Altcoin is an “alternative to bitcoin”, that is, any cryptocurrency other than bitcoin itself. Each of the alternative crypto-units is trying not only to copy, but also to improve some of the parameters of bitcoins. Already, there are more than 800 varieties of altcoins, most of them differ from the original very slightly, appear and disappear. But among this variety there are very interesting options that you should know about if you want to start mining cryptocurrencies.
- Why altcoins are needed
- Mine altcoins at home
- PoW and PoS – what is it?
- Putting together a “farm” for mining altcoins
- The video card is the heart of the “farm”
- Motherboard – what we collect
- Processor, memory, hard drive
- Power Supply
- Errors of beginner miners and some tricks
1. Why do we need altcoins
Those of the alternative cryptocurrencies that are at least some kind of competition with bitcoin offer the user alternative characteristics that bitcoins do not have. For example, Darkcoin provides complete anonymity of transactions, and Ripple allows you to work in the banking network. There are many other cryptocurrencies with their own unique characteristics.
- The speed of transactions on the network. Those who actively use bitcoins know that transactions sometimes take a long time. It also happens that the transaction does not occur at all. Bitcoin algorithms are designed for seven transactions per second, they cannot process any more. Until the world’s first cryptocurrency gained worldwide popularity, this was not a problem, now many altcoins are playing to correct this shortcoming. For example, Lightcoin or Ethereum have such advantages.
- Altcoin distribution technology. The easiest way to get altcoins is to sell something and receive them in payment. But it happens that, when creating a new cryptocurrency, it is simply handed out for free for advertising purposes. It is also possible to buy large amounts at a fair price during the development stage.
- Mining algorithms. Bitcoins are mined, but their mining requires very powerful and specialized equipment (ASIC miner), and these costs do not always pay off. Mining altcoins is a more promising business, but it will also require powerful video cards. However, there are altcoins that release all coins at once into use, and then mining is impossible.
2. Mine altcoins at home
The literal meaning of the term “mining” is the extraction of resources, the development of deposits of minerals, metals, etc. Bitcoins and altcoins are considered the same “deposit”, therefore a similar term is used for their “extraction”.
A set of equipment (essentially a computer, but specific) for mining is called a “farm”.
So, there are two ways of mining – mining alone and mining in pools. Speaking “at home”, you can mean both the one and the other ways:
- Mining alone is independent mining of cryptocurrency on your own (no matter how many “farms” you have at home). Nowadays, mining cryptocurrencies in this way can be ineffective.
- Mining in pools is the inclusion of a group of miners in the work. Sometimes such a group can number up to a thousand “farms”. If successful, the profit is distributed among all pool members. To work in the pool, specialized mining software is installed.
Before moving on to tips for building a “farm”, let’s understand some more specific terminology.
3. PoW and PoS – what is it?
PoW (Proof of Work) is a protocol that guarantees the security of the network with the total power of the computing equipment of those who are part of this network. Let’s remember what we said about pools above. Even before the advent of bitcoin, PoW was developed to counter DDos attacks.
In the world of cryptocurrencies, PoW is a means of protecting your wallet with altcoins or bitcoins. It is thanks to this concept that cryptocurrency transactions are safe and decentralized. This means that no regulator can tell us what and how to do with our “currency”. Every altcoin or bitcoin has been protected by the PoW protocol since its inception. With this method, for the extraction of cryptocurrencies, you will need a lot of computing power of “hardware”.
PoS (Proof of Stake)– a security protocol that supports PoW (as originally planned). However, it has become an opportunity to make money in cryptocurrency systems. This protocol looks for vulnerabilities in the system and optimizes holes. But something else is more interesting: thanks to this particular system, you can receive passive income. For example, your pool has collected a certain amount of coins, you become the holder of 0.5% of this amount, and your coins use the PoS protocol. This means that you will receive 0.5% of all mined coins just for being in your wallet. The simplest analogy is a bank account with interest. This protocol also has drawbacks: it can lead to gradual inflation of coins, but you should not be afraid of this – while this is a distant prospect. No powerful hardware is required to mine PoS cryptocurrencies. It is enough to place the wallet on a mini PC.
4. Putting together a “farm” for mining altcoins
There are only two options to build a “farm” – on video cards, in the form of a standard PC, or choose ready-made solutions created specifically for mining, which are called ASIC miners. ASIC miners are several times more efficient than self-assembly, but they are also more expensive and not suitable for anything else. Due to the instability of ailtcoins, it is dangerous to invest in highly specialized equipment, and video cards can always be sold, since the demand for them is high (not least thanks to the boom in mining). Here we will consider exactly the “farm” on video cards, since miners do not require assembly.
