Current coins for mining: what is profitable to mine right now

In 2026, mining remains a relevant way to earn cryptocurrency. There are several ways to generate income using this method:

Solo mining;
Pool mining;
Renting computing power or cloud mining.

1. Bitcoin (BTC)

Bitcoin undoubtedly tops the list of coins for mining. For many years, Bitcoin has been considered the benchmark mining coin, with the emergence of which the entire mining industry was born, now reaching industrial scale. As of January 2026, the total computing power (hashrate) of the Bitcoin network exceeds 1000 EH/s (exahashes per second). In terms of energy consumption, the network is comparable to that of Poland and small developed countries such as Ireland and Sweden.

Specialized ASIC devices are used to mine Bitcoin, from which miners assemble entire farms. As one of the most popular coins for mining, BTC requires significant investment in equipment, since, due to high competition, mining Bitcoin on a single ASIC device is difficult — the probability of mining a coin is exceptionally low.

Moreover, as the power of the miners' network grows, the difficulty of the Bitcoin network also increases — this is built into the protocol. Therefore, BTC remains the optimal choice among mining coins for professional market participants, provided the own a large farm of ASIC devices and have access to cheap electricity.

2. Dogecoin (DOGE)

Dogecoin is the first and most well-known memecoin, making it one of the most attractive coins for mining. As of January 2026, DOGE is among the top 10 cryptocurrencies, with a market capitalization exceeding $20 billion.

Since the beginning of 2024, the price of the main memecoin has increased by more than 30%, while the hashrate over the same period has grown by more than 50% — from 1 to 1.82 PH/s. This means the profitability of mining Dogecoin has significantly decreased; however, DOGE remains one of the most popular coins for mining.

Dogecoin is an optimal option for miners, as it offers stable, predictable profitability that does not change with halvings, unlike Bitcoin or Litecoin. This makes DOGE an attractive mining coin, given its long-term growth in exchange rate.

3. Litecoin (LTC)

Litecoin, like its fork, Dogecoin, remains one of the most in-demand coins for mining. Litecoin ranks 21st in the overall cryptocurrency market capitalization ranking, with a market cap of $5.125 billion as of January 2026.

Launched in 2011, Litecoin is one of the first alternative cryptocurrencies. Since Litecoin operates on the same Scrypt algorithm as Dogecoin, the same ASIC miners are suitable for mining LTC.

LTC is an optimal coin for mining with ASIC devices, as it enables profitable mining even on small farms.

4. Bitcoin Cash (BCH)

Another popular mining coin that goes unnoticed is Bitcoin Cash, which is currently the largest fork of Bitcoin. Bitcoin Cash ranks 11th among all cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, which as of January 2026 exceeds $11.5 billion.

The hashrate of the Bitcoin Cash network is significantly lower than Bitcoin's, which means BCH will be one of the best alternative coins for mining in 2026. Although the hashrate of Bitcoin Cash has more than doubled since the beginning of 2024, the price of the altcoin has grown by approximately the same amount, allowing BCH to remain one of the most profitable coins for mining.

Bitcoin Cash is one of the best alternative coins for mining when the profitability of a Bitcoin farm decreases, since both cryptocurrencies can be mined on the same ASIC devices. Some mining pools even allow automatic switching between BTC or BCH mining depending on which is more profitable at the moment.

5. Monero (XMR)

Monero has also been added to the list of the best coins for mining, as the popularity of privacy-focused cryptocurrencies surged sharply in 2025. Due to increased demand, the XMR cryptocurrency rose to 12th place in the CoinMarketCap market capitalization ranking, reaching almost $8.5 billion as of January 2026.

XMR is one of the few coins that can be mined using graphics cards. In addition, amid hype and high user demand for private transactions, Monero is one of the most profitable coins to mine.

6. Zcash (ZEC)

Zcash is the second-largest privacy cryptocurrency by market capitalization after Monero, which does not make it any less interesting as a mining coin. The surge in interest in privacy cryptocurrencies led to growth in the ZEC price: since the beginning of 2025, the altcoin has increased in value more than sixfold, and its market capitalization has grown to nearly $6.6 billion, allowing it to rise to 18th place in the CMC ranking.

ZEC will be a suitable coin for mining if the ASIC device supports the Equihash algorithm. The ZEC cryptocurrency can be mined using both ASIC miners and graphics processing units (GPUs).

Zcash serves as an alternative for users who require privacy but use ASIC devices for mining, since the Monero cryptocurrency supports mining on graphics cards. GPU users, in turn, can switch between ZEC or XMR depending on which of the GPU-mineable coins is currently more profitable.