Monero
Monero is a private, secure, and untraceable cryptocurrency that has been gaining in popularity since it was launched in 2014. Unlike other cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, Monero uses a unique technique called “ring signatures” to hide the identity of the sender and receiver of each transaction. This makes it impossible for anyone to trace a Monero transaction back to its source.
Zcash
Zcash is a digital currency with strong privacy features. Transactions are shielded by technology that makes them untraceable and unlinkable. Launched in 2016, Zcash is based on an open-source protocol and is built by a decentralized community of developers, cryptographers, and privacy advocates.
Zcash transactions can either be “transparent” or “shielded.” Shielded transactions, which are the default on the Zcash network, are private. They can only be seen by the sender, the recipient, and individuals with view keys (which are not publicly available). Transparent transactions are similar to Bitcoin’s — they can be seen by everyone on the blockchain.
With Zcash, users have the option of using either kind of transaction; they can also choose to use a combination of both.
The main benefit of Zcash’s privacy features is that they give users more control over their personal information. With transparency comes the risk of theft or unwanted surveillance; with shielding, that risk is greatly reduced.
