This beginner’s guide will show you the very basics of mining Litecoin, using either your own computer or an ASIC mining rig. We’ll take you through everything you need to know about setting up and running your own rig, on either OSX or Windows, but first let’s go over what Litecoin actually is and why it exists in the first place! If you’re already familiar with all this stuff, feel free to skip ahead to the Step 2: Hardware Requirements section below.
Litecoin LTC current
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Litecoins are a cryptocurrency, similar to Bitcoin, but with faster transaction times and a different algorithm.
The Litecoin LTC currency has been around since 2011, when it was first introduced by Charlie Lee on the Bitcointalk forums.
It is designed as a peer-to-peer Internet currency that enables instant payments between any two parties in the world.
This means that merchants don't have to worry about credit card fraud and bank fees for international transactions, making it a feasible alternative for online businesses.
A Litecoin mining rig can be constructed from graphics cards (GPU) rather than ASICs because of their higher computational power, which allows them to do more work within the same time frame.
In recent years, graphics cards have become more powerful than CPUs (central processing units), so they’re better suited to mining applications.
You might not want to start out with an expensive GPU, but you can use one of your old ones if you're building a new system or upgrading your old one.
If you're buying a new GPU for mining purposes, look at the hashrate per second rate at the bottom of the box next to the word Boost in order to make sure that it will run well enough for your needs.
Step 1: What is Mining?
Cryptocurrency mining is the process of creating new blocks in the blockchain by solving a puzzle. The puzzle is created using a hash function that maps data of arbitrary size to a bit string of fixed size, traditionally 256 bits.
These are known as hashes. Once the puzzle is solved, a block of transactions can be added to the blockchain and have them validated by everyone on the network.
Cryptocurrency mining consumes lots of electricity and computational power because it takes time for miners to solve these puzzles. You'll need a good video card or graphics processing unit (GPU) with at least 3GB of RAM to mine any significant cryptocurrency.
You also need specialized hardware called ASICs (Application-specific integrated circuit), which will cost you over $1,000 USD. Mining cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum could take years before you get any sort of return on your investment.
But Litecoin, which has far less competition from miners than other coins, can be mined with an ordinary computer’s CPU.
As long as there is competition between more powerful GPUs and CPUs, this may mean there will always be room for hobbyists without expensive equipment.
But if cryptocurrencies become mainstream and common, large companies may use their resources to outcompete individual miners.
So even though you don't need much equipment to start mining Litecoins, doing so means joining a difficult race against some big players.
In order to mine, you will need a computer with a graphics card and at least one monitor. Once you have the basic equipment setup, you'll also need to download the latest version of the Litecoin mining software.
This is available on their website and is easy to download. You will then be able to choose which pool or mining rig that you want to join, and if it's a pool, what kind of hardware do you want your miner to use.
The decision process becomes more complex when choosing between joining pools because they all offer different rewards based on the amount of shares that they've generated in relation to other pools.
The fragmentation will depend upon how many people are in the same pool or group as you are working towards solving equations together. There is no right answer as to which is better, but it will depend upon your particular goals and preferences.
It is important to note that there are two types of mining: solo and pooled. Solo means you work alone while pooled, which means that you work in groups or with others to find the solution.
It can take longer, but you could potentially make more money doing this depending on the type of coin being mined.
As mentioned earlier, whether you decide to go solo or pooled depends on your own personal needs and wants from mining.
Regardless of your choice, a Litecoin wallet is an essential part of mining since it stores transactions so that miners can receive their earnings for completing blocks.
Step 2: Get Your Hardware
The first step is to acquire your hardware. This can be done through various avenues depending on what you have available and how much you are willing to spend.
The most popular method is by using GPUs (graphics processing units) because they are cheap and powerful, but if you don't have the spare cash, or want a more energy efficient device, then ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) might be for you.
*ASIC Mining: If you go this route, then there are some factors that need to be considered before making a purchase.
For one thing, there will not be any competition with other miners in terms of getting the rewards since it is too expensive for anyone else to afford them;
secondly, as soon as an ASIC miner becomes outdated or inefficient in comparison with its counterparts out there on the market, it will become obsolete.
Step 3: Set Up Software
Thirdly, the difficulty level for each block mined may change, which makes the mining process less profitable and may even take away any profit altogether.
Lastly, in order to make up for their higher price tags, these devices require large amounts of electricity so when calculating ROI (return on investment), you'll also need to factor in your utility bills
In this step, we need to download and set up the software. There are many types of programs you can use for mining, but the most popular are BFGminer and cgMiner.
