In the cryptocurrency space every year many new projects appear. But only few turns out to be successful and only few projects tend to build something innovative. Ravencoin is one of the few projects that have gained a lots of attention and has witnessed significant success. It is a fork of Bitcoin whose blockchain is specifically designed for the creation and transfer of assets. There are no masternodes, no founders rewards, no ICO nor a premine. A truly open source platform that is completely decentralized. What makes Ravencoin different and what makes it truly decentralized is the unique PoW hashing algorithm which it created. The algorithm is called X16R.

Apparently x11 hasn't been optimized in this release, so future releases of ccMiner might improve the has rate further. Either way it is a huge improvement on CPU only mining and Christian deserves credit for the work he's put in to allow NVidia owners to mine Darkcoin.

Previously we’ve explained what is Ravencoin and we even have a guide on how to mine Ravencoin. But not a post explaining X16R. Here in this article we’ll cover what is X16R and the list of crypto coins based on this hashing algorithm. Also we’ll share the best miners that you can use to mine x16r coins.

X16R – ASIC resistant by design?

Many PoW algorithms have emerged in the past and are currently being designed specifically to make mining more ASIC resistant. Why resist ASICs? ASIC – Application Specific Integrated Circuit is a specialized hardware that is designed to do one thing. In the cryptocurrency mining ecosystem these hardware’s are specifically build to mine an algorithm much better than GPUs. They are not only faster but more energy efficient as well. So what’s the problem? The main issue is that ASIC creates centralization of mining. How? Compared to GPUs and CPUs; ASICs are bit expensive and are quite harder to acquire as they are only manufactured by few not so reliable Chinese firms. Due to this and due to the availability of cheap electricity in some areas; a vast amount of network hashpower gets controlled by a very few entities.

To minimize the impact of ASICs; cryptocurrencies developed memory intensive hashing algorithms. Considering the fact that high memory requirements makes ASIC development expensive. Ethereum developed Ethash, Litecoin used Scrypt and Zcash created Equihash. However all these algorithms have been cracked by ASIC manufacturers. To further solidify ASIC resistance; Dash came up with a different approach. They chained 11 different hashing algorithms and called it X11. However this too has been cracked and currently there are many ASIC miners available for X11. Followed by X11, algorithms such as X13, X15, X16 and X17 emerged which are all extensions of X11. While currently there are no ASICs for these algorithms building one doesn’t take much time as they all use same sequence of hashing algorithm as X11 with only few additional algorithms chained together.

Considering all this and to create a more viable solution to block ASICs; Ravencoin introduced X16R.

X16R Algorithm

X16R is a Proof of Work hashing algorithm designed by and for Ravencoin. The hashing algorithm used in X16R is the same 15 algorithms used in X15 model + SHA512. Except x16r rotates through 16 different algorithms in random; hence the name R which stands for Random or Rotating or Ravencoin.

The 16 algorithms that make up X16R are as follows:

Blake, BMW, Groestl, JH, Keccak, Skein, Luffa, Cubehash, Shavite, Simd, Echo, Hamsi, Fugue, Shabal, Whirlpool and SHA512

This algorithm works in such a way that it constantly disrupts the algorithms chaining order. The order of the 16 different hashing algorithms will dynamically change based on the hash value of the previous block. Due to the dynamic change of the algorithm order building an ASIC for X16R is difficult.

However the fact is no PoW algorithms (even X16R) can block ASICs permanently. As the economic value of mining increases and as more coins adopt to a single algorithm the development of ASICs will get accelerated. Anyways Ravencoin developers committed to change the algorithms used in x16r if they ever find an ASIC being developed.

X16R Whitepaper:https://ravencoin.org/assets/documents/X16R-Whitepaper.pdf

X16R Miners:

There are number of X16R miners available for NVIDIA and AMD cards. All of the mining software’s are from different developers. Some of them are open sourced with 0% fees. Some on the other hand are closed source and contains a small developer fees. Here we’ll not be listing them all as there are only few software’s which are constantly being updated and performs better. Also there are no open source miners that performs anywhere close to closed source miners. For this reason we’ll only be sharing the popular closed source miners.

Following are the some of the fastest miners that you can use to mine Ravencoin and other coins based on X16R hashing algorithm.

NVIDIA:

Latest version T-Rex Miner (Closed source with 1% dev fee)

Latest version Enemy Miner (Closed source with 1% dev fee)

AMD:

Latest version WildRig Multi (Closed source with 2% dev fee)

Avermore Miner (Open sourced)

The above ones are considered to be one of the highest performing mining software’s currently. The hashrates are pretty consistent, the software is more stable, keeps steady hashrate, and moreover they are easy on your GPU.

Now before you start to mine here is something that you need to note about X16R. Since this algorithm constantly switches between 16 different algorithms it stresses your GPU and PSU. Make sure you have enough head room on your PSU and start out with power limit set at 70% to 85%. Also this algorithm is extremely overclock sensitive so make sure to not overclock. Use stock settings for core and memory clocks initially, then gradually increase till you find a stable setting.

Now as you’ve learned enough about X16R let’s see the list of coins that are based on this algorithm.

X16R Coins

Ravencoin introduced and is the first coin to use X16R hashing algorithm. However later many coins started implementing this algorithm mainly because of its ASIC resistance. In future we might see ASIC being developed for this algorithm but currently there are none. But do note that FPGAs do exist currently and hashpower for X16R is also available on NiceHash. So before mining any X16R coins use mining calculators to check whether mining using GPU would be profitable or not.

Currently this algorithm is used by several PoW coins. Some are just a clone of Ravencoin, some are masternode coins, some are inactive and on some coins the PoW phase has been already ended. Anyways the point of this post is to just list coins that falls under this algorithm. This is not a recommendation so kindly do your own research before you mine any coin.

