Proof-of-work coins

121 coins #6 Page 2

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

# Coins Live Price Market cap 24h

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

51 Omni OMNI $ 1.13
$ 700,621
$ 700,621
+0.00%
52 WrappedXTM wXTM $ 0.000501
$ 353,378
$ 353,378
+2.54%
53 ScPrime SCP $ 0.0235
$ 327,316
$ 327,316
-6.56%
54 Fact0rn FACT $ 0.253
$ 236,367
$ 236,367
-2.35%
55 Shibacoin SHIC $ 0.0₅225
$ 223,621
$ 223,621
+4.74%
56 Phicoin PHI $ 0.000274
$ 90,217
$ 90,217
+0.00%
57 Tonoreum TOR $ 0.0₅392
$ 67,808
$ 67,808
-5.41%
58 BitcoinPoW BTCW $ 0.0127
$ 50,662
$ 50,662
+69.22%
59 Ore ORE $ 1.10
$ 5,351
$ 5,351
+5.72%
60 ByteCoin BCN $ --
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61 Bitcoin Diamond BCD $ --
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62 Bytom BTM $ --
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63 Groestlcoin GRS $ --
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64 DigitalNote XDN $ --
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65 ZClassic ZCL $ --
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66 Litecoin Cash LCC $ --
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67 PrimeCoin XPM $ --
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68 FeatherCoin FTC $ --
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69 AEON AEON $ --
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70 Bismuth BIS $ --
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71 CounterParty XCP $ --
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72 MyriadCoin XMY $ --
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73 PotCoin POT $ --
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74 Anoncoin ANC $ --
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75 NewYorkCoin NYC $ --
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76 QuarkCoin QRK $ --
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77 Lethean LTHN $ --
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78 Wood Coin LOG $ --
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79 Pakcoin PAK $ --
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80 BolivarCoin BOLI $ --
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81 Citadel CTL $ --
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82 XanaxCoin XNX $ --
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83 Enecuum ENQ $ --
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84 Iridium IRD $ --
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85 PluraCoin PLURA $ --
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86 Swap XWP $ --
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87 Ycash YEC $ 0.239
$ --
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+10.18%
88 FlapXcoin FLAPX $ --
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89 Archethic UCO $ --
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90 SparkPoint Fuel SFUEL $ --
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91 wownero WOW $ --
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92 Tres Chain TRES $ --
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93 SAFCOIN SAF $ --
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94 Aves AVS $ --
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95 BLOCX BLOCX $ --
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96 PVC Crypto PVCC $ --
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97 Hoosat Network HTN $ --
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98 SafeMineCoin SMCN $ --
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99 Digital Kash DKASH $ --
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100 Sugarchain SUGAR $ --
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Trending Proof-of-work coins

Top Gainers

Coins Live Price Market cap 24h
Alephium ALPH $ 0.0386
$ 5.18M
$ 5.18 million
+17.68%
Zano ZANO $ 10.46
$ 160.34M
$ 160.34 million
+13.45%
Syscoin SYS $ 0.00202
$ 1.81M
$ 1.81 million
+7.01%
Zcash ZEC $ 523.03
$ 8.77B
$ 8.77 billion
+6.53%
Bitcoin Cash BCH $ 224.93
$ 4.51B
$ 4.51 billion
+5.74%
All Gainers

Market Cap

$ -- --%
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.

Useful / Related Links