In my previous post on How to mine Bitcoin on your Mac I discussed how to mine crypto-gold on your Mac.Before diving in, I wanted to lay down a framework on the basics of Bitcoin (BTC) and its easier-to-mine competitor, Litecoin (LTC).Since investing in dedicated Bitcoin mining hardware (ASICs) I've mostly ignored other competing crypto-currencies until now.Although Bitcoin is the media darling, Litecoin is a better option for the average user wanting to get into crypto-currency mining.As I mention in my mining post , Bitcoin mining isn't cost effective without expensive, dedicated mining hardware.However Litecoin, the second largest crypto-currency by market cap, is exponentially easier to mine with the Mac that you're reading this on right now.And at around US$30/LTC, it's more affordable to outright purchase too.Before I get into Litecoin a brief history of Bitcoin (BTC) is in order.For background I recommend the original paper (PDF) by Satoshi Nakamoto proposing Bitcoin.

Bitcoin was revolutionary when it was created.The idea behind "mining" coins as a way to validate transactions and at the same time reward early adopters was brilliant.It quickly strengthened the network and took care of distributing coins to interested parties.bitcoin forum rippleMined coins on the network are distributed to whomever presents the solution first.bitcoin soldiAs soon as it got competitive, people started mining pools whereby the pool instead presents the winning solution to the network, receives the reward, and redistributes to everyone in the pool.bitcoin micro loansMost people prefer this since they'll at least receive something.ethereum check address balance

For Bitcoin mining, if your computer can do this calculation faster than anyone else, you represent a greater share of the work going towards each solution.However, the rate of coins being distributed is roughly constant, so more people involved means less for everyone participating.bitcoin prices json(My Mac mining client of choice these days is Asteroid.bitcoin kurs 3 monateIt's lightweight, has a clean UI and MobileMiner support.More on Asteroid in a future post...The particular algorithm chosen by the bitcoin developers was SHA-256.First CPUs were used to calculate it.Then someone found a way to execute this algorithm faster on GPUs.Then eventually, someone designed an application-specific-integrated-circuit (ASIC) that takes a specific input, calculates it, and spits out the result, repeatedly and forever.The latter is of course the most efficient, and is where we stand today.

A group of people saw this hardware race as detrimental, and sure enough we see the effects of it -- namely expensive/risky hardware on an quickly rising difficulty level.Thus it's very difficult to continue participating without large investments to stay ahead.This group of people proposed a new coin type -- Litecoin (LTC) -- that relied on an algorithm that would be resistant to a rapidly escalating hardware race, one that needed fast memory and lots of it.These components are more expensive and present a serious barrier to entry for a Litecoin ASIC that would be economical.Update: The Fibonacci project is a Scrypt (Litecoin) ASIC project that's currently in development.It looks like Litecoin mining hardware is coming to market after all.Litecoin also has four times as coins scheduled to be mined (84 million versus bitcoin's 21 million), which may make it more accessible to future participants.Perhaps not though, as both coin types can be subdivided to eight decimal places.Litecoin also does not have much of a point-of-sale market, nor online market, yet, outside of exchanges.

But that said, it will be easy to accept Litecoin in a world that also accepts Bitcoin (since the technologies are nearly identical), so the ending on how this all plays out certainly hasn't been written yet.Most Litecoiners interested in short-term gain will sell their coins on an exchange for BTC or USD.Long-term investors may be sitting on their coins for years before they consider spending them, to watch how/if their value changes and hoping for a Bitcoin-like rise.After Bitcoin and Litecoin, there's a huge drop-off in quality.All of other crypto-currencies (a.k.a."altcoins") are essentially tweaks to Bitcoin and Litecoin that use either one of those two mining algorithms.From an investment perspective, they're even riskier than BTC and LTC.Many people compare altcoins to penny stocks due to their very high volatility.There have even been a number pump-and-dump schemes on these coins lately to take advantage of people who may have invested in them.Please verify you are a human Please click "I am not a robot" to continue Access to this page has been denied because we believe you are using automation tools to browse the website.

This may happen as a result of the following: Javascript is disabled or blocked by an extension (ad blockers for example) Your browser does not support cookies Please make sure that Javascript and cookies are enabled on your browser and that you are not blocking them from loading.Development Total Hash Rate Total Votes Total Points Litecoin mining support (#716) Deploy an fully PPS operated litecoin mining section, just like the bitcoin and recently added zcash coins.October 10, 2016 -- Innosilicon, the world renowned creator of the dominating 28nm A2 Terminator, is proudly announcing the specification & availability of the exciting next generation 14nm ASIC code-named A4 Dominator.This is a full custom optimized LTC mining ASIC with a tremendous focus on efficiency and cost, providing an incredible up to 4Mhs per chip performance with as low as 1.5W/MHs efficiency in a DCDC less daisy chain configuration.With more than quadruple the power efficiency over the previous generation, A4 ASIC offers up to 4Mhs per chip LTC hash power with as low as 1.5W/MHs power consumption.

This will allow for next gen A4 based scrypt miners reaching 400MHs to 500Mhs hash power per box.This performance puts A4 product head and shoulder above other miners as the most profitable mining server in the world.Nothing can touch the well-crafted A4 Dominator performance in the next 2 years!A4 ASIC/Miners are ready for order now and shipping starts in mid Oct.A4 Miner Specifications: Part Number: INNOSILICON A4 Dominator 280Mhs per unit (+-10% performance, can be over-clocked at user's risk) Size: Length 28cm * Width 26cm * Height 13cm Net weight: 11KG (without PSU) ASIC: A4, 80pcs Blade: 4pcs Voltage: +12V Required rated PSU: 1000W or above, 8 * PCI-E 6Pin Included: Raspberry Pi, it is plug and play with your PSUPSU is external and exclusive to save your international shipping cost, which can be acquired used easily at low cost or reused from old version miners Search Silicon IP Innosilicon Hot IP MIPI D-PHY v1.2/LVDS/TTL combo PHY(supporting CSI/DSI) SATA 3 PCIe 2 XAUI MultiPHY LPDDR4/3/2 DDR4/3/2 ComboPHY USB 2.0 PHY Device/Host/OTG/Hub HDMI 1.4 Transmitter PHY/Controller See Innosilicon IP >> Related News Innosilicon Announces that the world 1st 14nm A4 Dominator ASIC is ready for mass shipment in 2 months Innosilicon Announce the world 1st 28nm Litecoin ASIC and Reference Miners UMC Enters Mass Production for 14nm Customer ICs SJSemi and Qualcomm Jointly Announce Mass Production of 14nm Wafer Bumping Technology Samsung Announces Mass Production of 2nd Generation 14-Nanometer FinFET Logic Process Technology See Innosilicon Latest News >> Breaking News Authentico Technologies and Intrinsic ID Announce Partnership to Develop Next-Generation Database Security Imagination: Commencement of formal sale process for whole Group Kalray raises $26 million, anticipating the launch of its third generation of microprocessor that will target two rapidly growing markets: autonomous vehicles and data centers Much Ado About China's Big IC Surge Faraday Strives for MFP ASIC Development, Shipment Grew at a CAGR of 38% See Latest News >> Most Popular Imagination: Commencement of formal sale process for whole Group Siemens Lays Out Vision for Mentor Much Ado About China's Big IC Surge Alibaba Fuels China's CPU Gambit Kalray raises $26 million, anticipating the launch of its third generation of microprocessor that will target two rapidly growing markets: autonomous vehicles and data centers See the Top 20 >>