X16R is just one of the algorithms used in PoW mining. There are many other algorithms and to learn more do visit this section. If you know any other coins based on X16R then please leave it in the comments below. Also if you do like this post then please do share and subscribe.

Now that you already know about the best Bitcoin mining hardware, we’re going to talk about Bitcoin mining software.

What is Bitcoin Mining Software?

Bitcoin mining hardware handles the actual Bitcoin mining process, but:

Bitcoin mining software is equally as important.

• If you are a solo miner: the mining software connects your Bitcoin miner to the blockchain.
• If you mine with a pool: the software will connect you to your mining pool.
• If you are cloud mining: you do not need mining software.

Quick Tip

Using mining software is not the fastest way to buy bitcoins.

Buying bitcoin with a debit card is the fastest way.

Importance of Bitcoin Mining Software

The main job of the software is to deliver the mining hardware’s work to the rest of the Bitcoin network and to receive the completed work from other miners on the network.

Bitcoin mining software monitors this input and output of your miner while also displaying statistics such as the speed of your miner, hashrate, fan speed and the temperature.

Bitcoin Wallets

One of the most important things you will need before using any kind of Bitcoin mining software is a wallet.

Why?

This is because all Bitcoin mining software will ask you for a Bitcoin address that will be used to send your mining rewards and payouts. Once you create or download a wallet you will be able to get a Bitcoin address from your wallet.

There are many Bitcoin wallets, but these are the ones we recommend if you are just starting out:

• Ledger Nano X – Secure Bitcoin hardware wallet for all platforms.
• Electrum – Simple Bitcoin wallet that works on Mac, Windows, and Linux.
• Samourai Wallet – The most popular Bitcoin wallet on Android.
• DropBit – The most popular Bitcoin wallet for iOS.

If you expect to earn a lot of money through mining then it would be smart to purchase a more secure wallet: a hardware wallet.Now that we understand mining software and how it helps in the mining process, and you got your Bitcoin wallet and address, let’s look at different software on different operating systems.

Bitcoin Mining Software for Windows

Bitcoin Miner

You can use Bitcoin Miner on Windows 10 and Windows 8.1.

It has an easy to use interface, power saving mode, mining pool support and fast share submission.

One useful feature is the profit reports feature because this feature will help you know if your mining is profitable or not. The latest version of this software is Bitcoin Miner 1.27.0.

BTCMiner

BTCMiner is an Open Source Bitcoin Miner for ZTEX USB-FPGA modules 1.5.

BTCMiner comes with the following features:

• Dynamic frequency scaling in that BTCMiner automatically chooses the frequency with the highest rate of valid hashes
• Ready-to-use Bitstream i.e. no Xilinx software or license required.

It also comes with supported FPGA boards which contain a USB interface used for communication and programming.

CGMiner

CGMiner is arguably the most famous and commonly used among Bitcoin miners at the moment.

CGMiner is based on the original code of CPU Miner.

This software has many features but the main ones include:

• fan speed control
• remote interface capabilities
• self-detection of new blocks with a mini database
• multi GPU support
• CPU mining support

BFGMiner

BFGMiner is more or less the same as CGMiner.

The only major difference is that it doesn’t focus on GPUs like CGMiner but instead it is designed specifically for ASICs.

Some unique features of BFGMiner include: mining with free mesa/LLVM OpenCL, ADL device reordering by PCI bus ID, integrated overclocking and fan control.

EasyMiner

EasyMiner is GUI based and it acts as a convenient wrapper for CGMiner and BFGMiner software.

This software supports the getwork mining protocol as well as stratum mining protocol. It can also be used for both solo and pooled mining.

Among its main features is that it configures your miner and provides performance graphs for easy visualization of your mining activity.

Bitcoin Mining Software for Linux

CGMiner

CGMiner is arguably the most famous and commonly used among Bitcoin miners at the moment.

CGMiner is based on the original code of CPU Miner.

This software has many features but the main ones include: fan speed control, remote interface capabilities, self-detection of new blocks with a mini database, multi GPU support and CPU mining support.

BFGMiner

BFGMiner is more or less the same as CGMiner.

The only major difference is that it doesn’t focus on GPUs like CGMiner but instead it is designed specifically for ASICs.

Some unique features of BFGMiner include: mining with free mesa/LLVM OpenCL, ADL device reordering by PCI bus ID, integrated overclocking and fan control.

Nvidia X11 Mining Software Mac

EasyMiner

EasyMiner is a GUI based software and it acts as a convenient wrapper for CGMiner and BFGMiner software.

This software supports the getwork mining protocol as well as stratum mining protocol. It can also be used for both solo and pooled mining.

Among its main features is that it configures your miner and provides performance graphs for easy visualization of your mining activity.

Bitcoin Mining Software for Mac OS X

RPC Miner

RPC Miner can be used on Mac OS 10.6 or higher and features integration with Mac OS APIs and systems.

More

All of the mining software above listed for Linux and Windows also works for Mac OS X. Scroll up to learn more!

Nvidia X11 Mining Software Update

Viruses in Mining Software

Nvidia Mining Software

Be aware that a lot of mining software may try to steal your bitcoins. Be sure to read reviews on any software you download.

Also:

Make sure you are downloading from the actual site and not a copy-cat site.

X11 Mining Calculator

Cash Out your Coins

Once you have this setup and are mining, you may need to cash out some of your coins in order to pay off your expenses such as electricity.

For this you can use Buy Bitcoin Worldwide to find a Bitcoin exchange in your country.

Best Mining Software For Nvidia