All three of these programs have their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, cgMiner is an older program that has been around for a while.
It does not support as many different types of hardware, so it may be difficult to find a version that supports your graphics card. On the other hand, BFGMiner includes more features than cgMiner.
But BFGMiner also requires some programming knowledge to use properly. So, in general, people prefer either CGminer or BFGminer because they are easier to set up and require less programming knowledge. Here’s how to set them up:
1) Download and extract the latest version of CGminer on your computer.
2) Create a new file called cgminer-start.bat with notepad and put this text inside it: cgminer-x64 –scrypt -o stratum+tcp://pool_url:port –user worker_name-p password -I 18 3) Double click the cgminer-start.bat file and then go back to your regular desktop window.
4) Download and install Winrar if you don't already have it on your system.
5) Drag and drop the Litecoin Wallet qt file into Winrar, right-click on it, and select extract files here.
6) Navigate to where you extracted all of the files from Winrar and open up litecoin-qt.exe .
The wallet should automatically load now and will ask you to enter a password (this will be the same password you used when creating your account).
7) Click on Help -> Debug Window at the top menu bar and type setgenerate true without quotes into the box.
8) Press enter after typing it in and hit return again. You should see one line appear saying generate coins... which means that the script is running successfully!
What is better, individual or group mining?
Individuals will have a better chance of earning coins since they'll have more processing power. However, group mining can be a more efficient process.
When you join with other miners, the chances of receiving coins are higher because everyone is trying to solve the equations at the same time.
This allows for fragmentation, which means that there are more blocks being solved in shorter periods of time. In October 2011, Charlie Lee, from the programming team at Google, released litecoin.
Unlike bitcoin and most other cryptocurrencies, litecoin uses scrypt as its proof-of-work algorithm.
The use of this type of cryptography has made it easier for people to mine litecoins on their home computers. In October 2011, Charlie Lee from the programming team at Google released litecoin.
It differs from Bitcoin and most other cryptocurrencies in that it utilizes Scrypt as its proof-of-work algorithm.
The use of this type of cryptography has allowed individuals to mine litecoins using their home computers.
Litecoin also introduced an improved version, called SegWit (Segregated Witness), in 2017, which reduces block congestion by separating signatures from transactions.
As of December 7th, 2018, the price per LTC was $2.38 USD; the coin had a market cap worth $4.4 billion USD. As of December 7th, 2018, the price per LTC was $2.38 US Dollars; the coin had a market cap worth $4.4 billion US Dollars
Charlie Lee left Google in 2013 to focus on working full-time on Litecoin development and advising startups in Silicon Valley through his company, Obvious Ventures .
He sold or donated all of his LTC before the peak in late 2017 because he believed it had become too high risk.
Step 4: Join a Pool
Mining pools are groups of miners who work together and share the rewards. Joining a pool means that instead of competing with each other to solve blocks, members contribute their processing power to solving blocks as a group.
If you want the easiest way to start mining, this is it! You simply need to download one of the many miner programs available (some come pre-installed on certain operating systems), create an account with a mining pool, enter your wallet address so they know where to send your coins, and then start using your computer’s processor to mine for litecoins!
If you have any questions or problems setting up your miner, just ask in the comments below. We'll help you get started as soon as possible. Good luck! I hope you've found this helpful.
As always, if you have any questions or feedback, please leave them in the comment box below, and I will do my best to answer them. Happy mining!
The reason why joining a pool is more efficient is because when you join a pool of miners, instead of looking for hashes yourself (which is incredibly difficult), all you need to do is verify that they are correct.
So, rather than having to perform billions of calculations on trillions of hashes every second, miners can instead perform thousands upon thousands upon millions of verifications per second!
The best mining pools for litecoin
To mine litecoin, you'll need a mining client that will connect your computer and hardware to a mining pool. There are many different pools available, with varying degrees of stability, so it is important to research the options before settling on one.
Some of the better ones include BTC Guild, Slush Pool,.
The best way to find the most profitable coins for mining at any given time is through an online profitability calculator, such as Coinwarz or Whattomine.
Mining pools don't have an interface that shows what coins they're currently mining; instead, they share out the earnings based on how much work each miner has done within a set time frame.
If one pool suddenly becomes more popular than another, you may want to switch to the other. If not, then just choose the most stable option that suits your needs.
The first thing you'll want to do when starting out is install a ccminer on your system.
