More and more people are becoming interested in cryptocurrencies. Budding crypto miners seek information on how to mine cryptos, hoping to make a passive, automated income from their laptops at home. But mining cryptocurrencies is not easy, and there is much misinformation online for the amateur crypto miner.
People want to know if they can mine Litecoin on their android phone or mine Litecoin via an iOS device. We will find out later if you can mine Litecoin on mobile devices.
So, how about mining Litecoin? How easy is it to mine Litecoin, and is mining Litecoin profitable? Compared to mining Bitcoin, it's a lot less complex and expensive to mine Litecoin. But there is still a lot to learn about how to mine Litecoin.
It can be profitable to mine Litecoin, but in this guide, we will weigh up the pros and cons of mining Litecoin, so you can make an informed decision before you begin mining Litecoin.
In this guide, you will find out if it is worth mining Litecoin. You will discover the similarities and the differences between mining Litecoin and Bitcoin and how long it takes to mine 1 Litecoin. You will learn how to cloud mine Litecoin, the costs of setting up to mine Litecoin and the potential rewards of mining Litecoin.
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Contents
- What Is Litecoin?
- What Is Litecoin Mining?
- Is Litecoin Mining The Same as Bitcoin Mining?
- How to Start Mining Litecoin
- What do I Need to Start Mining Litecoin?
- How do I Choose a Litecoin Mining Pool?
- Cloud Mining Litecoin
- Recap of How to Mine Litecoin
- FAQ
What Is Litecoin?
In 2011, a former Google employee, Charlie Lee, set up Litecoin (LTC) as a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency. Litecoin was based on Bitcoins original source code. The purpose of Litecoin was to be more efficient and provide lower-cost transactions. Bitcoin has a low coin finite market cap limit of 21 million BTC, but Litecoin has a coin limit market cap of 84 million coins.
Litecoin is the network, and LTC is the coin. Litecoin is the #24 listed cryptocurrency with a market cap of $9.3 billion, and today's LTC price is $134.66. Earlier in 2021, Litecoin reached a new high of over $400. So it is still worth mining Litecoin at the current low price?
Litecoin (LTC) is a decentralised digital currency that uses blockchain technology (a digital ledger that records all Litecoin transactions) via open-source protocol for transactions between businesses or individuals. As with all digital currencies, Litecoin is unrestricted by censorship, government intervention or control
What Is Litecoin Mining?
Litecoin currently operates with proof of work (PoW) consensus, which means that Litecoin miners secure each transaction block to the existing blockchain. When the blockchain secures a block of LTC, it releases new units of LTC, and miners can put these LTC back into the market. Thus LTC miners help to validate and secure the network.
Is Litecoin Mining The Same As Bitcoin Mining?
Bitcoin mining has become increasingly complex and expensive. When Bitcoin mining first started, the difficulty level was 1. Now, mining Bitcoin is so tough that the difficulty level is multiple trillions.
The costs of mining Bitcoin are prohibitive because it is no longer possible to mine Bitcoin on a home computer. Superior computer power is necessary with ASIC technology to mine Bitcoin and, for many Bitcoin miners, it's no longer a financially viable proposition. Unsurprisingly, miners are looking for lower energy, cost-effective and profitable opportunities to mine cryptocurrencies.
What are the Similarities between Litecoin and Bitcoin?
- Both Litecoin and Bitcoin use proof of work (PoW) consensus for mining. Indeed, Litecoin is a fork of the Bitcoin blockchain network
- Every four years, the Litecoin block reward halves. In summer 2019, Litecoin split from 25 to 12.5 Litecoin miner rewards. It will halve to 6.25 rewards in 2023.
The similarities between Litecoin and Bitcoin end there.
What are the Differences Between Litecoin and Bitcoin?
There are quite a few differences between Litecoin and Bitcoin:
- It is cheaper and quicker to mine Litecoin than Bitcoin
- You don't need expensive, powerful computer power to mine Litecoin
- Litecoin transactions are around four times faster than Bitcoin. Bitcoin blocks are processed every ten minutes. Litecoin processes approximately every two and a half minutes
- Litecoin transaction fees are lower than Bitcoin transaction fees
- Bitcoin rewards are 6.25 BTC at today's $43,000, and Litecoin rewards are 12.5 LTC, currently priced at $140.
How To Start Mining Litecoin
If you plan to start mining Litecoin, you have two choices:
- Become an independent Litecoin Miner – you do the work and keep all the rewards
- Join a Litecoin pool – share costs, resources and rewards with other miners in the pool
Let's weigh up the pros and cons of solo mining Litecoin or joining a Litecoin pool.
Firstly, if you decide to become a solo Litecoin miner, you get to keep all the rewards. Great, yes, but you have the electricity costs to stump up by yourself. You are relying on the stability of your setup to mine Litecoin. What happens if your Litecoin mining rig goes down if a power cut occurred, for instance?
A benefit of joining a Litecoin mining pool is you get to share the costs of mining Litecoin. A bonus is that you may likely get more frequent rewards, even though you share Litecoin rewards with the Litecoin pool. You may have to pay entry fees to join a Litecoin pool, but the increased odds of getting Litecoin rewards probably balances that fee.
