Cryptocurrencies Worth Mining in 2024: Practical Guide and Coin Selection Strategies

Which Cryptocurrency Should You Mine? A Scientific Answer Needed

Cryptocurrency mining (also known as “block generation”) is essentially the process of validating transactions and maintaining the blockchain ledger. However, not all coins are suitable for miners under current conditions—this involves hardware investment, electricity costs, mining difficulty, and market prospects. Choosing the right coin can significantly boost your profits, while the wrong choice may lead to losses. This guide helps you clarify your thinking and quickly identify suitable mining targets.

Core Factors in Coin Selection: 7 Dimensions of Analysis

Before deciding “which cryptocurrency should I mine,” you need to evaluate these key indicators:

Difficulty and Profit Balance
Each coin has a different mining difficulty. Higher difficulty requires more computing power and electricity, increasing costs. But high-difficulty coins often have more stable prices and liquidity. Ideally: high coin price, substantial block rewards, moderate difficulty, and controllable electricity costs.

Hardware Compatibility
Some coins require ASIC miners, others can be mined with GPUs. Confirm whether your equipment supports the coin before investing; otherwise, even cheap coins are pointless.

Electricity Cost Pressure
This is the main cost for most miners. No matter how profitable a coin is, if electricity costs account for over 70% of your revenue, it’s no longer competitive. Choose rationally based on your local electricity prices.

Long-term Project Viability
New coins carry high risks and can become worthless overnight. Choosing projects with active communities, ongoing development, and listings on mainstream exchanges can greatly reduce risks.

Market Volatility
Price drops of 50% are common. The longer you mine, the more you need to withstand price fluctuations.

Regulations and Policies
Different countries and regions have varying attitudes toward mining. Understand local policies to avoid awkward situations like “legal mining, illegal gains.”

Environmental Awareness
PoW mining consumes huge amounts of electricity and has attracted public attention. If you care about environmental impact, consider switching to lower-energy coins.

Analysis of 7 Most Valuable Coins for Mining

Bitcoin (BTC): The eternal choice, but not the best for beginners

BTC remains the most mainstream cryptocurrency worldwide. But don’t be fooled by “most mainstream”—BTC mining has the highest entry barrier.

Requires professional ASIC miners (like Antminer S series), and software such as CGMiner or BFGMiner. Mining difficulty is extremely high, making it hard for individual players to compete with large pools. The 2024 halving will further increase difficulty, potentially pressuring short-term returns.

Who is suitable for mining BTC? Well-funded professional miners with mining farms or large-scale operations, capable of enduring long-term risks.

Litecoin (LTC): The “Silver” solution with lower entry barriers

LTC is known as “Bitcoin’s silver.” Compared to BTC, LTC has gentler mining difficulty and faster transaction confirmation.

Mainstream options include Antminer L3+ and similar ASIC miners, with software like CGMiner or EasyMiner. Due to lower difficulty, earnings are relatively stable. But LTC’s halving also affects its earning cycle.

Who is suitable for mining LTC? Those wanting to enter ASIC mining with limited funds; or existing miners with LTC hardware.

Zcash (ZEC): The privacy coin representative

Zcash is recognized for its zero-knowledge proof privacy features. Its mining difficulty is between BTC and other coins, with many miners maintaining stable hash power.

Use ASIC miners like Antminer Z9 with EWBF’s CUDA Miner software. ZEC’s market demand is stable, but liquidity is less than BTC/LTC.

Who is suitable for mining ZEC? Miners optimistic about privacy coins and equipped with dedicated ASIC miners.

Ethereum Classic (ETC): A new opportunity for GPU miners

ETC is a continuation of the original Ethereum, emphasizing decentralization and immutability. Its biggest advantage is support for GPU mining—meaning you can participate with ordinary AMD or Nvidia graphics cards.

Use PhoenixMiner or Claymore’s Dual Miner to start. GPU mining has much lower entry costs than ASICs, which is why ETC attracts many new miners.

Who is suitable for mining ETC? Beginner miners; those with old graphics cards; individual players unwilling to make large hardware investments.

Dogecoin (DOGE): An underestimated choice

Don’t be fooled by the stereotype “just a meme coin.” Although DOGE was born as a joke, its active community, widespread circulation, and increasing use cases have made it a real payment currency.

DOGE uses Scrypt algorithm, friendly to GPUs. Set up with CGMiner or EasyMiner on your Nvidia GTX graphics card, and you can start mining. Low difficulty and stable earnings make it a “casual option” for GPU miners.

Who is suitable for mining DOGE? GPU miners; those seeking stable small profits rather than huge gains; believers optimistic about DOGE’s long-term development.

Filecoin (FIL): A new form where storage is king

FIL represents a new direction in mining—no longer purely about hash power but providing storage resources. Filecoin uses “Proof of Spacetime” consensus, where miners earn rewards by offering hard drive space.

