The Most Promising Mineable Coins in 2018

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The most promising minable coins in 2018

Whether you are new to cryptocurrency / digital currency speculations or have been in the know for years, there is no doubt that the industry is experiencing exponential growth. The interest in crypto mining, coin trading and usage to pay for goods and services has never been higher.Blockchain applications are being developed which will take the industry to levels never envisaged.

After the market explosion at the end of 2018 and the bumpy start in Q1 2018, many are asking how to invest their time in the best way, resources and cold hard cash to avoid both scammers claiming to sell “cloud mining services” and a volatile market with significant price fluctuations. In this article, we will be looking at the most promising coins to mine in 2018.

For cryptocurrencies to become universal, we are sure you will agree that any digital currency will need to focus on three key capabilities to thrive in blockchain competition:

          a. Ability to exchange/trade/buy goods and services
b. The volatility of the coin price and manipulation by whales
c. The speed of settlement/scalability of service

  1. Bitcoin (BTC) – Bitcoin is the where the industry started and remains the benchmark against which all other cryptocurrencies are measured.  

  • Why watch Bitcoin:  Market innovation with the Lightning and other proposals to remove historical transactions will help improve settlement times for sending and receiving coins.  Although scalability may always be a limiting factor, the speed of response improvements will ensure that Bitcoin is a major player, and therefore one of the safer bets in the market.  For now, pair trading comparisons will ensure that this is the one to check first and last when trading.  Current expert project forecast anything from a 2018 drop by 1/3 its current market value to a value of $250k / bitcoin.  Now is the best time to decide if you mine and hold.
  • How to mine Bitcoin:  ASIC and cloud-based services are the only viable options for Bitcoin mining.  MinerGate provides a trusted Bitcoin cloud-based service – eliminating the need to invest in technologies with limited lifespans.  MinerGate offers a cloud-based service, all you need to do is to log into the website and set up your plan.

MinerGate BTC cloud mining

Configurator of the BTC cloud mining plan

  2. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) – Bitcoin Cash was implemented as a “fork” of Bitcoin to deal with transactional settlement response times.

  • Why watch Bitcoin Cash:  If you are watching Bitcoin, it makes $cents to watch Bitcoin Cash as well.  Watch BCH/BTC as a relative value – this has risen spectacularly recently, giving weight to the market view that BTC/BCH will always be a safe bet.
  • How to mine Bitcoin Cash:  As with Bitcoin, ASIC and cloud-based services are the only viable ways to mine BCH.

  3. Bytecoin (BCN) – Bytecoin was the first cryptocurrency based on CryptoNote technology to enable anonymous cash settlement (e.g. cannot be traced through the blockchain).

  • Why watch Bytecoin:  For many cryptocurrency users, anonymity is a key factor, BCN has a solution.  The market has not evaluated the value digital currency users will place on this.  Today, one can only imagine that this will be an upwards trend, providing significant % increases in the value of coins mined.
  • How to mine Bytecoin:  Because Bytecoin is based on CryptoNote technology, you can mine via CPU/GPU (or both) – you can also efficiently mine on smaller devices – tablets, smartphones – basically anything that downloads the MinerGate GUI or the console miner.

MinerGate GUI miner

  4. Siacoin (SC):  Hailed as the next Bitcoin by some, Siacoin’s price hovers below $0.03 for now.

  • Why watch Siacoin:  Speculation of thousand % returns aside, the key to Sia’s future value is the belief that in future online storage space will be a fraction of the market cost on Sia’s servers.  Since the only way to buy space is to pay in Sia, it will always have inherent value.
  • How to mine Siacoin: Until early 2017, GPU mining was viable.  With the introduction of ASICs capable of running the Blake (2b) algorithm, this is the most effective route for now.  We expect cloud-based mining to be popular as the profit per day drops so low that it will not recover the cost of buying an ASIC.

  5. Litecoin (LTC): Often described as the silver to Bitcoin’s gold, Litecoin has stumbled a bit over the last few months.

  • Why watch Litecoin: Setting aside projections that LTC values will double / triple/quadruple by year-end, the key ingredient for LTC is the faith the market and businesses alike have in its founder, Charlie Lee.
  • How to mine Litecoin:  If you are in it for the money, an ASIC is the best option.  If you want to learn how it works, you might want to check out the Moonlander 2– you won’t make much, but you will many of the basics without having to fork out a large sum of money to get started.  MinerGate offers the ability to mine LTC via the console miner.

Litecoin profitability calculation

  6. Monero (XMR) and Monero Original (XMO): Monero is often the most profitable coin for standard PC/GPU mining.  Monero’s fork to use the Cryptonight7 algorithm is a key step to see off ASIC mining take over.  Monero Original is steadily gaining value.

  • Why watch Monero / Monero Original:  Monero has been a dominant player ensuring transaction privacy.  Monero has also changed the algorithm to reduce the threat of cryptonight ASICs to dominate the mining community.  Since the fork, Monero Original has steadily gained in value, and although there are currently five variants retaining the blockchain, they are likely to consolidate.
  • How to mine Monero:  As noted above for Bitcoin, you can use cloud-based mining from the MinerGate website. MinerGate also offers a GUI interface and console mining for both Monero and Monero Original, putting even the most basic Android/windows device to work. The MinerGate GUI integrates CPU/GPU mining through either their GUI miner or through the console miner.

Mobile Minergate Miner for Monero

7. Ethereum (ETH):  Ethereum through the Ethereum Alliance have been out of the mainstream news – until the breaking news that the Korean peace agreement has been recorded on the Ethereum blockchain.

  • Why watch Ethereum: Ethereum has been near the top of the list to watch for some time.  The Ethereum Alliance will ensure that it continues to innovate. Look out for powerful ASIC miners and any impact on the mining community and Ethereum’s coin value.
  • How to mine Ethereum: CPU/GPU mining is possible, and there are a few ASIC miners. Minergate offers the ability to integrate CPU/GPU mining via the Minergate GUI- check out Tech Radar’s guide on how to mine Ethereum.

MinerGate Ethereum mining

So, there you have it for this week – 7 coins to mine.  MinerGate enables your entry into the cryptocurrency world – providing options for almost every conceivable platform.

Here is the complete list of all available crypto coins for mining via MinerGate.

List of MinerGate supported coins