Check Out: 5 Reasons Why Litecoin Could Double Your Money
Crypto asset investing is highly volatile and unregulated in some EU countries. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.
What Do I need To Start Mining Litecoin?
Whether you mine Litecoin as a solo miner or in a Litecoin mining pool, you will need a GPU or CPU with reasonable computing power. If you can rise to the expense, you might consider an ASIC, mining hardware typically used for mining Bitcoin. Prices for an ASIC vary from $1000 upwards to $10,000 or more.
Consider how long it could take to recoup the costs of an ASIC, though. If you received a Litecoin reward today as a solo Litecoin miner, you would receive 12.5 x $134, which is less than $2,300, and that's not taking into account the costs of running your Litecoin mining rig.
To run a Litecoin mining rig, you need Litecoin mining software. You can find unique online open-source, Front-end GUI or CPU software for mining Litecoin. If you join a Litecoin mining pool, you may get advice from members on the best software to use for mining Litecoin.
How Do I Choose A Litecoin Mining Pool?
Finding the right Litecoin pool is essential for long-term profitability. The below list are all pay-per-share pools. Few cryptocurrency mining pools are Litecoin specific, and most of them mine other crypto coins
- LTC top – fees 0% -2%
- Antpool – fees 1% - 4%
- F2pool – fees 4%
- LitecoinPool.org – 0% - 1%
- ViaBTC – fees 2% - 4%
Read the online reviews for the Litecoin pool and decide which Litecoin mining pool is best for your needs. The fees are variable, so take that into account when comparing potential profitability for mining Litecoin.
Check on the Litecoin mining pools rules, regulations and withdrawal thresholds before committing to joining a Litecoin mining pool.
Finally, you need a secure cryptocurrency wallet to store your Litecoin safely. Some cryptocurrency pools have a built-in crypto wallet, but you may consider it best to use an external crypto wallet for your security. That way, should something go awry with the pool, such as a hacker attack, your Litecoin is protected.
Litecoin mining pool rewards are deposited automatically to your crypto wallet.
Cloud Mining Litecoin
Buying expensive computer gear to set up a Litecoin mining rig can be daunting, so there is another option for mining Litecoin. You can cloud mine Litecoin and save yourself the cost and work involved in mining Litecoin.
What is Cloud Mining Litecoin?
In simple terms, you rent a data centre's hash power. You eliminate the need for the initial cost of setting up your mining rig, and you remove the expense and technical complexities of running a Litecoin rig.
In some countries, the cost of electricity prohibits the viability of running a Litecoin mining rig. In these situations, cloud mining Litecoin is more financially viable as it removes you from the expense and the work involved in running a Litecoin Mining rig.
How do I find a Cloud Mining Service?
Beware of the plethora of crypto scams online. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true. Only sign up to mine Litecoin with a reputable cloud mining company to protect your Litecoin. These expert companies know how to mine Litecoin and return regular LTC rewards.
The following three Cloud mining companies offer cloud mining for various cryptos, including Litecoin. Before committing your Litecoin to a cloud mining service, check out the online reviews, fees and terms and conditions because there are pros and cons with each cloud mining organisation.
- Genesis Mining – established in 2013
- Mining Rig Rentals – established in 2014
- Nicehash – established in 2014
You are paying these cloud mining companies to do the hard work with their crypto mining hardware. Your contribution rewards are Litecoin (LTC). You will likely earn fewer rewards than if you mined Litecoin as a solo miner or shared rewards with a Litecoin mining pool. But, you don't have the associated costs of running a solo Litecoin mining rig or the membership fees of a Litecoin mining pool.
Read Also: Will Litecoin Make Me Rich in 10 Years?
Crypto asset investing is highly volatile and unregulated in some EU countries. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.
Recap Of How To Mine Litecoin
In this article, we explored how to mine Litecoin?
Litecoin is the #16 listed coin by market cap, so it is pretty high up there out of 10,000 cryptocurrencies. Considering Litecoin started in 2011, it hasn't achieved great accolades in ten years. LTC made a new high of over $400 in May 2021. But the price of LTC dropped back to around 66% of the high, and today is around $134.
Some crypto industry experts suggest the price of Litecoin could reach as high as $5,000 by 2025. With its current price movements, this outcome seems unlikely. But, many times, Bitcoin has demonstrated that even crypto experts cannot predict the crazy price movements of cryptocurrencies.
At around $134 a coin, with LTC rewards of 12.5 for successful mining, the rewards of mining Litecoin seem minuscule compared to mining Bitcoin. But, if the price of LTC did ramp up to almost $2,000, it starts to look financially viable for Litecoin miners.
It's not as expensive to mine LTC as it is to mine BTC, but you still require a decent GPU or CPU, and there are the costs of electricity to run your mining rig. An alternative is to join a reputable Litecoin mining pool, sharing the resources and the rewards. As an option for mining Litecoin, it's likely you could earn more frequent LTC rewards working as a team than if you worked as a solo miner for Litecoin.
If neither of these options appeals, another direction is to cloud mine Litecoin. You can join an online cloud mining company that does all of the work for a fee.