5. The video card is the heart of the “farm”
A video card, or rather a video card , is the most important thing in a “farm”. Accordingly, the entire configuration is assembled for them. You can use the top segment of both AMD Radeon (starting from about RX470) and NVIDIA (from 1060 models). There is no unequivocal answer to the question of which brand’s video processors are more productive. For some altcoins, AMD gives a 10-15% gain in efficiency, however, it heats up more, and the noise from the fans is also higher.
For example, for mining on the Dagger-Hashmoto algorithm (if the goal is Ethereum or Expanse mining), the main parameter of the video card will be the frequency of its own memory (MHz). The volume of 4 GB will be quite enough – it is secondary if the frequency itself is high. However, in other cases, the larger the video card’s own memory, the better. 4 GB is also the bottom line for mining.
6. Motherboard – on what we collect
The motherboard should have several connectors for video cards. For this, specialized boards are already being produced, in the name of which the word Bitcoin or BTC is present. The most important thing when choosing is that it has enough slots for video cards. If you plan, for example, to assemble a system on four video cards, then it would be good if there were six slots – maybe you want to expand the “farm” in the future. Specialized sockets can have up to 12 ports.
The second important parameter is the location of the PCI ports. These (and the graphics cards inserted into them) should be easily accessible for inspection and maintenance. There are now two types of ports – PCIex16 and PCIex1. The former are better for games, but both types are suitable for mining – it doesn’t matter here.
Cooling is one of the most important parameters. The entire system will operate continuously for many months at a time, so the cooling must be reliable.
7. Processor, memory, hard drive
All this does not directly participate in the mining process, and you can and should save on all this: we take the ones that are minimally suitable for our motherboard. 4GB of RAM and an inexpensive 320GB HDD will suffice.
8. Power supply
Another very important part of the “farm”. The block must be powerful – so that all (how many there will be) video cards work at full capacity. The total required power of the block is selected based on the sum of the capacities of the video cards plus an approximately 20 percent margin. You cannot save on this component of the “farm”.
Housing – sometimes needed
Usually “farms” for mining are assembled on racks (so they are more efficiently cooled) or in self-made cases. But there are times when a system for two or three video cards can fit into a Midi-Tower case . This is necessary if they want to disguise the “farm” as a server (to save on electricity). Here, too, it is not worth spending money – we take what is cheaper.
9. Errors of novice miners and some tricks
And now our “farm” is assembled, and you already want to start mining. But let’s take a breath and analyze the most basic mistakes of beginners:
- Credit. If you take out a loan in order to buy a mining farm, be prepared for rate jumps and the fact that you will sell “mined” at a speculative low price at a time when the exchange is in a fever – after all, you need to extinguish payments! If there is an opportunity to save up for equipment, do it better.
- Understanding the environment. No one for you will understand the intricacies of this profession (and this is already a profession, no matter who says anything). Therefore, you will have to figure it out – or your significant investment in equipment will go to waste. You need to understand: cryptocurrency is an intellectual product, and the more you know about a particular altcoin, the easier it is for you to assess the prospect of working on it.
- Patience and endurance. Your main helpers in dealing with stress during exchange rate fluctuations. It’s best if you can afford to wait for it to stabilize.
A Few Tips
- Whatever cryptocurrency you mine, it is better to keep part of your earnings in bitcoins.
- Take your time when making transactions, always check everything several times – it helps a lot.
- Keep a physical copy (printout) of important passwords. Sometimes it relieves a big headache.
Best proof of stake (PoS) Coin List 2021
1. NEO
Formerly known as Antshares, NEO is an open network for the smart economy. It is often called Ethereum Killer or sometimes the Chinese version of Ethereum. NEO is china’s first decentralized open-source crypto and blockchain platform. Despite having its own currency called NEO cryptocurrency it has one more token on its branch called GAS or ANC-Altcoins.
You can stake your GAS token on the NEO wallet for a handsome return and like other POS cryptos, it does not require you to open your staking wallet all the time. NEO provides its users with a wide range of decentralized applications. The network has mushroomed with digital identities such as fingerprints, facial recognition, and voice recognition.
By holding your NEO on the Binance exchange, you can get a reward of approximately 1.95% with a monthly and Yearly earnings of 0.0016 NEO and 0.0195 NEO respectively by holding 1 NEO. You can also stake your NEO on one of the most famous wallets i.e. Guarda Wallet and Atomic Wallet. Both the Wallets support the staking of NEO. The total reward rate of both wallets is 1.95% with 0% fees.
