I noticed that many people think that mining cryptocurrency is over. Honestly, that's not entirely true. Mining Bitcoin on your PC? Okay, that's dead. But there are still plenty of other coins you can mine quietly at home if you really get into it.

If crypto volatility freaks you out too much but you still want to benefit from this new economy, setting up a small home mining operation could be interesting for you. Be careful with cloud mining, though — honestly, all the cloud mining offers I've seen were scams.

So, what to mine? The key is to look for coins that don’t require a huge mining setup. Before, you could mine Bitcoin on any desktop or laptop computer. But now, with increasing difficulty and specialized ASICs, it's almost impossible to mine Bitcoin profitably at home. However, mining other popular altcoins at home remains feasible.

Like Dogecoin, for example. DOGE started as a meme but has become a real altcoin with a solid user base. Unlike Bitcoin, which has a finite supply, Dogecoin generates new coins every year, which is an advantage for miners. Currently, DOGE is around $0.11 with a market cap of $17.42 billion.

If you want to mine DOGE, you first need to create a wallet. Then, you can use a CPU miner, but it’s slow. To go faster, use AMD or Nvidia graphics cards with cgminer or cudaminer. Very important: join a mining pool like MultiPool. Mining alone will generate tiny earnings, but in a pool, you have access to more power and thus higher returns.

Ethereum Classic is also interesting. Since Ethereum switched to Proof of Stake in October 2022, the resources used to mine ETH can now be applied to ETC. Currently, ETC is at $9.25 with a market cap of $1.45 billion. Contrary to what you might think, you can still mine it on regular desktop machines, no need for ASICs.

Monero is a classic for home crypto mining. XMR was specifically designed to resist ASIC development, so it’s perfect for home mining. The network is really optimized for that. Currently at $396.61, Monero has a market cap of $7.32 billion. To start, download the official GUI wallet and software like MultiMiner, then start mining.

ZCash uses the Equihash algorithm, which resists ASICs, so it’s accessible for GPU miners. ZEC is currently at $523.07 with a market cap of $8.73 billion. You’ll need to download and synchronize the full blockchain, which takes time, but after that, you’re good to go.

Ravencoin is a Bitcoin fork optimized for asset transfers. Its KAWPOW algorithm is resistant to ASICs, and you can mine it with a standard GPU. Bitcoin Gold, launched in 2017, uses Equihash-BTG and is also easy to mine. Horizen (ZEN) also uses Equihash and can be mined with a GPU. ZEN is currently at $6.70 with a market cap of $120.77 million.

Bytecoin is another anonymous altcoin that's easy to mine. Solo mining was designed to be simple for users. Beam uses the Hashii algorithm, well-suited for home mining. Vertcoin, launched in 2014, is popular among small miners. Its Lyra2RE algorithm resists ASICs while supporting GPU and CPU mining. Grin uses MimbleWimble and even plans hard forks every six months to minimize potential ASIC impact.

Now, let’s talk profitability. Mining with a CPU at home is possible but slow, and your electricity costs might outweigh the value of the coins you mine. For those serious about investing, GPU mining is realistic. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 and RTX 3080 are popular. Prices range from $600 to $2000 depending on performance.

Hashrate is key — it’s the computational power your GPU can apply to mining. It’s measured in millions of hashes per second (MH/s). Cheaper GPUs have lower hashrates. CPUs have even less, measured in thousands.

To calculate your profitability, use WhatToMine. It tells you how much you can earn based on your hardware. Factors include the market price of the crypto you’re mining (which is very volatile) and electricity costs. Currently in the US, the average is about 16.11 cents per kilowatt-hour, but it varies a lot. Idaho is 7.99 cents, Hawaii is 43.18 cents.

Here’s a concrete example: a professional miner running 13 desktop computers with motherboards supporting 8 or more GPUs. With 8 AMD RX580s, they used to generate $20 a day before electricity. They recommend instead 8 AMD 5700 XT cards, which consume the same but produce about 30% more profit. With these 13 machines, they made roughly $500 a month in a bear market, up to $17,000 in a bull market. Electricity costs about $4 a day for this setup.

The real challenge is scale and heat. These rigs each consume 1000 watts, so they seriously heat up the space. The more rigs you add, the more cooling you need.

In summary, mining cryptocurrency at home is still viable in 2026 if you pick the right coins and accept the electricity costs. It’s not a quick way to get rich, but it’s an interesting way to participate in the crypto economy. Look at your options, calculate profitability, and decide if it’s worth it for you.