As cryptocurrencies increase in popularity it also becomes increasingly difficult to mine them, even the altcoins that are smaller than Bitcoin or Ethereum.
Because of this mining pools have grown in popularity, and you can find mining pools for pretty much any minable coin, and that includes everyone’s favorite meme coin – Dogecoin.
If you aren’t too familiar with mining pools it might be difficult to decide which one to use when mining Dogecoin, but I have your back covered. In this article you can learn which are the best Dogecoin mining pools if you want to be secure and profitable.
Dogecoin Basics
Dogecoin was launched in December 2013, and was based on the popular internet meme featuring a Shiba dog. The creator intended Dogecoin to be an alternative to Bitcoin that could potentially reach a much larger demographic, but it has since become more of cryptocurrencies tip jar, with cryptocurrency enthusiasts often using Dogecoin as a way to tip fellow users online.
It’s interesting to note that Dogecoin, which began as a joke, is now the 37th largest coin by market capitalization, and has a market cap of more than $430 million. In January 2018 Dogecoin hit its highest all-time level with a market cap of over $2 billion. Because it remains popular within the cryptocurrency ecosystem, it is also popular with miners.
Mining Dogecoin
Dogecoin is different from Bitcoin because it uses the Scrypt algorithm. Litecoin is another cryptocurrency using the Scrypt algorithm, and while this makes Dogecoin different from Bitcoin, it is also similar because it still uses Proof of Work as its consensus mechanism, and this means anyone wishing to mine Dogecoin needs a computer capable of doing so.
Because Dogecoin is based on the Scrypt algorithm the Scrypt ASIC miners used for Litecoin can also be used to mine Dogecoin, however this isn’t too common since mining Litecoin with the expensive ASIC rigs is often more profitable. In fact, these days most Dogecoin mining is simply a by-product of Litecoin mining. Rather than mining Dogecoin directly you are able to "merge" mine, which lets you mine both Litecoin and Dogecoin without any decrease in your hash rate.
Because the difficulty of mining Dogecoin has increased so much in 2018 the only way to really compete is to join a Dogecoin mining pool.
A mining pool simply combines the hashing power of all the members, making it far more likely for the pool to be able to solve a block and receive the block reward. That reward is then split between the members of the mining pool, allowing the pool members to generate revenue in a faster and more consistent manner.
Before you join any mining pool, and this includes Dogecoin mining pools, you should investigate to see how the pool calculates rewards for its members, what fees the pool takes, how secure the pool is, where the pool servers are located, and how much hashing power the pool holds.
You might also look into whether the pool is specific to Dogecoin, or if it also allows mining other crytpocurrencies. Pools that mine a variety of cryptocurrencies can provide some flexibility for miners, allowing them to switch to a more profitable coin if necessary. To get an idea how profitable your Dogecoin mining might be you can use a mining profitability calculator such as this one, which will also let you compare other Scrypt based coins to know which one is currently the most profitable to mine.
Pool fees are fairly standard, and you won’t find much variation there, but the payment methods can differ, so you should understand the difference between Pay Per Share (PPS), Pay Per Share Plus (PPS+) and Pay Per Last “N” Shares (PPLNS) payment schemes before you commit to a mining pool.
Best Dogecoin Mining Pools for 2019
Now that I’ve gotten all the background out of the way, here is a list of the four best Dogecoin mining pools for you to consider. I’ll give you some of the top benefits, and let you know any serious downsides, but you should also visit each site and do your own research before deciding on one pool over another.
Prohashing
Prohashing will not only allow you to mine Dogecoin, but it is one of the few mining pools that actually payout in Dogecoins. In fact, it will pay you in any coin you like, so you could mine Dogecoin and get paid in Bitcoin, or you could mine Monero and get paid in Dogecoin.
It works on a Pay Per Share system, and pays directly to you wallet or bank account if you prefer. It also has an algorithm you can use which will automatically switch your hashing power to the most profitable coin. The fee at Prohashing is a flat 4.99%, with no minimum payout and no withdrawal fee.
Multipool
Multipool offers pool mining on a number of different cryptocurrencies, including those using the SHA-256 algorithm (Bitcoin, Digibyte, etc) and X11 algorithm (Dash). Of course there are also other Scrypt mining options like Litecoin and Verge. Multipool will also pay in Dogecoin, as well as a number of other coins.
There are no withdrawal fees when the minimum thresholds are met and autopay is used. One other nice feature is the support for merged mining. This means you could mine Litecoin and also mine Dogecoin at the same time without any loss of hashing power.
1Coinpool
The 1CoinPool pool is a smaller pool offering a Proportional Pay Per Share (PPPS) payout structure that pays you a percentage of every block found. Coins are automatically deposited into your wallet.
In addition to Dogecoin, you can also mine Litecoin at 1CoinPool and they will also be adding support for Ethereum and ZCash in the near future. Currently there are no fees for mining with 1CoinPool, and the site claims that they find three blocks per week on average.
Aikapool
Aikapool is another smaller Dogecoin mining pool with less than 50 active miners typically. In addition to Dogecoin there are 14 other Scrypt coins offered, and if you want to change to something other than Scrypt algorithm there are 10 other algorithms being mined on Aikapool.
Miners are rewarded on a PROP system (proportional) where there is no risk to the pool operator as the system pays only when a block is found.
Conclusion
Obviously the above doesn’t cover all the pools you could use for Dogecoin, but it gives you two very good larger options, and two very good smaller options. Fees are minimal to non-existent at each, but payment systems vary, so you’ll want to look into those to see which is most suitable for you.
Server coverage is global in each case, so you won’t be hampered by your location, no matter where you live one of these mining pools will help you gather as much Dogecoin as possible for your mining rig.
Most also support other coins, and even other algorithms, so if you feel like switching away from Dogecoin to another altcoin it will be a fairly quick, easy and painless task.
If you need more information about Dogecoin, or need to download a wallet you can do so at the official Dogecoin website.
Disclaimer: These are the writer’s opinions and should not be considered investment advice. Readers should do their own research.