The rise of ASICs have impacted a number of crypto projects and community in the recent times. Most of the PoW algorithms that was GPU mineable are now only mineable using powerful ASIC miners. All these machines are capable of performing few hundreds to thousand times faster than GPUs. Due to this GPU miners had to look for a new algorithm and coins that are not affected by ASICs. But there is one algorithm where even ASIC miners had to look for a new coin and that is Blake 2b.
Siacoin was the only cryptocurrency using Blake2b. However Siacoin have recently hard forked to a new alternative version of Blake2b algorithm. This is to only allow Obelisk SC1 ASIC and resist all other ASICs from the Siacoin network. This decision gave rise to three new chains namely Sia Hyperspace, Sia Classic and Sia Prime which all allows other Blake2b ASIC manufacturers such as Bitmain and Innosilicon on the network. Can’t say whether these chains will survive or not but the only users currently involved in these projects are the ones who own Blake2b ASIC miner. But how about Blake2s which is another PoW algorithm based on Blake2? Is Blake 2s still GPU mineable or are there ASICs available for this algorithm? If it is a GPU algo then what are the list of coins based on Blake2s hashing algorithm.
Blake2s Algorithm
Blake2 is a cryptographic hash function which is an improved version of SHA-3 hashing algorithm. There are two variants of Blake2 algorithm. 1. Blake2b which is optimized for 64 bit platforms and 2. Blake2s which is optimized for smaller architectures such as 8 to 32 bit platforms. The main advantage of Blake2s is that it is simpler, secure and faster and due to these features there are some mining advantages to it. But the question is whether or not Blake2s is GPU mineable?
Blake 2s is ASIC resistant and currently there are no powerful ASICs or FPGAs available for Blake 2s. It is perfectly GPU mineable. However currently there are only few cryptocurrencies based on Blake2s hashing algorithm. Among them 2 are multi algorithm coins and the remaining others are inactive and less popular altcoins with no real purpose or value. Using your GPUs you can mine Blake2 (2s) coins but considering the current market situation you’ll be mining at loss.
This algorithm was initially CPU mineable and there are software’s available for CPU. However this is not recommended and is not worth it anymore as GPUs are more efficient. Even if you are considering to GPU mine then only utilize NVIDIA as they are known to outperform AMDs. To GPU mine Blake2s coins you can use any one of the following miners.
- CCMiner: https://coinguides.org/ccminer-config-setup-troubleshooting-tips/
- Claymore Dual Ethereum miner (NVIDIA / AMD): https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1433925.0
- CryptoDredge: The latest version CryptoDredge
Blake 2s coins
Now following are the list of Cryptocurrencies that are based on Blake 2s hashing algorithm.
- Verge (XVG) – Multiple algorithm – Scrypt, Myr-Groestl, lyra2REv2, blake2s, x17
- Shield (XSH) – Multiple algorithm – Scrypt, Myr-Groestl, lyra2REv2, blake2s, x17, x16s
- Honey (HONEY) – PoW/ PoS – https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1823432.0
- Tajcoin (TAJ) – PoW/ PoS – https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1545060.0
- Nevacoin (NEVA) – PoW/ PoS – https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1388222.0
- Infocoin – Inactive
- PUPAcoin (PUPA) – PoW/ PoS – Inactive
- BlakeStar (BLAS) – PoW/ PoS – Inactive
From the above list Verge (XVG) is the only popular coin and then there is Shield (XSH) which has some active development. However both are multi algorithm crypto currencies and if you are looking to mine XVG or XSH using your GPU then mine using X17 hashing algorithm which should yield you more coins than mining blake2s. Apart from that all the others are heavily premined useless projects that are nearing its end.
The point of this post is not to share about these useless coins but to log information about Blake (2s) hashing algorithm. Similarly we’ve explained a number of Proof of Work algorithms which we hope will be helpful for you in deciding an algorithm to mine.
