In this day and age, the whole world is embracing the new finance technologies. The cryptocurrency made huge popularity in the past few years, mostly for its rapid growth. As more and more people are looking for new investment opportunities outside of Bitcoin and Ethereum. Litecoin mining is the most popular choice among all other cryptocurrencies.
It is introduced in October 2011 as a fork of Bitcoin, Litecoin(LTC) is one of the oldest cryptocurrency which is still not only in existence, also growing positively.
Consider this: the price of Litecoin has increased by 11.17% in 2018 and another side, bitcoin only increased by 8.26%. As a beginner in mining or those who have mined other cryptocurrencies but not Litecoin may wonder, “How to start?”
Here is a helpful guide for beginners to learn the set up of Litecoin mining step-by-step. But before moving on how to start mining, let’s know what is Litecoin mining and how it works?
Table of Contents
What is Litecoin Mining?
Litecoin mining is a mathematically secure, open-source software which is a global decentralize peer-to-peer network for the transaction. It is a process of solving mathematical calculations using mining software and hardware, for confirming transactions, miners get reward with Litecoins for each block that they verify.
However, it quite differs from other cryptocurrency mining. It uses a different proof-of-work algorithm:- SHA-256 algorithm & Scrypt algorithm.
How does Litecoin Mining Work?
In Litecoin mining, Miners use their computational power to solve complex mathematical (cryptographic) puzzles. It uses a proof-of-work method to successfully complete the transactions on the network and get rewards accordingly.
Transactions are verified with the proof-of-work and Litecoins include in a block in order to make transactions. In this process, the miners confirm the transactions that have been recorded on the blockchain which avoids the idea of double-spends.
After each block is mined, the rewards are distributed among the miners according to their hashing power in the network.
Why Mine Litecoin? Is it profitable?
Litecoin was first introduced in October 2011 and a software engineer at Google announced the creation of Litecoin as a clone of bitcoin. Mining Litecoin is four-time faster than bitcoin and transactions require less time to gain confirmation. Litecoin transaction fees are much lower than bitcoin. And you can observe the Litecoin price at the time of November 2019 was above $350.
Furthermore, Calculating the profitability of your liquid mining operation depends on several factors: your hash-rate, your pool fee, your electricity costs, the cost of your equipment, and the price of Litecoin. Several mining profitability calculators are available online to help you complete these calculations.
Litecoin mining profitability directly depends on the cost of your equipment that is used in mining. To calculate the profitability of your mining, you need to calculate the mining charges, electricity cost, the upfront cost of your equipment, and the current price of Litecoin.
You can calculate your mining profitability using a Litecoin mining profitability calculator. There are some mining calculators are available online like CoinWarz.
How to Start Litecoin Mining?
Anyone in the world can be a Litecoin miner by setting up the correct piece of equipment- Hardware and Software.
Litecoin Mining Hardware or Rig
You can use as a personal computer to start mining or you can purchase a mining rig. A mining rig is a computer system which is used for mining the Litecoins. You can mine Litecoin with CPUs and GPUs.
- Litecoin mining with CPU: Some miners believe that mining Litecoin with CPU is one of the easiest methods to start but if we compare the hash rates of CPU to GPU, GPU is five times faster than CPU and more flexible to use.
- Litecoin mining with GPU: The best way to get a better idea about the processes of mining. Using the GUPs for mining is fast and efficient. It offers around 150MH/s hashing speed and 750 watts power consumption(RX 470 GPU).
Apart from that, you can use Antminer L3+ Litecoin Miner to mine Litecoin.
Best Litecoin Miner (Antminer L3+)
Litecoin is a bit different from other mining, it uses a unique scrypt (SHA-256) based mining algorithm. Antminer L3+ or L3++, a very powerful ASIC Scrypt miner that uses a Scrypt is a popular option for Litecoin mining. Antminer L3++ is a little faster and costly than L3+. These type of dedicated machines help in increasing the mining power and reducing the electricity bills.
A benefit of using a dedicated ASIC Scrypt Miner is that the technology can typically allow you to mine other cryptocurrencies simultaneously.and as a beginner, you can purchase a secondhand system to minimize startup costs.
Litecoin Mining Software
If you’re using CPUs or GPUs, you’ll need to choose a more secure software for your Litecoin mining. Here we’re suggesting you some best mining software. Let’s a have a look-
- SGMiner: It supports only GPU based hardware, as it considers that software design for a specific device is much effective.