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2. Tezos (XTZ)
It can be considered as one of the best staking cryptos when it comes to the yearly interest. Tezos is the new and most famous blockchain project from the Tezos blockchain. With an incredible rise of $232 million during the ICO, it could imagine that the crypto got some power to hold.
The crypto is open participation for the public with a long term upgradeability. Tezos offers smart contact technology. Tezos has some unique and amazing features. It provides modern blockchain with innovation and many features such as LPOS.
It is very easy to stake Tezos. The staking fees of Tezos on Binance is 0%, Where Coinbase is taking 25% of staking you do with them. There are two ways on Binance where you can stake you Tezos. You can either bake your Tezos with an annual reward of 6.20% or you can delegate Tezos with an annual Reward of 5.50%. The same percentage reward goes to MyCointainer, Guarda Wallet when it comes to staking your coin.
3. DASH
DASH is a popular digital cash cryptocurrency. When it comes to implementing the proof of stake consensus mechanism on a foundation basis, it holds the origin. It’s the unique bitcoin base cryptocurrency with extra privacy and fast transactional features just like InstantSand and PrivateSand. This crypto recognizes itself as a decentralized electronic currency on a peer to peer basis and aims to be as transparent as actual cash that we use in real life like GBP/USD/INR or EUR.
You can earn dividends through running a master node by holding your DASH. But to run a master node, you need an average of 1000 DASH units, and 1 Unit costs you an approximation of $300 in price. That a big game though!
If you have a significant amount of DASH units, you can stake them famous crypto wallets like Guarda wallet, atomic wallet, MyCointainer wallet, and Ledger wallet with an annual reward of 5.72% with yearly earnings of 57.2474 DASH by holding 1,000 DASH units. Binance and Coinbase also support the staking of DASH with an annual reward rate of 5.72%
4. QTUM
QTUM is a cryptocurrency open-source network created and persisted by the QTUM project. This is a decentralized blockchain technology network which can operate smart contracts with proof of stake authorization through virtual machines. It is the hybrid of Ethereum and bitcoin which still has its POS dimension. QTUM is a kind of blend of both blockchains, takes the best parts of both the blockchains, and gives us the best mixture of both of them in the real world.
It is as strong technologically as any other network on the market. QTUM is focused on two of the world’s most popular cryptocurrencies. It also offers its customers the tools provided by Bitcoin and Ethereum to boost them! To run the Ethereum smart contracts on QTUM, it uses Ethereum virtual machines. This is an incredible functionality of the coin. Ethereum decentralized application can also be ported to QTUM with the help of the strongest developer community of the Ethereum network.
Want to know how to stake QTUM? Well, you can earn an annual reward of 6.00% by staking your coin on Binance, MyCointainer and Coinbase exchange. Various other wallets like the atomic wallet and Guarda also support the staking of QTUM with an annual reward of 6% with no fees.
5. CUTcoin (CUT)
CUTcoin is a very ambitious project but the simplest way to describe it is to say that it’s simply digital cash. It acquired this quality by having the advanced and real-life tested encryption protection incorporated in its blockchain (including RingCT, Bulletproofs, and so on) so that every transaction done on the platform can be regarded as a digital cash transaction. Wallet balances, transaction amount, sender, and receiver are private by default on the blockchain. It’s a privacy cryptocurrency but unlike Monero (it’s used some Monero cryptography), it’s built on eco-friendly Proof of Stake consensus.
CUTcoin’s Proof of Stake consensus is the first in history to keep the total amount of coins even in staking wallets completely concealed. It’s a default state that protects the financial privacy of its users as their basic human right. Users can buy any amount of CUT and stake it immediately, in their wallet or through CUTcoin’s Staking pool and earn interest on their stake, which is currently around 25% per year, credited daily.
6. Cosmos (ATOM)
Cosmos (ATOM) considers itself the most individualized, decentralized, efficient, and interoperable blockchain platform. This is a decentralized network of Tendermint and Byzantine fault sensitive algorithms operated by decentralized blockchains.
It uses a DPoS, where delegators and validators operate. A method called delegated proof of stake (DPoS). The delegates must determine which validators should be engaged and the validators must verify transactions and add new chains. All parties can receive staking bonuses currently paying in ATOM but may use the token of any blockchain added to the network.
Cosmos is still a very popular project and ATOM is currently the 25th biggest market capitalization cryptocurrency in the world. The cryptocurrency is fantastic, so if the dream for the “World of Blockchain” can be executed effectively, staking rewards can be paid in a variety of other cryptocurrencies. It is currently standing an annual reward of 8.32% on both Coinbase and Binance exchanges. It can also be staked with the same average of annual reward in MyCointainer, Atomic Wallet and Ledger Live.
