David Canellis

Mining activity is surging on a raft of proof-of-work blockchains still riding tailwinds from Ethereum’s switch to proof-of-stake five months ago.



Those beneficiaries of Ethereum’s long awaited Merge, which activated last September and sent the blockchain’s miners out of business, include Dogecoin, Litecoin and Syscoin.&nbsp;



At the time, smaller networks minable with high-end GPUs — a la pre-Merge Ethereum — <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ether-price-flat-after-merge-as-miners-hunt-for-hashrate-home">immediately saw a major hash rate uptick</a>. Ethereum Classic’s hash rate (a measure of the network’s computing power) ballooned 160% in a single day and RavenCoin’s jumped 80%.



Like Bitcoin, Dogecoin and Litecoin can only really be efficiently mined with specialized ASIC rigs attuned to their hashing algorithm, Scrypt. Those networks, which command far less hash rate than Bitcoin, didn’t book a sudden hash rate boost in September, unlike Ethereum Classic.&nbsp;



But they’ve since set fresh record highs. Dogecoin and Litecoin are “merge-mined,” meaning they can be mined simultaneously without sacrificing performance, leading their hash rates to correlate.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/LzJkMPLjY1L2KZnlpl5djArd9clfAVaZ4y1TrDHUF5sHgs76vySZvdx7sdmHhs91yFElV2ndYRGhqys91Kxh97PMJEyTN_OgF38BjZfd7QZi0-DEOaSwKqAoetPCpZXdq6hSMCaQLMW0Z17jbicfr4YCk8AZCGoGmaahIOD4ny2aSFXXKfmCTTZkldqKbA" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Litecoin’s hash rate chart looks pretty much the same, hitting all-time high in late December</figcaption></figure>



Syscoin’s hash rate is also hovering around highs set in October, although it can’t be mined efficiently with GPUs. The network can, however, be merge-mined with Bitcoin, which itself is maintaining record levels set late last year — even as its price has plummeted.&nbsp;



More hash rate typically equates to more security, as bad actors require more computing power to pull off effective 51% attacks. But are displaced Ethereum miners responsible for Dogecoin and Litecoin’s hash rate pumps?



A spokesperson for Litecoinpool.org, an aptly-named Litecoin mining pool, doesn’t believe so. Common Ethereum mining rigs, such as the RTX 3080, could contribute around 100 MH/s to the network’s hash rate, but less than two MH/s to Litecoin, good for a factor of about 50.



Ethereum’s hash rate was roughly 1,000 TH/s before the Merge. So, if all the miners on Ethereum were to switch to Litecoin, per back-of-the-napkin math, those miners should expect to add about 20 TH/s to Litecoin’s hash rate.



Litecoin’s hash rate has climbed far more than 20 TH/s. It was just over 400 TH/s in September. It’s now sitting around 600 TH/s, a 50% jump.



“I think we can safely say that this jump cannot be attributed to GPUs coming from Ethereum mining, but rather to more Scrypt ASICs entering the market,” the Litecoinpool.org rep said.&nbsp;



They added that Litecoin’s third halving is just a few months away, which means miners may well be looking to get more bang for their buck before issuances are reduced.



<h3>Litecoin and Dogecoin soar since Merge</h3>



At times, mining Litecoin and Dogecoin to sell for BTC can be more profitable than mining Bitcoin directly. A source familiar with the mining industry told Blockworks that some mid-sized mining operations keep Scrypt ASICs on hand for that exact purpose.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/bitcoin-mining-economics-explained/">Is Bitcoin Mining Still Profitable? The Economics Explained</a>



The source was granted anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.&nbsp;



Sarah Manter, director of communications for mining platform PROHASHING, told Blockworks that rather than directing old Ethereum GPUs to Scrypt, it was more likely that miners have been buying up used ASICs from those who capitulated when the market crashed — and pointing them at Dogecoin and Litecoin.



