Proof-of-work coins

150 coins #6

Proof of Work is how miners use computing power to solve puzzles, secure the blockchain, and earn rewards. More

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# Coins Live Price Market cap 24h
1 Bitcoin BTC $75,651.09
$1.52T
$1.52 trillion
-3.97%
2 Zcash ZEC $1,113.89
$18.88B
$18.88 billion
-5.16%
3 Dogecoin DOGE $0.0799
$12.46B
$12.46 billion
-5.46%
4 Monero XMR $499.81
$9.40B
$9.40 billion
-3.10%
5 Bitcoin Cash BCH $215.54
$4.33B
$4.33 billion
-4.70%
6 Litecoin LTC $51.17
$3.97B
$3.97 billion
-3.96%
7 Ethereum Classic ETC $7.18
$1.14B
$1.14 billion
-6.12%
8 Kaspa KAS $0.0326
$902.39M
$902.39 million
-6.56%
9 Dash DASH $50.73
$650.95M
$650.95 million
-6.77%
10 BELDEX BDX $0.0756
$594.75M
$594.75 million
+0.13%
11 Bitcoin SV BSV $16.02
$321.69M
$321.69 million
-6.70%
12 Decred DCR $14.76
$260.10M
$260.10 million
-8.01%
13 Conflux Network CFX $0.0447
$234.33M
$234.33 million
-5.80%
14 eCash XEC $0.0₅690
$138.61M
$138.61 million
-10.46%
15 Horizen ZEN $6.17
$113.15M
$113.15 million
-3.99%
16 Zano ZANO $5.95
$92.03M
$92.03 million
-3.47%
17 Nock NOCK $0.0359
$83.51M
$83.51 million
-10.92%
18 DigiByte DGB $0.00382
$70.69M
$70.69 million
-11.85%
19 QUBIC QUBIC $0.0₆381
$54.26M
$54.26 million
-3.07%
20 Nervos Network CKB $0.00107
$53.21M
$53.21 million
-9.55%
21 Siacoin SC $0.000815
$45.66M
$45.66 million
-10.95%
22 Verge XVG $0.00262
$43.38M
$43.38 million
-4.34%
23 Fractal Bitcoin FB $0.323
$35.79M
$35.79 million
-2.30%
24 Ravencoin RVN $0.00209
$34.40M
$34.40 million
-5.34%
25 ORE v2 ORE $58.76
$28.87M
$28.87 million
-5.71%
26 EthereumPoW ETHW $0.249
$26.88M
$26.88 million
-2.29%
27 Flux FLUX $0.0535
$22.43M
$22.43 million
-6.52%
28 The Innovation Game TIG $0.678
$21.66M
$21.66 million
-9.65%
29 ERGO ERG $0.243
$20.30M
$20.30 million
-9.44%
30 Quai Network QUAI $0.00877
$6.86M
$6.86 million
+0.86%
31 NEXA Token NEXA $0.0₅113
$6.60M
$6.60 million
-9.55%
32 Alephium ALPH $0.0472
$6.47M
$6.47 million
-0.56%

The coins below are ranked lower due to missing data. Learn more

33 Cheesecoin CHEESE $0.597
$159.86M
$159.86 million
+0.17%
34 Firo FIRO $0.851
$15.42M
$15.42 million
+12.79%
35 TEXITcoin TXC $0.176
$15.28M
$15.28 million
-2.81%
36 Namecoin NMC $0.973
$14.34M
$14.34 million
-15.92%
37 CounterParty XCP $3.78
$9.84M
$9.84 million
-4.04%
38 Quantum Resistant Ledger QRL $0.685
$8.22M
$8.22 million
-2.92%
39 Epic Cash EPIC $0.278
$5.39M
$5.39 million
+4.91%
40 MonaCoin MONA $0.0722
$4.74M
$4.74 million
+1.27%
41 BEAM BEAM $0.0136
$2.51M
$2.51 million
+34.01%
42 Vertcoin VTC $0.0445
$2.09M
$2.09 million
-9.46%
43 Syscoin SYS $0.00196
$1.78M
$1.78 million
-0.05%
44 Nexus NXS $0.0211
$1.62M
$1.62 million
+0.24%
45 Hathor HTR $0.00261
$1.35M
$1.35 million
+2.98%
46 XELIS XEL $0.202
$1.18M
$1.18 million
-6.33%
47 Bitcore BTX $0.0465
$768,183
$768,183
-11.99%
48 Matrix AI Network MAN $0.000889
$498,772
$498,772
-3.68%
49 Komodo KMD $0.00403
$445,895
$445,895
+0.49%
50 LBRY Credits LBC $0.00160
$329,737
$329,737
-13.32%
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Trending Proof-of-work coins