7. PIVX
Can be abbreviated as Private Instant Verification Transaction, PIVX is a cryptocurrency that mainly focuses on security and privacy while you make a transaction. It was dissolved from the DASH in early 2016 and is a fully functioning POS currency, allowing its consumers to deposit coins with a fair return on the blockchain. Another noteworthy thing is that it’s a good low-entry barrier, and you can stake any amount and there is no limit on it.
There is another way to earn through PIVX by running the units of approx. 10,000 units on the master node. It offers a 5% total return on your investment. This a big opportunity for those who have a significant amount of PIVX units by staking the units on the master node right now.
You can set-up your master node or you can stake your coin on different wallets and exchanges. You can neither stake your coins on MyCointainer, Binance and Coinbase nor can you either put them on different wallets like Ledger Live, Atomic Wallet, and Guarda Wallet. There are 3 easy ways through which you can stake your coin on these above-mentioned wallets and exchanges. Have a look!
8. Lisk (LSK)
A blockchain-based LISK framework helps anyone to build decentralized apps (DApps) on their network. It provides developers, investors, and project designers the ability to build side chains. Sidechains are the apps where the base of the app is built on the Lisk blockchain. Lisk is has a very user-friendly interface that is based on JavaScript. Lisk is accessible from Bit-Z, OKEx, Kucoin, for staking purposes.
LSK or Lisk coin is the currency name of the Lisk, which is primarily used in the decentralized applications on the Lisk main chain itself. Talking about bitcoin and others, it is not a currency like that where it could be used by merchants as a payment gateway, but it is used as a currency for developers who use the network or wish to use.
You can stake your Lisk coin on different exchange and wallets like Coinbase and Atomic Wallet with a percentage of the annual reward of 1.61% by using vote for delegates or by running a delegate node with an Annual Reward of 5.24%
9. Stellar (XLM)
Stellar is a shared network that enables people to transfer assets worldwide efficiently, quickly, and comfortably. It is designed to link banks, payments networks, and citizens and helps you “speedily, efficiently and for fractions of a centaur,” to transfer money across borders. Briefly, it wishes for faster, easier, and smoother cross-border transfers than it does with the current bank and transfer systems.
Stellar is both a distributed payment network that focuses on simple and affordable transfers across borders and also a forum to host ICOs. The Stellar network was founded in 2014 and has a digital currency of its own, named the Lumen (XLM), which is very important for allowing foreign transfers and for quick transactions between different currencies.
You can store Lumen XLM in a range of wallets and exchanges including the Ledger live wallet, on Coinbase exchange, and Binance exchange. You can vote for a staking pool on the above-mentioned exchanges and wallets by getting an annual reward of 1%. This means that by investing 1,000 XLM units you can get yearly earnings of 10 XLM.
10. Ontology (ONT/ONG)
Ontology is a blockchain network built to support other blockchains, both public and private so that businesses can take advantage of their technological advancements. It provides companies the ability to either save data privately or publicly through the ONT blockchain targeting businesses. Da HongFei and Erik Zhang co-founded the company, and are the founders of the NEO blockchain.
There are two tokens on the Ontology platform: ONT and NGO tokens. These two tokens have different functionality. You can buy ONT on common cryptocurrency exchanges including Binance, Huobi, OKEx, Bibox, etc. The ONT token cannot, however, be purchased with fiat, and before exchanging it with ONT, fiat must be converted to a known crypto coin.
There are different cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets where you can stake your ONT coins and can earn a part by holding your coin on exchanges. Currently, Guarda wallet and Ledger Live wallet are supporting the ONT/ONG with an annual reward of 7.3% annual reward.
11. Algorand (ALGO)
Algorand a blockchain network built with its open, legitimate public blockchain to build a borderless economy. In other terms, Algorand needs an ecosystem that enables everybody to be active and productive. This model is based around the fundamental concepts of usability, instant transfers, simple usage and deployment, and performance.
Algorand’s protocol is designed to accelerate. Theoretically, by asserting blocks in only one round of voting the developers have achieved optimum performance. This enables the block to instantly finalized and significantly improves the network’s transactions per second. With a dramatic increase in speed, the mainnet can handle 1000 transactions per second with a delay of a maximum of 5 sec per transaction.