Looking at the Litecoin website, there appear to be no discussions on a future transition to proof of stake (PoS) protocol. PoS is a preferable option in many ways because it doesn't rely on miners, and no costly equipment is needed. You simply buy a stake in the coin and earn rewards for helping to secure the network. As we see with the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade to PoS, such a transition is time-consuming, especially whilst still running a PoW protocol.
Mining Bitcoin is crazy challenging, but the rewards for solving the hash problem still make it worth the effort. 6.25 BTC at today's price of $43,000 = $268,750.
12.50 LTC at today's price of $134 = $1,675
Figure out if you think it is worth the effort to mine Litecoin. It may undoubtedly be easier to mine Litecoin than Bitcoin, but unless the price of Litecoin heads up to over $1000, the rewards are negligible.
After reading this guide on how to mine Litecoin, you may decide it isn't for you. You don't have to mine Litecoin to make profits from Litecoin. You can still be involved with Litecoin as a cryptocurrency.
One option for Litecoin is day trading Litecoin, buying and selling and making profits from the daily price fluctuations. Currently, the cryptocurrency markets are somewhat static so wait until liquidity and volatility improve.
If day trading Litecoin isn't viable, another option is buying and holding Litecoin as an investment (HODL). If the crypto experts predictions are correct, buying Litecoin at $134 (or less) could be financially lucrative in time if the price increases to $1,340 or higher.
There are no guarantees for profiting from cryptocurrencies, and it's advisable only to risk what you can comfortably afford to lose.
Please note that the above information is not providing advice on tax, investment, or financial services. We provide the above information without consideration for risk tolerance and a specific investor's financial circumstances.
Trading or investing in financial instruments such as cryptos may not be suitable for all investors. It does involve risk and the possibility of a loss of capital.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Trading Education.
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Crypto asset investing is highly volatile and unregulated in some EU countries. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.
FAQs
How Long Does it Take to Mine 1 Litecoin?
If you have a powerful hardware mining device, it takes around 45 days to mine 1 Litecoin. Depending on the difficulty of the blocks, a good setup can commit a single block to the Litecoin blockchain in approximately two and a half minutes. The greater the difficulty, the longer it takes, but a mined block releases 25 Litecoin.
Is Litecoin Mining Profitable in 2022?
The profitability of Litecoin mining depends on many factors. When Litecoin halved in the summer of 2019, many Litecoin miners gave up mining Litecoin. The price was similar then to today's price of around $134. A reward of $3,600 for 25 Litecoin came down to 12.5 Litecoin at $1,800, and miners began to question if it is worth mining Litecoin.
As a solo Litecoin miner, you have the setup costs and running costs, which could equal or exceed one reward of 12.5 Litecoin. So, to make Litecoin mining profitable, you need multiple Litecoin rewards to exceed running costs.
If the price of Litecoin rises, naturally, the rewards are monetarily higher. But, in a year, in summer 2023, when Litecoin splits again, Litecoin rewards are reduced to 6.25 for a further four years.
The price of Litecoin hasn't changed much in the last few years. It rose from March 2020 to cumulate at a high of $408 in May 2021. But since then the price has drifted back to the low of the beginning of the year.
Before committing to mining Litecoin, measure up the pros and cons of mining Litecoin. At today's price, the profitability of mining Litecoin is significantly less than a few months ago.
Can Litecoin make you rich?
There are many variables to consider with Mining Litecoin. It is unlikely to make you rich unless you have vast quantities of Litecoin to mine or decide to invest in Litecoin and the price rockets.
Is Litecoin worth Mining?
Only you can decide if it is worth mining Litecoin. You have three options:
- Solo mine Litecoin
- Join a Litecoin Mining Pool
- Join a cloud mining company for mining Litecoin
All three options involve cost, although option #1 is the most expensive because you need to set up a mining rig. With option #2, there are fees to pay for joining a Litecoin mining pool and rewards are shared between members and the same for option #3.
Also, consider that you only collect 12.5 Litecoin rewards for mining, and in 2023, the LTC rewards halve to 6.25. If the price of Litecoin rises considerably, it could be worth mining Litecoin. But, weighing up the costs at today's LTC prices, it's debatable if it is worth mining Litecoin.
Can I mine Litecoin on my Android phone or iPhone?
Mining Litecoin requires significant processing power. But, that aside, Google and Apple do not allow mining on Android phones or iOS hardware. In January 2021, Google stated, 'We don't allow apps that mine cryptocurrency on devices.'
Does Litecoin have a future?
Litecoin transactions are around four times faster than Bitcoin, and transaction fees are nominal compared with Bitcoin fees.
Could Litecoin eventually overtake Bitcoin? It would seem unlikely with other cryptos already using proof of stake (PoS) consensus, which is faster, more efficient and less energy-demanding than proof of work (PoW) protocols
The market cap is still relatively small for Litecoin. But as the #16 listed cryptocurrency, it is making headway against thousands of other cryptocurrencies.
How many Litecoins are left?
Bitcoin set the market cap at 21 million Bitcoin with 18,921,475 BTC in circulation.
Litecoin is capped at 84 million and currently has 69,354,632.02 LTC in circulation.