How to Mine Litecoin (LTC): Solo Mining & Pools
Mining Litecoin (LTC) is a rather complex process that is based on the Scrypt algorithm. For it, special equipment is often used – ASIC devices. It is they who verify all operations and maintain the stable operation of the Litecoin network. It becomes much more challenging to get it every year. Whereas previously only a powerful CPU was required for mining, now it needs more.
Let’s take a look at how to mine Litecoin.
How to mine Litecoin
Litecoin is a fork of bitcoin, which has been developing as an independent coin since 2011. The user’s personal computer must carry out several settlement operations to receive coins.
To start mining cryptocurrency, you need to install a unique miner on your PC. It is a program that is designed to generate digital money.
The main factor influencing the production volume, as in the case of bitcoin, is the presence of a powerful video card. According to professionals, an ATI video card would be an ideal option for generating a currency of this kind. High-performance indicators characterize them.
Suppose it is not possible to purchase a new high-powered PC and a high-performance graphics card. In that case, you can use less budgetary but no less effective methods of upgrading your computer for mining.
After completing the preparatory work, you can start installing the wallet on your PC when the card is installed. After that, the miner software is downloaded and installed, but it is better to configure it after registering in the mining pool.
Among a large number of pools, you can easily choose the best option. When choosing, you need to pay attention to such vital indicators of the pool as capacity, commission size, and level of protection.
The profit in obtaining Litecoin depends on the computer’s power, the installed video card, the user’s experience, knowledge, and the time spent on computing operations.
Type of mining Litecoin
Solo mining Litecoin offers little or no profit. It’s because the average total network hash rate is 180 TH / s. It suggests that many miners want to mine LTC. With such competition, it will be difficult to overtake them at home.
Working in a mining pool is different. The probability of calculating a block is several times higher, which means you can also get a reward faster. However, in most mining pools, you will receive only a fraction of it, in proportion to your hashrate.
Litecoin mining problems
The first thing worth noting is that mining LTC token via CPU and GPU is useless in 2021. The fact is that the profit from the use of processors and video cards does not even cover the cost of paying electricity bills and wear and tear of hardware.
It is mainly due to the emergence of ASIC devices that offer much higher performance. However, some miners still use farms on video processors. And if you do not take into account the purchase of an ASIC device, now this is the only way to mine Litecoin efficiently.
From the beginning, miners received 50 LTC for the extraction of a block. However, as more blocks are found, the reward is halved. It’s called halving and occurs approximately every four years. The tip is now 12.5 coins.
1 LTC block is mined in 2.5 minutes.
Pools search
There are honest, respectable pools that always pay as they should. And some scams exist for a month, pull the hashrate in their favor, cash in on commissions, get a lot of profit, and close. Therefore, to mine Litecoin, you need to approach the choice of the pool with special care and caution. What you should pay attention to when choosing a pool:
- Statistics. It will show how often the pool is used, how many blocks it solves every day. The more statistics, the less likely it is a harmful site. Quality service providers are not afraid to communicate their activities.
- Hashrate. The overall hash rate is critical. Usually, pools specialize in several cryptocurrencies at once, so you will need to look precisely at the hash rate for LTC. The total power of the site is likely 50TH / s, but Litecoin only accounts for one percent.
- The pool lifetime. The test of time is one of the best indicators in the whole world. We are used to trusting something that has existed for a long time. If it exists for at least a year, this is already a good indicator. This pool can be trusted because it is strong evidence of the good intentions of the suppliers.
- Commission. There is a commission on almost any pool since you need to maintain it and still profit from it yourself. Good services will not take more than 5% from you.
- Reviews. The more positive reviews you find about a particular service, the more likely it is, to be honest.
Popular pools
Let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of several popular LTC mining pools.
Antpool
37 TH / s capacity, almost 90,000 pool members. Antpool has been working with top cryptocurrencies for a long time and holds a considerable share of the entire network’s power. Features for LTC:
- automatic payments (the main thing is to enter the wallet address);
- constant updates of the protection system;
- P2Pool – eliminates the possibility that your hashrate will go to the owner of the service;
- solo mining is possible as part of a pool;
- round the clock.
The downside is that due to the vast number of miners, there is a chance of getting very little when distributing the reward. But the reviews about him are only the best.
Litecoinpool
This pool works only on LTC. The hashrate is 44,360 GH / s, the number of pool participants is almost 70 thousand. He has been operating since 2011. He managed to survive the closure, after which he resumed his work. As of today, he has no negative reviews. Its advantages:
- high protection against attacks;
- detailed statistics updated every few seconds;
- eight servers located in different parts of the world.
Of the minuses, there is again a large number of miners because the payments are small. But the users themselves call the service the best for mining LTC.
Give me coins
Another old pool that has managed to gain trust among many users. The pool does not take a commission to withdraw funds but only for the mining itself. Among the advantages for mining Litecoin are:
- control of mining from the phone (an application has been developed for this);
- payment after ten confirmations, which is not much for the LTC network;
- instant payments;
- constantly active forum.
The disadvantage of this service is the low hash rate (0.5 TH / s), but the small number of miners compensates for this. Thus, if the pool decides the block, then the participants will receive a high reward.