Though ALGO is categorized on Binance, The coin is part of many other markets, such as Huobi Global, OKEx, Coinbase Plus, and BitMEX. The investors can earn passive income via staking their crypto on Binance. You can stake you Algorand o Binance and can get up to 5.79% annual reward. It means that if you invest a minimum of 1 ALOG, you can earn 0.0579 ALOG by the end of the Year.
12. VET (Vechain)
Vechain is one of the largest network ventures in the supply chain. The coin made into the list of best staking coins of 2020. Since their main-net debut, they get a lot of coverage. The mainnet launch saw their native VET tokens launched, with a growing influx across a range of exchanges. The use of blockchain technologies is an important turning point for VeChain. It has mainly focused on business applications. Starting in 2015 and is mainly based on logistics through supply chain management, including monitoring, quality assurance, inventory management, and much more. Mostly works towards enabling smart transactions, VET can be easily drawn comparison with NEO and Ethereum.
There are two coins that Vechain approaches VET and BTHO. The master node holds VTHO for the staking of VETs. BET is the fuel of the Vechain while Vet is the owner of the blockchain. Vechain makes staking more efficient and simple with a sleek mobile app.
The VET token is classified in a wide range of exchanges. This includes LAToken, OceanEx, and most importantly Binance. The volume of VET token on these exchanges is much higher than I have seen for other coins on market cap. There are 5 options through which you can stake your VET coin on Binance. Of them all, the most rewarding is by running an Authority node. You can earn an average of an annual reward of 3.17% by staking your VET coin. The lowest annual reward is 1.87% which is by holding Vechain.
13. Livepeer
It’s mainly a marketplace between the distributors of video streaming (the demand side) and the app developers. Developers can incorporate Livepeer onto their apps by installing its node, can run the Livepeer media server, and also can fund their account through Ethereum. So far, on Livepeer no more than 100 events have been broadcasted.
The project aims to increase the reliability of video while reducing the costs to scale them. They support p2p infrastructure secured by Ethereum blockchain that interacts through a marketplace. the token that Livepeer uses is LPT. When the new LPT is created, the total number of existing LPTs increases as a whole. This means that the value of your LPT will is decreasing compared to the network as a whole.
Currently, there are 2 options through which you can earn a passive profit. You can either Delegate Livepper by getting an annual reward of 21.92% on Binance and MyCointainer or you can run a Transcoder Node, which can get you an annual reward of 24.36%. The same percentage of reward goes for Atomic wallet, as you can also stake your LPT on atomic wallet and Ledger Live.
14. TRON
Tron is a shared network platform intended to create a worldwide, open digital entertainment infrastructure using blockchain and distributed storage technologies. Any consumer can freely post, save, and own data via the protocol. Tron is a currency, in short, which rewards you for your content and is one of the foremost reasons for buying Tron.
It surged to its top ten in a brief span of one year propelled by massive investor and an energetic team headed by influential creator and CEO Justin Sun, becoming the 10TH biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. The biggest benefit of using Tron crypto is that you allow artists and content owners to own their work. Tron heads a campaign, which can be branded as the Third Internet by others. This may sound revolutionary, but it will utilize the Internet as originally intended
You can stake your TRON on one of the biggest names in wallets and exchanges named Binance, Ledger Live, MyCointainer, and Atomic Wallet. There is one commonality in all of these exchanges and wallets. They all offer you the same percentage of reward by staking your coin. There are 3 different options and the most profitable is by Vote a super representative, which can earn you an annual reward of 3.34% with a fee of 20.00%. Other methods are by running a super representative candidate node with an annual reward of 3.02% and last but not the least by running a super representative node which can benefit you with an annual reward of 3.28%.
15. EOS
It is relatively considered as the most profitable proof of stake coin. Talking about the EOS.IO network protocol, EOS is the native cryptocurrency of this protocol. It was launched in 2017 and earned a whopping $4 billion in June 2018. The firm is a fairly young business. EOSIO promises to overcome the significant problems of Bitcoin and Ethereum. Those involve the development of an open and accessible framework for quicker, easier, and simplified decentralized applications.
Roughly, EOS has a market capitalization of nearly $2.5 billion, placing the coin on CoinMarketCap in the top 10. Two key methods can be used by a crypto trader or an investor to claim EOS tokens. One is by the mining of coins and the most common is the effective trading of crypto on different exchanges and wallets.
The coin is listed on the famous exchanges and Wallets that can be named as Binance, Guarda Wallet, Atomic Wallet, Coinbase and MyCointainer. You can earn a profit by staking your EOS through running a Block Producer with an annual reward of 1.74% or by running a standby Block Producer with an Annual Reward of 1.76%