You can find instructions in our blog post here: How-to-mine-litecoin-using-ccminer or by searching Google for litecoin mining using ccminer. Once installed, open up cmd.
exe and type in cgminer --scrypt followed by pressing enter. Alternatively, if you use the Linux operating system, type in cgminer -o stratum+tcp://URL_of_pool:PORT. For example, cgminer -o stratum+tcp://URL_of_pool:PORT would be used for Bitcoin mining.
You should now see something like this: C:\>cgminer -o stratum+tcp://192.0.2.1:3333 -u USERNAME -p PASSWORD The next step is to create a .
bat file that launches this command every time you start Windows (we've created one for you). Simply go into File Explorer and type in C:/ which should bring up all the files and folders on your C drive.
Step 5: Set Up API Key
To set up your API key, click on the API tab in the left-hand menu. This page contains information about your account and an authentication token.
Copy this token and paste it into a text file for safekeeping. You will need this token in order to generate blocks on the pool. If you don't have this token, or if you enter the wrong one, you won't be able to submit any shares.
Once everything is set up correctly, click on Next Step to continue with registration. Choose a username that is easy to remember and type in your email address where requested.
Next, you'll want to choose whether you want to mine solo or as part of a mining pool. Mining pools are groups of miners who combine their computing power while mining simultaneously.
Solo mining means working alone, which can lead to high profits but also higher risk since there are no other miners who can help share the load if things go wrong.
When choosing the solo option, you'll need to input your public Litecoin address so that payouts can be sent back to you automatically.
Pool mining means joining forces with other miners and sharing rewards fairly based on each individual's contribution.
Clicking this option will take you through the setup process for connecting to a particular pool.
After selecting either solo or pool, click the next step to complete registration and start hashing away! Note that you'll have to wait until the blockchain confirms your payment (sometimes takes an hour or more) before you're allowed to create a new block and earn coins.
So, sit tight, enjoy some tea (or coffee), and watch those newly mined coins roll in over time!
Step 6: Troubleshooting Tips
If you are running into any issues, the first thing you want to do is make sure your drivers are up-to-date. If this does not solve your issue, then make sure that you are running the correct mining software.
If that doesn't work, try a different pool with a lower minimum difficulty setting. Otherwise, check if there have been any recent updates for the mining software and update it if necessary.
Next, ensure that Windows Defender or some other antivirus program is not blocking the mining software from functioning properly.
You can also try reinstalling Windows 10 or your video card driver. The last step would be checking to see if everything else on your computer is running smoothly, such as an overheating graphics card.
The best way to avoid these common errors is by keeping your computer updated. Make sure all of your hardware is working correctly, including the motherboard and power supply unit.
Make sure that all fans are in working order, including heat sinks and vents; dust should never get near these parts because of how sensitive they are.
Most importantly, don’t forget to maintain a consistent temperature inside your case with good ventilation! Not only will this prevent major failures, but it will also keep your machine running at optimal speeds so that you may mine more efficiently.
Finally, invest in a quality surge protector to safeguard against electrical spikes and surges. These events happen often enough where taking precautionary measures against them is imperative.
Too many people have had their expensive rigs shut down after being hit by lightning.
In addition, if you aren't careful about grounding yourself while performing electrical tasks like handling bare wires or touching metal objects outside, a stray current could course through your body without warning and shock you unconscious.
All of these problems stem from one source: electricity.
Calculating profitability from mining Litecoin
The difficulty level of mining a block is adjusted every 2 weeks, with the aim of keeping the time between blocks at 10 minutes.
This means that if someone were mining at a difficulty level of 1 and was lucky enough to find a block, then it would take 9 days for that person to mine another block.
At the same time, someone else at a difficulty level of 5 will be able to mine another block in just over 7 hours. In terms of profitability, this means that the lower your hash rate (speed) is relative to others (at the same difficulty), the longer you'll have to wait before finding another block.
It also depends on how much luckier you are than other miners (if they're unlucky and you're lucky).
The current estimated return per day from mining Litecoin at a hash rate of 150MH/s and using $0.10 per kWh electricity cost is $1.75/day or $3840/year .
If we increase the cost of electricity to $0.25 per kWh, the return goes down to about $2/day or $600/year which might not be worth it for some people who have already purchased expensive hardware and paid off their costs.
On the flip side, those who use free or cheap electricity may still make a profit even at these prices because their power costs are so low; however, this does not guarantee profits as their costs could increase in the future.
For example, while there are various ways to reduce the cost of running equipment, by adding more GPUs or cooling them better with air conditioning units, buying second-hand equipment, etc.,
there is always the risk that Bitcoin ASICs become more powerful in the future and renders GPU-based mining obsolete.
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