Litecoin, one of the top-5 altcoins by market cap has
Litecoin, one of the top-5 altcoins by market cap has been a major player in the crypto realm for long. The altcoin was formed in 2011 to better on the shortcomings of Bitcoin. It has succeeded in its mission to quite an extent.
Individual mining, in general, is facing one of its toughest time and the 2018 bear markets are one of the biggest contributors to the declining individual mining community. Litecoin, however, has ensured that it’s still possible to mine it using traditional methods.
Litecoin has a block time of 2.5 minutes when compared to Bitcoin’s Block time of 10 minutes, so with a right set of mining gear, you can mine Litecoin 4X faster than Bitcoin. The current block reward for Litecoin is 25 LTC.
Coming to the question of how long does it take to mine 1 LTC? The answer is little complicated as the block reward of 25 LTC can be earned with the right set of equipment every 2.5 minutes. We will look at various factors in litecoin mining to reach a conclusive time.
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Litecoin Mining
Litecoin’s main focus was to create a network similar to Bitcoin Blockchain but without the scalability issues that Bitcoin face even today. Litecoin makes use of Proof Of Work just like Bitcoin but instead of using SHA-256 hashing algorithm it makes use of Scrypt algorithm.
The major difference between the two algorithms is the use of computational power, while SHA-26 favors mining machines which have higher computational or processing power, on the contrary, Scrypt favor those machines which have a larger Random Access Memory (RAM)
Scrypt algorithm makes Litecoin easier to mine with a simple home-based PCs, while the aim for Bitcoin was similar but the increasing mining difficulty and crowded mining scene has made it impossible to make a profit with a CPU based mining rig or even GPU mining rigs.
The mining rigs have already moved into its third phase of ASIC chip based rigs, as these are most suitable and power-efficient machines. Earlier it was CPU rigs, then we moved to GPU based rigs and now finally we are at ASIC rig.
if you want to be a pro and earn good mining rewards you should opt for ASIC mining, as these are the most up-to-date technology wise and can guarantee a maximum profit.
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The mining Process
As we were discussing earlier, the mining process has become a legitimate business, and people have realized that it is one of the easiest ways to earn the crypto riches. But, since the mining scene is already crowded and mining farms have already hijacked the scene with the abundance of resources, it’s next to impossible to put in enough computational power and earn complete Block Reward.
It’s better to join a mining pool where you contribute your computational power along with a few others and whatever mining reward is earned by the group gets divided according to the computational power you have put in.
Although ASIC based mining rig can help you earn a few LTC coins, its best to join a mining pool as the initial cost of setup might be hefty.
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The Time Taken to Mine One LTC
The accurate time to mine a single LTC is not fixed and it may vary depending on the hardware you are using, the amount of time you are running the mining rig and various other factors.
- If you are using a traditional home-based CPU, it might take ages before you can earn an LTC.
- If you go for mid-range GPU mining rig, the time might be lower but still significant since the mining scene is crowded.
- If you are using the latest ASIC chip based mining rig, then you have the best chance to earn some Litecoins, and since the Block time is only 2.5 minutes you can expect to earn your first LTC in a couple of hours, given you have enough Hash Power.
- The best thing to do is join a mining pool, and contribute your mining power, so that for every block mined by your pool you earn a sure shot share in the Block Reward of 25 LTC.
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