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Proof-of-work coins

152 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
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1 Bitcoin BTC $83,648.04
$1.68T
$1.68 trillion
+0.66%
2 Zcash ZEC $1,259.62
$21.37B
$21.37 billion
+2.83%
3 Dogecoin DOGE $0.0866
$13.54B
$13.54 billion
+0.82%
4 Monero XMR $538.69
$10.14B
$10.14 billion
+3.08%
5 Bitcoin Cash BCH $285.62
$5.74B
$5.74 billion
+1.80%
6 Litecoin LTC $64.50
$5.01B
$5.01 billion
+0.66%
7 Ethereum Classic ETC $8.48
$1.35B
$1.35 billion
+0.99%
8 Kaspa KAS $0.0413
$1.15B
$1.15 billion
+1.05%
9 Dash DASH $52.50
$675.04M
$675.04 million
+1.71%
10 BELDEX BDX $0.0802
$631.02M
$631.02 million
+1.59%
11 Bitcoin SV BSV $19.32
$388.28M
$388.28 million
-2.00%
12 Conflux Network CFX $0.0673
$353.34M
$353.34 million
+10.00%
13 Decred DCR $16.62
$293.13M
$293.13 million
-2.42%
14 eCash XEC $0.0₅736
$148.00M
$148.00 million
+0.57%
15 Horizen ZEN $6.53
$120.08M
$120.08 million
+0.86%
16 Nervos Network CKB $0.00204
$101.73M
$101.73 million
+42.31%
17 QUBIC QUBIC $0.0₆623
$89.13M
$89.13 million
-3.29%
18 DigiByte DGB $0.00353
$65.25M
$65.25 million
-0.93%
19 ORE v2 ORE $121.81
$61.51M
$61.51 million
+16.10%
20 Nock NOCK $0.0240
$56.38M
$56.38 million
-14.02%
21 Siacoin SC $0.00100
$56.14M
$56.14 million
+0.17%
22 Verge XVG $0.00290
$47.91M
$47.91 million
-0.17%
23 Fractal Bitcoin FB $0.388
$42.53M
$42.53 million
-1.35%
24 Flux FLUX $0.0871
$36.67M
$36.67 million
+4.56%
25 Ravencoin RVN $0.00190
$31.37M
$31.37 million
-11.51%
26 EthereumPoW ETHW $0.277
$29.81M
$29.81 million
-0.43%
27 Xphere XP $0.00924
$27.92M
$27.92 million
-0.88%
28 ERGO ERG $0.326
$27.17M
$27.17 million
-1.46%
29 The Innovation Game TIG $0.836
$27.03M
$27.03 million
-2.76%
30 Quai Network QUAI $0.00961
$7.51M
$7.51 million
-0.17%

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

31 Cheesecoin CHEESE $0.597
$159.81M
$159.81 million
-0.03%
32 Zano ZANO $5.62
$86.83M
$86.83 million
-2.13%
33 Firo FIRO $0.982
$17.81M
$17.81 million
+0.30%
34 Quantum Resistant Ledger QRL $1.24
$14.84M
$14.84 million
-0.32%
35 TEXITcoin TXC $0.118
$10.64M
$10.64 million
-11.05%
36 Alephium ALPH $0.0687
$9.53M
$9.53 million
-0.20%
37 NEXA Token NEXA $0.0₅104
$6.10M
$6.10 million
+1.87%
38 MonaCoin MONA $0.0738
$4.85M
$4.85 million
-2.52%
39 Hathor HTR $0.00672
$3.47M
$3.47 million
+2.77%
40 XELIS XEL $0.407
$2.44M
$2.44 million
-7.08%
41 Syscoin SYS $0.00209
$1.92M
$1.92 million
-0.19%
42 BEAM BEAM $0.0103
$1.90M
$1.90 million
+4.61%
43 Nexus NXS $0.0218
$1.67M
$1.67 million
+0.03%
44 Bitcore BTX $0.0550
$908,860
$908,860
+0.68%
45 BitcoinZ BTCZ $0.0000320
$373,092
$373,092
-7.50%
46 Komodo KMD $0.00312
$345,234
$345,234
+0.00%
47 LBRY Credits LBC $0.00153
$314,702
$314,702
+1.06%
48 Aeternity AE $0.00642
$182,175
$182,175
+0.23%
49 Statter STT $0.00318
$160,247
$160,247
-2.06%
50 Sedra SDR $0.0₅400
$104,998
$104,998
-9.02%
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Trending Proof-of-work coins

Top Gainers
Coins Live Price Market cap 24h
Nervos Network CKB $0.00204
$101.73M
$101.73 million
+42.31%
ORE v2 ORE $121.81
$61.51M
$61.51 million
+16.10%
Conflux Network CFX $0.0673
$353.34M
$353.34 million
+10.00%
Flux FLUX $0.0871
$36.67M
$36.67 million
+4.56%
Monero XMR $538.69
$10.14B
$10.14 billion
+3.08%
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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