Cryptocurrency mining has been turning into a competitive field for quite some time now, and it is increasingly different from the time when anyone could easily mine with their home computer. Today, in order to think about mining at all, expensive equipment is necessary, which is why more and more people are turning to those digital currencies that pay the most. The world of cryptocurrencies has always attracted stock traders in the desire to get rich quick. These days, there is noise about applications for decentralized finances that strive for isolation from institutions. Although the worth of BTC today is significantly lower ($10.000) compared to its peak from two years ago (almost 20.000 USD), the initial price from the beginning of 2011 of one dollar certainly justifies this estimate. Despite its very deceptive nature and numerous downturns, more and more traders and investment companies are accepting it as a means of payment.
Mining cryptocurrencies, and the most popular among them, bitcoin, requires a lot of electricity, and that doesn’t seem like it could slow down in the foreseeable future. Currently, about 73 TWh is the usage of electricity to produce bitcoin in the world every year, which is approximately the level of consumption in the whole of Austria.
With all those cryptocurrencies appearing on the market, and the new and high expenses for mining them, we gathered the top ten profitable cryptos that one could and should mine in 2024. And for more info about what are the cryptocurrencies, how much of an impact they had on the global financial market, and which ones represent the currency of the future, check cryptofound.com, and learn everything you need and want to know.
1. Bitcoin
Mining Bitcoin pays off, but only if crypto-miners can invest large amounts of money in equipment and energy consumed, which makes it not that suitable for individual miners. Today it is mostly mined by large companies that can move their mining systems to countries where the price of electricity is more favorable and which invest millions of dollars in ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) mining devices. But if we take a look at the facts and statistics, the trust of the people is still mainly in BTC as their primary crypto for mining and trading. Another thing that makes Bitcoin so unique is the fact that it has its currency symbol (฿).
2. Ethereum
In addition to BTC, the other currencies that are most profitable for individual mining since it still allows GPU mining is the Ethereum, which managed to get back at the second place in 2019. The expected price for Ethereum is only going to go up, as the demand is higher than the supply, and by some prestige technologists, the price for ETH will get to 1.000 USD by the next year.
3. Ethereum Classic
Ethereum Classic offers the same benefits as the ETH, and this system consists of nodes, volunteers who have the entire Ethereum blockchain record on their computers. They are in charge of maintaining consensus on the rules of transactions outlined in smart contracts. It is in this segment that ETH differs from BTC, which is exclusively and primarily designed as digital money. The current price for 1 ETC is around $5, which makes it ideal to either mine or trade for, with predictions that the price can only get higher.
4. Grin
This one is relatively new crypto with unlimited coins to mine, making it quite attractive and favorable for miners. The concept Cuckoo Cycle and the protocol based on MimbleWimble makes it very secure for everyone. The Grin had two hard forks in 2024, in January and in July, and can be mined via three algorithms, but those who use CuckARood-29 will have to make an update. It is available on many exchanging and trading platforms, with the current price of 0.35 USD, and by most predictions, the price in the next few years will get to $5. It is a good and suitable option for hobby mining.
5. Monero
Monero cryptocurrency, launched in 2014, is privacy-oriented and works on the open-source blockchain principle. A high level of privacy offers several benefits. Each Monero unit or coin is exchangeable, like the currency you use in everyday life. The time it takes to mine one block is about two minutes. Monero coin donation does not require specific hardware, and you can use any of the leading platforms such as Windows, Android, Linux, and macOS. In January 2015, the price was 0.25 USD, with strong growth in 2017 and reaching $450. Today, it is around 95 dollars, but it is steadily rising.
6. DASH
The main difference between Dash and other coins is in the algorithm used for mining. In the case of Dash, it is powered by the X11 algorithm, which is Proof-of-Work, but it also gives users the option to create their own master node, which is a typical feature of Proof-of-Stake projects. Dash also uses blockchain technology, but this system does not require the transaction to be confirmed by all nodes on the network, which means that no consensus is required. This arrangement increases the speed of transaction processing and reduces the risk of downtime.
7. RavenCoin
RavenCoin originated from BTC hardfork, but with a modified blockchain network structure and a modified algorithm. The RavenCoin R16X2 algorithm considerably disables mining with ASIC and FPGA devices, which additionally contributes to the decentralization of the project itself. But it also enables mining it with graphics cards and thus involves a larger number of participants in supporting the network itself.
8. Dogecoin
Although no one (not even its creator) imagined it would become this popular, Dogecoin proudly stands at the 46. place in the crypto world with over 356 million USD market cap. The protocol used is Scrypt with Proof of Work algorithm, which means that you don’t need all those expensive machines to mine Dogecoin.
9. Litecoin
LTC is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency. It is an open-source software project released under the MIT / X11 license, which means that there are almost no restrictions on its reuse. In its algorithm, it uses a script, a sequential function of hard memory, which requires asymptotically more memory than an algorithm that is not a hard memory. You can buy ASIC hardware, which can mine Litecoine much efficiently, but since it uses Scrypt protocol, you don’t have to. It is a quite popular coin and the one you can easily exchange on many platforms.
10. ZCash
ZCash is a smaller cryptocurrency launched in 2016 as a decentralized open-source version. Zcash works to make transactions as transparent as Bitcoin, but that transparency is private and highly selective. It is the best crypto for mining if you want to invest in a coin that has a little more privacy compared to the extreme openness and transparency that other, larger coins have.
Due to the popularity of Bitcoin in early 2010, cryptos have slowly become one of the most intriguing and innovative new ways to conduct encrypted transactions. Today, when most of our economic activity is online, digital currencies stand out as a unique method of decentralization of that process. We are all aware that the future is in virtual money, and that is why choosing the right one to invest in or mine can be very beneficial.