Requires specialized Filecoin miners and high-speed storage devices, managed via Lotus software. This model is relatively unfamiliar to ordinary players but benefits from reliance on hard drives rather than electricity, leading to better long-term cost structures.

Who is suitable for mining FIL? Institutions with server resources; investors optimistic about distributed storage; miners seeking to reduce electricity costs.

Ravencoin (RVN): An ASIC-resistant GPU fortress

RVN is designed to be ASIC-resistant—only mineable with GPUs. Good news for ordinary players, as a few thousand yuan graphics cards suffice.

Use Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti, RTX series graphics cards, with KawPow Miner or T-Rex Miner software. Although RVN’s market size isn’t as big as BTC, liquidity is sufficient, and the community is active.

Who is suitable for mining RVN? GPU miners’ top choice; those wanting to avoid ASIC dominance; community members supportive of RVN’s technical route.

Mining Cost Comparison: Electricity and Revenue Reality

Key insight: Initial investment and ongoing electricity costs are major pressures. Even if coin prices rise, if electricity eats up over 60% of your profits, mining may not be worthwhile.

Quick Start: 6 Steps to Launch Your Mining Journey

Step 1: Clarify your target coin
Based on your hardware (ASIC or GPU) and electricity costs, select 1-2 coins from the above list. Beginners are recommended to start with ETC or DOGE—low difficulty and risk.

Step 2: Purchase hardware
Buy mining machines or graphics cards according to your chosen coin. Don’t blindly chase the latest models—cost-performance ratio is often more important.

Step 3: Prepare a wallet
Download official wallets or use exchange wallets (like Gate.io) to store your mining earnings. Ensure the wallet supports your selected coin.

Step 4: Deploy mining software
Download the appropriate mining program. CGMiner, BFGMiner, PhoenixMiner are industry standards, free and open-source.

Step 5: Join a mining pool
Solo mining is inefficient; 90% of miners join pools (like Poolin, F2Pool) to aggregate hash power. Pools distribute earnings periodically.

Step 6: Monitor and optimize
Regularly check hardware temperature, power consumption, and hash rate. Adjust strategies based on coin price fluctuations. Don’t “set and forget”—markets change rapidly.

10 Major Risks and Traps Not to Ignore

1. Electricity Overruns
Mining 24/7 can lead to unexpectedly high electricity bills. In high-cost regions, mining can quickly become unprofitable.

2. Hardware Depreciation
Mining hardware updates fast. Your ASIC may be outdated in half a year, with residual value near zero.

3. Sudden Difficulty Increase
When coin prices rise, more miners join, causing network difficulty to spike and earnings to thin out.

4. Dominance of Large Pools
Individual miners have no advantage in hash power. Large pools monopolize most of the hash rate, turning small miners into “workers.”

5. Price Crashes
Crypto markets are volatile. Coins mined for half a year can drop 50% overnight due to regulatory news, wiping out gains.

6. Policy Risks
In 2021, China banned all mining activities, causing massive losses for many miners. Other countries are tightening policies too.

7. Security Vulnerabilities
Cases of hacking mining rigs, wallet thefts, and pool scams are common. Choosing reputable pools and wallets is crucial.

8. Environmental Pressure
PoW’s high energy consumption faces criticism. Future policies may impose “carbon taxes” or stricter environmental regulations.

9. Technical Complexity
Hardware setup, software tuning, pool connection—all require technical knowledge. Improper configuration can cause system failure.

10. Scams and Ponzi Schemes
“Cloud mining” platforms promising high returns may run off with funds; “mining machine management” firms may cheat hardware. Be wary of any promises exceeding normal market returns.

The New Landscape of Mining in 2024

Halving Effects
BTC and LTC halving reduce block rewards, cutting short-term earnings in half. Historically, prices tend to rise afterward to compensate, but the delay puts pressure on miners.

Growing Environmental Concerns
More countries include “carbon neutrality” in policies. Mining may face “carbon taxes” or environmental fees.

ASIC Monopoly Intensifies
New coins face ASIC domination; anti-ASIC coins (like RVN) become the last bastion for GPU miners.

Official Players Enter
Large energy companies and institutional investors are entering mining, squeezing out individual miners.

Final Advice

Mining is not a “get rich quick” shortcut but a long-term business requiring continuous investment and learning.

For beginners: Don’t rush to buy ASICs immediately. Start with GPU mining (ETC or RVN), learn for 3-6 months, then decide whether to increase investment.

For experienced miners: Diversify (mine multiple coins), adjust strategies based on hash rate and electricity prices, and avoid putting all eggs in one basket.

For long-term investors: Earning from mining is less important than understanding the crypto ecosystem. If you believe in a project’s long-term prospects, mining can be a low-cost way to acquire tokens.

For environmentally conscious individuals: Consider switching to low-energy solutions like Filecoin or simply holding coins instead of mining.

This industry is full of opportunities but also pitfalls. Before acting, spend enough time researching, planning, and cautiously testing. Successful miners are often those who do their homework thoroughly, not just lucky.