Proof-of-work coins

147 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 $77,542.78
$1.56T
$1.56 trillion
-1.35%
2 Dogecoin DOGE $0.0821
$14.09B
$14.09 billion
-1.01%
3 Zcash ZEC $829.70
$14.02B
$14.02 billion
-1.05%
4 Monero XMR $502.38
$9.46B
$9.46 billion
-3.11%
5 Bitcoin Cash BCH $246.16
$4.94B
$4.94 billion
+0.42%
6 Litecoin LTC $49.63
$3.85B
$3.85 billion
+2.29%
7 Ethereum Classic ETC $7.24
$1.14B
$1.14 billion
-0.59%
8 Kaspa KAS $0.0272
$752.23M
$752.23 million
+0.10%
9 BELDEX BDX $0.0789
$621.11M
$621.11 million
-1.03%
10 Dash DASH $44.14
$565.91M
$565.91 million
-3.11%
11 Bitcoin SV BSV $15.80
$317.16M
$317.16 million
-0.16%
12 Decred DCR $14.26
$250.71M
$250.71 million
-0.49%
13 Conflux Network CFX $0.0464
$243.21M
$243.21 million
+3.71%
14 eCash XEC $0.0₅687
$137.98M
$137.98 million
-0.12%
15 Zano ZANO $7.02
$108.45M
$108.45 million
-1.26%
16 Horizen ZEN $5.41
$99.17M
$99.17 million
-5.13%
17 DigiByte DGB $0.00445
$82.17M
$82.17 million
-7.69%
18 QUBIC QUBIC $0.0₆415
$58.91M
$58.91 million
+1.36%
19 Siacoin SC $0.000922
$51.79M
$51.79 million
+48.62%
20 Nervos Network CKB $0.00102
$50.58M
$50.58 million
+0.02%
21 Ravencoin RVN $0.00293
$48.14M
$48.14 million
-0.57%
22 Nock NOCK $0.0198
$45.41M
$45.41 million
+19.93%
23 Verge XVG $0.00243
$40.20M
$40.20 million
-3.07%
24 Fractal Bitcoin FB $0.326
$35.74M
$35.74 million
-1.15%
25 EthereumPoW ETHW $0.266
$28.73M
$28.73 million
+1.72%
26 The Innovation Game TIG $0.754
$23.91M
$23.91 million
+1.95%
27 Flux FLUX $0.0493
$20.59M
$20.59 million
+0.02%
28 Alephium ALPH $0.0371
$5.06M
$5.06 million
-0.78%

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

29 Cheesecoin CHEESE $0.597
$159.79M
$159.79 million
+0.15%
30 ERGO ERG $0.253
$21.14M
$21.14 million
-3.38%
31 TEXITcoin TXC $0.209
$18.15M
$18.15 million
+4.51%
32 Namecoin NMC $1.14
$16.75M
$16.75 million
-1.27%
33 Firo FIRO $0.664
$12.05M
$12.05 million
-1.04%
34 Quantum Resistant Ledger QRL $0.717
$8.60M
$8.60 million
-2.85%
35 Epic Cash EPIC $0.379
$7.34M
$7.34 million
-1.81%
36 Quai Network QUAI $0.00824
$6.45M
$6.45 million
-1.94%
37 NEXA Token NEXA $0.0₅103
$6.02M
$6.02 million
+5.22%
38 MonaCoin MONA $0.0698
$4.59M
$4.59 million
-1.07%
39 Vertcoin VTC $0.0507
$2.38M
$2.38 million
-0.84%
40 Hathor HTR $0.00315
$1.63M
$1.63 million
-0.94%
41 Nexus NXS $0.0211
$1.61M
$1.61 million
-0.41%
42 BEAM BEAM $0.00730
$1.35M
$1.35 million
-5.77%
43 XELIS XEL $0.193
$1.12M
$1.12 million
-6.42%
44 Bitcore BTX $0.0544
$899,602
$899,602
-1.91%
45 GlobalBoost-Y BSTY $0.0294
$720,491
$720,491
-0.98%
46 Matrix AI Network MAN $0.00111
$621,626
$621,626
+4.72%
47 Komodo KMD $0.00338
$374,003
$374,003
+12.29%
48 BitcoinZ BTCZ $0.0000207
$241,505
$241,505
+5.61%
49 Aeternity AE $0.00492
$139,683
$139,683
-0.51%
50 Statter STT $0.00234
$117,957
$117,957
-1.06%
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Trending Proof-of-work coins

Top Gainers
Coins Live Price Market cap 24h
Siacoin SC $0.000922
$51.79M
$51.79 million
+48.62%
Nock NOCK $0.0198
$45.41M
$45.41 million
+19.93%
Conflux Network CFX $0.0464
$243.21M
$243.21 million
+3.71%
Litecoin LTC $49.63
$3.85B
$3.85 billion
+2.29%
The Innovation Game TIG $0.754
$23.91M
$23.91 million
+1.95%
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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