GUIDE
Litecoin mining in 2026: the Scrypt numbers, honestly
Scrypt mining has its own hardware market and its own economics. What an LTC miner earns, and why merged mining changes the calculation.
Quick answer
Litecoin mining runs on Scrypt ASICs and is usually merged-mined with Dogecoin, which adds a second revenue stream that materially changes profitability against a naive LTC-only calculation.
Litecoin mining is the most commonly miscalculated corner of the hobby, because most calculators ignore the thing that makes it work.
Merged mining is the whole story
Litecoin and Dogecoin share the Scrypt algorithm, and a miner can submit the same work to both chains simultaneously. You earn LTC and DOGE for a single unit of electricity. Auxiliary proof-of-work makes this possible with no additional energy cost.
This means a straight LTC-only profitability figure understates real revenue, sometimes substantially depending on relative prices. Our calculator models one chain at a time, so run LTC and then add the DOGE side rather than treating the first figure as final.
The rest of the arithmetic is the same
Your share of network hashrate, times daily blocks, times block reward, times price, less pool fee, less electricity. Litecoin produces blocks roughly every 2.5 minutes, so about 576 a day against Bitcoin’s 144 — different constants, identical structure. The four numbers that decide it are the same four as always.
Hardware
Scrypt ASICs are a separate market from SHA-256 machines and neither can mine the other’s algorithm. The market is smaller, which means fewer models, less competition and generally worse pricing per unit of hashrate.
The honest summary
Litecoin mining is a niche with real economics, better than a naive calculation suggests because of merged mining, and worse than enthusiasts claim because the hardware market is thin. Run your own numbers including the DOGE side before buying anything.
Related reading
- Mining profitability: the only four numbers that actually matter — Hashrate, efficiency, electricity price and network difficulty decide whether a miner pays. Everything else is noise. Here is
- Best mining software in 2026, compared on what actually differs — Mining clients differ on dev fee, hardware support, failover and transparency. We compare the main options on those
- Litecoin vs Bitcoin: what actually differs, and what does not — Block time, supply cap and hashing algorithm differ. Security model, monetary policy shape and use case largely do
Key takeaways
- Merged mining adds DOGE revenue at no extra energy cost.
- An LTC-only profitability estimate understates real earnings.
- Scrypt hardware is a separate market from SHA-256.
Risk notice
Mining returns depend on coin price, network difficulty, block reward and electricity cost, all of which change continuously. Figures here are a snapshot under stated assumptions, not a forecast. This is not financial advice.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to do anything to merge mine Dogecoin?
Usually just pick a pool that supports it, which most major Scrypt pools do. You receive both payouts.
Can I mine Litecoin with a GPU?
Not economically. Scrypt ASICs displaced GPUs on this algorithm many years ago.
