Mining Profitability
There are several criteria you have to take into account before crypto mining:
- Block reward & halvings: Higher block rewards will get you more crypto when you have finished mining a block. Halvings reduce this reward to half, so you will have to do your research and determine if mining a coin that will go through a halving is still profitable to you.
- Block generation time: As the network puts out new blocks faster, the higher the chances are for you to get a block mined.
- Mining difficulty and hash rate: Mining difficulty increases based on the number of miners on the network, which makes it hard for CPU and GPU miners to make a profit in a reasonable time. You have some profitable algorithms & coins that still can be mined at a lower difficulty.
- Equipment: Your mining hardware should be based on the difficulty of the network and the required hash rate in order to efficiently mine. Of course, your budget also plays an important role here, but the rule of thumb is that the more powerful your equipment is, the faster you will mine and solve that block.
- Electricity cost: When calculating your profitability, you should also take into account the amount of electricity you will be consuming during the mining process. Electricity does not come cheap everywhere, so it can easily add up when mining non-stop and quickly put your profit in a deficit.
List of Coins to Mine in 2020
Grin (GRIN)
Grin is one of the newest coins to enter the crypto market, as it was launched at the beginning of 2019. The coin was based on the MimbleWimble consensus algorithm in order to make transactions private while transacting on the network.
Grin does not have a cap on its total supply, which might worry some miners, as it is an inflationary system. The coin uses the Cuckoo Cycle structure, which consists of two PoW algorithms: CuckARood-29 and CuckAToo-31. The first can be used to mine with GPU processors features ASIC resistance, while the second protocol is aimed specifically at ASIC mining.
The block generation time is set at 1 minute, and the reward is 60 GRIN per block. This is a decent reward considering that one coin is priced at $1.
The coin is traded on around 30 exchanges, including Poloniex, HitBTC, Bittrex, OKEx, and KuCoin. Surprisingly, it is not featured on Binance or any of its auxiliary branches.
Grin can be mined using the following Nvidia Cards: 1070, 1070ti, 1080, 1080ti, 2070, 2080, 2080ti, as well as these AMD Cards: 570, 580, Vega56, Vega64.
- Algorithm: Proof-of-Work
- Hashing function: MimbleWimble
- ROI since launch: -88,76%
- Price: $1,03
- Mining reward: 60 GRIN per block
- Block time: 1m 28s
Zcash (ZEC)
Zcash (ZeroCash) is a privacy coin that makes traders completely anonymous when transacting; thus it has attracted a lot of traders. Since its launch in 2016, the coin has managed to stay among the top 30 cryptos by market cap.
Zcash transactions come with one of the smallest network fees, which makes it ideal for trading and selling. ZEC uses the PoW Equihash hashing function, which enables the coin to be mined using GPU cards, and the algorithm is not compatible with application-specific integrated circuit chips mining.
ZEC is capped at 21 million, just like Bitcoin, so there are chances that the coin will appreciate in price, as the coins get closer to their final limit. The block reward also halves once every 4 years.
- Algorithm: Proof-of-Work
- Hashing function: Equihash
- ROI since launch: -98.62%
- Price: $54,03
- Block mining reward: 5 ZEC
- Block time: 1m 14s
Ravencoin (RVN)
Ravencoin appeared as a hard fork from BTC in 2018. Its development team has been working on adding more and more new features to this project, which will enhance its value in the long term.
Ravencoin is ideal for miners, as it makes use of the X16R algorithm and proof-of-work protocol. The X16R algorithm consists of 16 different algorithms that are used at random when mining based on the hash rate of the previous block. This randomness prevents ASIC machines from being able to mine the X16R algorithm.
You can easily use NVidia or AMD graphic cards to mine RVN. The block time is of one minute, and you get a reward of 5000 RVN, so even though RVN might have a lower price, you will still be able to make around $145 worth of RVN when you mine a block.
- Algorithm: Proof-of-Work
- Hashing function: X16R
- ROI since launch: 9.95%
- Price: $0.026636
- Block mining reward: 5,000 RVN
- Block time: 1 min
Monero (XMR)
Monero is another privacy coin that has been around for a long time. The thing is that compared to Zcash, it has transaction fees, which are 10 times higher. Nonetheless, XMR is still a popular choice for many miners and traders.
Monero constantly changes its algorithm in order to prevent ASIC mining. This means you can use GPU and CPU to mine it. The coin recently forked as planned and switched from Cryptonight V8 algorithm to the new RandomX. The RandomX proof of work algorithm is more compatible with CPUs and not GPUs, and CPUs come with a 100-1000% better value for the money compared to GPUs. The network generates 1.89 XMRs as a block reward every two minutes, which makes it profitable considering its price.
Below are some of the best CPU options for mining Monero Randomx: AMD Ryzen 9 3950X, AMD Ryzen 9 3900X, AMD Ryzen 7 3800X, AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, AMD Ryzen 5 3600, Intel Core i9-9900K, Intel Core i3-3220, Intel Core i7-8550U. XMRig is the most updated and flexible miner that is currently available to date.
- Algorithm: Proof-of-Work
- Hashing function: RandomX
- ROI since launch: 3.124,22%
- Price: $73.29
- Block mining reward: 1.89 XMR
- Block time: 2m 2s
Conclusion
These have been our suggestions for the top coins you can mine in 2020. Of course, you can choose another crypto to mine and still make a nice profit, but you will have to do the research on your own.
Featured image: Wink report