Top Gainers
Coins Live Price Market cap 24h
Quai Network QUAI $0.00877
$6.86M
$6.86 million
+0.86%
BELDEX BDX $0.0756
$594.75M
$594.75 million
+0.13%
Alephium ALPH $0.0472
$6.47M
$6.47 million
-0.56%
EthereumPoW ETHW $0.249
$26.88M
$26.88 million
-2.29%
Fractal Bitcoin FB $0.323
$35.79M
$35.79 million
-2.30%
All Gainers

Market Cap

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Pro Chart

What is a proof-of-work coin?

A proof-of-work (PoW) coin is a cryptocurrency that uses the proof-of-work consensus mechanism to validate transactions and add new blocks to its blockchain.
Miners compete to solve complex cryptographic puzzles; the first to find the solution broadcasts the new block, earns the block reward, and secures the network.
This process is intentionally energy-intensive and creates the “work” that makes rewriting history expensive.

How PoW Works (Step-by-Step)

  1. Transactions broadcast – users send coins; nodes collect them into a mempool.
  2. Hash puzzle – miners race to find a nonce that produces a hash below the current difficulty target.
  3. Winner broadcasts – the successful miner submits the new block; others verify the hash.
  4. Consensus & reward – once accepted, the miner receives newly minted coins + transaction fees.
  5. Difficulty adjustment – the network retargets puzzle hardness to keep block time stable (e.g., 10 min for Bitcoin).

Key Properties

  • Energy-intensive – Bitcoin alone uses ~150 TWh/year; criticism from environmental groups.
  • High security – 51% attack requires controlling >half of global hash power → expensive & detectable.
  • Decentralized minting – anyone with ASICs/GPUs can participate; no pre-mine or stake needed.
  • Fixed supply schedule – block rewards halve at set intervals (Bitcoin every 210,000 blocks).

PoW vs PoS (Snapshot)

Metric Proof-of-Work Proof-of-Stake
Energy use Very high (ASIC farms) Minimal (validators stake coins)
Entry barrier Hardware + electricity Capital (must buy & lock coins)
Attack cost Hash power + electricity 51% of staked coins
Finality time ~10–60 min (BTC, LTC) ~2–15 min (ETH, ADA)
Environmental tag “Dirty” “Green”

Major PoW Coins

Coin Launch Hash Algo Block Time Emission Curve
BTC 2009 SHA-256 10 min Halves every 4 yrs
LTC 2011 Scrypt 2.5 min Halves every 4 yrs
DOGE 2013 Scrypt (merge-mined) 1 min 10k DOGE per block (infinite)
ETC 2016 Ethash 13 sec Halves every 5 yrs
XMR 2014 RandomX 2 min Tail emission (0.6 XMR/block)

Benefits of PoW

  • Battle-tested security – 14 years of Bitcoin uptime; no successful 51% attack on BTC.
  • Fair launch – minting open to anyone with hardware; no ICO or pre-mine required.
  • Energy = security – electricity spent = real-world cost to rewrite history.
  • Supply predictability – halving cycles create transparent scarcity narrative.

Limitations / Criticisms

  • Environmental impact – Bitcoin uses ~0.6% of global electricity; ESG pressure on miners.
  • Scalability bottleneck – 7 TPS (BTC) vs 24,000 TPS (Visa); needs Layer-2 (Lightning, rollups).
  • Hardware arms race – ASIC monopoly pushes mining into data-center farms → centralisation risk.
  • Regulatory scrutiny – some jurisdictions ban PoW mining or tax energy heavily.

Final Thoughts

Proof-of-work remains the most battle-tested consensus mechanism, powering the top two cryptocurrencies by market cap and hashrate. While energy use and scalability concerns push newer chains toward proof-of-stake, PoW coins still offer unmatched security and a predictable monetary policy. Treat them as “digital commodities” with real-world energy backing—and keep an eye on Layer-2 solutions for scalability fixes.

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