Either that, or they’re selling GPUs and buying new ASICs to mine what’s now profitable.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/1GXFV1FY-laXjpi9EgOZndwJCMXBpvbgkU2q8FysDaxRJBsnuhZGzH4XG_Xmt8HXMjdfjwYghFj938BWvhTDitJATahkOU1TGPs6YiZjDaJIX8NBn8HyB7_SkiU4j32H0sl365p-aCncYFGS4p3sOQO5TjKbMNMAYBgp5-WZw4NZD5gkEdRg4Qi2sAGWtw" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Ethereum Classic’s hash rate has retraced since its post-Merge bump</figcaption></figure>



“I have no knowledge of GPUs being repurposed to mine Litecoin, because GPUs haven&#8217;t been able to profitably mine Litecoin/Dogecoin for quite some time,” Manter said.&nbsp;



Added Manter: “I know a lot of GPU miners have either been getting out of the game altogether in favor of other endeavors such as staking, or buying, trading or turning off their workers to wait it out and see what pulls ahead and becomes profitable again.”&nbsp;



Litecoin has increased 24% since the Merge, increasing the odds of profiting from mining the blockchain. Price, though, is just one factor, alongside energy and equipment expenditures, impacting profit.



Dogecoin is up 16% over the same period.



Manter said that no GPU algorithm (and, accordingly, associated blockchains) seems to be pulling ahead of its peers in the same vein as Ethereum’s dominance.&nbsp;



“That doesn&#8217;t mean one won&#8217;t eventually, as the market improves [and] hash rate shifts,” Manter said.



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Litecoin, Dogecoin See Mining Surge After Prices Rise Post-Merge

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_611e9f4a199c4" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Japanese customers in the country can currently buy bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin through Coinbase’s platform, according to its website. </li>
 <li>“We will be launching retail products first including a suite of five top assets based on trading volume, and will add more assets and products in the coming months. We also plan to introduce more localized versions of globally popular services such as advanced trading, Coinbase for Institutions, and more in the future,” the company said.</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Coinbase is launching a partnership with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) to help bring its platform to Japan, the company said in a post Thursday.&nbsp;



The well-known cryptocurrency platform began in 2012 as a platform for users to buy and sell bitcoin. Since then it has expanded into a crypto-asset platform home to thousands of blockchains, tokens and projects and has become the largest US cryptocurrency exchange. Today, Coinbase serves over 9,000 institutions and 68 million users in over 100 countries.&nbsp;



“At the moment I don’t have anything to share beyond what is in the <a href="https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-launches-in-japan-273cd9d6bd8c" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blog pos</a>t. But happy to stay in touch should that change,” a Coinbase spokesperson said in an email to Blockworks. 



MUFG is one of the largest banks in Japan with over 40 million Japanese customers. The partnership will help Japanese people access the platform to trade on Coinbase’s exchange by offering “MUFG Quick Deposit” for users in the country, it said.&nbsp;



“We will be launching retail products first including a suite of five top assets based on trading volume, and will add more assets and products in the coming months. We also plan to introduce more localized versions of globally popular services such as advanced trading, Coinbase for Institutions, and more in the future,” the company said.&nbsp;



The company did not disclose an exact date of the launch in Japan. But Japanese customers in the country can currently buy bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin through Coinbase’s platform, according to its website.&nbsp;



While Japan has had strict crypto regulatory guidelines, it was the first country in the world to create a law characterizing “crypto assets” as a legal term. The country requires entities to register as Crypto Asset Exchange Service Providers in order to provide exchange services to residents in Japan. Additionally, under Japanese law crypto assets are not treated as money nor equated with fiat currencies and the assets are not supported by the government or central bank of Japan.&nbsp;



With that said, the adoption of cryptocurrencies in Japan is still accelerating at a quick pace as crypto trading picks up across the nation. For reference, Japan’s virtual currency deposits, also known as cryptocurrency deposits, hit an all time high in March of about 1.4 trillion yen, or about $13 billion. This level was seven times higher than the year-ago month for crypto deposits, according to the Japan Virtual and Crypto Assets Exchange Association (JVCEA).



<meta charset="utf-8">Want more investor-focused content on digital assets? <a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/digital-asset-summit-2021-2/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us</a> September 13th and 14th for the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) in NYC. Use code ARTICLE for $75 off your ticket. <a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/digital-asset-summit-2021-2/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Buy it now</a>.