- CGMiner: Another mining software which is an open-source miner for ASIC and FPGA miners. And it is compatible with OS X, Windows, and Linux.
- CPUMiner: It’s a Bitcoin and Litecoin, mining software and recognizes as the best one for CPU miners. Remember that CPU is not able to mine Litecoins as efficiently as GPU.
- CUDAminer: It is another mining software for GPU hardware miners and CUDAminers believe that it is the fastest for NVIDIA GPUs.
- GUIMiner-scrypt: It provides a GUI for both CUDAminer and CGMiner. Due to the lack of enough back-end transparency, it is not highly recommended.
After choosing the best set of hardware and software, you’ll need a Litecoin wallet to store your mined Litecoins.
Litecoin Wallet
Before mining you need a wallet, a wallet is a place where you can store your Litecoin after mine. So compare the Best Litecoin Wallet and select the best one for storing your coin.
A cryptocurrency wallet allows you to secure your wallet and you can also view balance information and transactions from a desktop or smartphone.
Litecoin wallet is highly password protected from theft but there’ll be a need to protect your wallet from viruses and Trojans. A number of wallets are available online, you can choose the best Litecoin wallet from them.
Different types of Litecoin Mining
Once you’ve decided on your mining equipment, you’ll need to join a Litecoin mining pool or cloud mining. You can also choose a solo mining for mine the Litecoins. So, let us discuss all of them one by one:-
Litecoin Mining Pools
Mining pools are the network of several people who combine their efforts. Joining the pool size mining has the benefit of increases the chances of getting rewards. While joining a mining pool, you just need to focus on its reputation and hash rates. A mining pool with a good reputation provides you stability and progress in Litecoin mining.
Now we discuss some pros and cons of it: –
Pros:
- Fast and easy
- Low costs
- Shared resources
- More profits from a mining block
Cons:
- Rewards are shared
- Risk of service attacks
Litecoin Cloud Mining
Cloud mining is the best way to mine Litecoin for those miners who don’t want to spend a lot of money on equipment. It is like paying someone else to mine for you. In cloud mining, you can rent the miners and they’ll mine Litecoins for you. For Scrypt algorithm, the cloud mining rate is $7.50 per 1 MH/s.
Some prons and cons of Litecoin Cloud Mining:-
Pros:
- Low costs
- No need for equipment
- No ventilation needed
Cons:
- Low profits
- No transparency in mining operations
- Unable to change the mining software
- Risk of many scams
Litecoin Solo Mining
Solo Litecoin mining is quite difficult for beginners because you’ll need a huge computer power alone and also need to get lucky very often. Furthermore, in solo mining, you don’t need to share your rewards with anyone but mining costs are a lot higher than other options.
Pros:
- Reliable
- No need to share rewards
- Profitable in the long run
Cons:
- Inefficient
- High costs
- Unsustainable
FAQs
This will depend on different factors, including everything from the mining rig as well as the power cost power costs. Use an online mining profitability calculator to work out your total costs. Furthermore, one more thing you need to remember is your overall mining cost is must be less than the current price of Litecoin.
Litecoin blocks are generally generated every 2.5 minutes, it is four times faster than bitcoin’s rate of every 10 minutes.
Litecoin’s current block reward is 25 LTC. However, the block mining reward halves every 840,000 blocks, so it will reduce to 12.5 LTC in 2019.
Network difficulty is a number that shows an indication of how difficult it is to find a block. This would mean that the more hashing power is on Litecoin, the more harder to find a block.
Conclusion
Maybe this guide helps you to clear all concepts of Litecoin mining. Once you start mining lots of questions are arrived in your mind related to pool, software and hardware, Exchange. You can ask here in the comment section.
Otherwise, Exchange is where you can convert your mined coin into Dollars. Furthermore, you can also learn about Popular one Bitfinex Exchange.
**Note: Information contained in this guide is not an offer or solicitation to buy, hold, or sell any security. We’re not financial advisors and are simply providing information for educational purposes. Investing in ICO involves a high degree of risk and consider only by persons who can afford to sustain a loss of their entire investment.
Investors should consult their financial advisor before investing in ICOs. Furthermore, the SEC has warned investors residing in the United States and other jurisdictions that ICOs may constitute securities.
It is profitable if you choose the most efficient method of mining. You should need to be aware of regulations and taxes in your country and avoid scams to make your mining safe.
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