Before we jump straight into the world of Litecoin mining, let’s acknowledge a simple fact – LTC or Litecoin happens to be the crypto that is compared the most frequently to BTC or Bitcoin.
LTC happens to be a fork of Bitcoin, a direct descendant, and shares several similar properties with each other – including things like supply limitations, mining processes, and mining reward halving.
Interestingly, LTC is perhaps the earliest cryptocurrency in the crypto market, considering it was released more than a decade ago, in 2011. It is known as the crypto world’s ‘silver,’ considering the ‘gold’ destination that has always been reserved for Bitcoin.
Known as the easiest cryptocurrency to mine, Litecoin also happens to be the most profitable crypto you can mine. Litecoin does not just have a low profile, but its popularity is also lesser known when compared to the gold status Bitcoin as well as other offshoots such as Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV.
Today, we will discuss Litecoin mining in detail – stay tuned to find out more.
Understanding Litecoin Mining:
If you were about to look up ‘Litecoin mining wiki,’ then stop – because we are here to help! You just need to hold on!
Litecoin mining is pretty similar to the concept of Bitcoin mining. Generally, mining programs run on a device, a computer, or a machine. Typically, mining is often explained as a complex mathematical procedure.
But interestingly, mining software generates encrypted letters and numbers randomly to find out a value that is lower than the value of the nonce – a nonce is a 2-digit random alphanumeric digit included in the hash of the block.
Now, miners are all connected to the web and subsequently create a proper mining network. In fact, there’s no limitation on the total number of mining program users in a miners’ network. So when someone is trying to mine a single Litecoin, they are actually competing with the other miners within the network for solving the hash.
The miner who comes first in terms of guessing lesser than the set target hash is able to win a solid reward that is, 12.5 Litecoin. Obviously, the rewards keep changing over a period of time with the hash difficulty.
How To Mine Litecoin?
In order to begin mining Litecoin, an individual should start by investing in stuff like software and hardware mining rigs in order to run the mining procedure.
The Litecoin mining pool or network’s state is such that any single miner who has a computer and one ASIC literally has an almost impossible chance of actually solving any hash to win a solid reward.
However, at the same time, it gets difficult to keep up with the whole mining network, the huge pool of miners who have 1 or even 2 ASICs, and large farms.
For instance, L7, a Litecoin miner, can, at the most, mine about 9 GH/s, while generally, a CPU can mine in thousands of hashes/second. Mining pools can easily mine over 120 TH/s.
To start mining Litecoin, anyone will have to buy either one or multiple ASIC miners and subsequently connect the same to a good internet connection.
Then they will have to select a nice mining pool to start mining, set up the miner with the help of the mining pool’s instructions (generally posted on the website of the pool), and start mining obviously after following the basic instructions for their pool, software, and machine.
At the same time, they will also be required to select a wallet so that they can store their private keys inside the same. For this purpose, there are wallets such as Mycelium, Electrum, or Exodus.
How To Select Mining Hardware?
If you are looking for a Litecoin mining calculator, then we understand your excitement, but before you do that, what about the hardware you will need? There are multiple factors that you must take into consideration while checking out mining software or hardware for Litecoin.
These factors are as follows:
- Price
- Hashrate
- Energy Usage & Cost
- Goals & Expectations
- Pool joining decision.
1. Price:
The F2Pool or the mining pool lists recent ASIC mining revenue and costs. Perhaps, the most profitable Litecoin miner is L7, but it comes with the ostentatious price tag of 18,500 USD.
It can take an individual so much time to just recoup the cost. After all, the amount of money you invest will decide how profitable and productive your career as a miner happens to be.
It might be possible to find second-hand ASICs on sale available at relatively lower cost prices, but on the other hand, it is vital to be cautious since most of these machines have perhaps been used way too much.
2. Hashrate:
Another crucial factor is the hashrate. How fast your ASIC is able to hash will be directly related to how competitive you can be in a pool or even on your own.
Multiple mining pools end up splitting the crypto they have been rewarded with, but in individual cases, the rewards are usually given on the basis of the work a miner does.
If you do have an ASIC that’s slow, then your rewards are going to be lesser than that of a miner who has a faster setup or even a rig.
3. Energy Usage And Cost:
Are you already worrying about the Litecoin mining calculator difficulty? Then what about factors like energy usage and costs?
You must consider how much energy you are using with your ASIC miner. For insurance, the Antminer L7 uses approximately 10 USD every day in terms of energy. If you are using that, then your total energy bill will simply increase by over 3500 USD annually, further decreasing your annual profits.
Obviously, this cost only represents the energy that has been used for powering the miner. ASICs usually produce plenty of heat while they continue to run – in order to be very profitable, these need to run throughout the day. Plus, the ASIC will definitely increase your cooling bill until you find out how to get rid of the heat.
4. Goals And Expectations:
Perhaps, the most important factor to conducting genesis mining Litecoin that you need to consider has a lot to do with your goals and expectations – you need to accurately identify your specific goals as well as expectations.
For instance, you might feel like mining to earn some extra income, or you might just want to find out how to mine Litecoin – your goals can be different, and so can your expectations.
Whatever are your primary reasons, you will have to ensure that you can obtain the returns you REALLY want before you can start spending money on expensive hardware.
Wrapping Up: The Best Way To Mine Litecoin
Perhaps, the best method of mining Litecoin is to simply be in a position where you can win a reward – in that case, you will have to purchase one or even multiple ASIC miners designed specifically for Scrypt and Litecoin – and then join a good mining pool. Otherwise, there’s no way you will be able to obtain enough hashing power to actually compete.
But do tell us what you think about mining Litecoin. Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences related to mining in the comments below.
