Did you know that Dogecoin (DOGE) was intended as a joke? The creators made DOGE as a mechanism to enable users to tip each other for fun social media content. Despite the fact that DOGE set off on a whimsical foot, it's become one of the most popular cryptocurrencies out there.

When it comes to mining DOGE, the fastest and most profitable way to do so is using ASIC-driven hardware, a rig that uses application specific integrated circuits or ASICs. You also need to be a member of a DOGE mining pool. In short, you need three basic things in order to start mining Dogecoins:

A mining rig (you are better off choosing ASIC hardware). Your choice of Dogecoin mining pool – we will list some below. The right software configuration. Mining Dogecoin can be profitable: transactions on the Dogecoin blockchain happen quickly so it means that DOGE mining pools tend to make payouts every 24 hours.

Over and above quick payouts, you can also rely on consistent revenue from Dogecoin. As a result, mining Dogecoin is efficient and profitable – and a good prospect. There are also plenty of markets where you can sell your Dogecoin which means that it is worth considering Dogecoin mining to generate a daily income for yourself.

How to mine Dogecoin

DOGE is based on the Scrypt hashing algorithm and for that reason the best way to mine it is using something like the Antminer L3++ as this device makes use of ASICs. Furthermore, you should seriously consider joining a mining pool when mining DOGE coins because it is simply the best way to maximise profits.

What does it mean to join a mining pool? It's simple really: you add your mining power to a group of other people's mining capabilities so that collectively you can achieve a higher hash rate – which means that it becomes quicker to solve the problems that lead to a crypto block award. In contrast, mining a single block on your own can take months or even years which means you will wait a very long time for any kind of reward, and you will have costs to cover in the meantime.

What's required for mining DOGE

There's a couple of things you need in place to mine Dogecoins. Your internet connection is the first, and we'll suggest that you have uncapped usage on your connection, but make sure you have at least 0.5GB per day available. Next, you need a wallet to store your DOGE, you will also use this wallet to cash out your Dogecoins. DOGE has a free wallet which you can try, but many wallets support DOGE.

You need: an ASIC miner as your mining rig, Internet that's 24/7 always-on, an estimate of how much power you will consume with your rig, and a trustworthy crypto wallet which can receive your Dogecoins.

Mining Dogecoins effectively and risk-free involves a couple of other complexities. Keep in mind that your mining rig will use a lot of power, so make sure your home or facility's electrical power grid can support the power consumption of your mining rigs, particularly if you have several units.

Because your rigs will work around the clock you should also account for heat build-up because these hardware units can generate a lot of heat. You need to cool your rigs so that you can make sure they keep on working 24/7 and to make sure mining performance stays at its maximum. Overheated machines can also be noisy.

The best mining rig to buy

Recently, ASIC mining hardware was released which is able to mine coins using the Scrypt algorithm, that includes Dogecoin. Amongst your current options we think Bitmain Antminer L3++ is really your best option because it offers a good balance between electricity consumption and hashing power – and of course, price. In comparison the BW L21 has a low hash rate and also uses less power but the price is far higher for this ASIC rig.

Configuring your ASIC hardware and software

Because you are mining DOGE with an ASIC rig you don't need to worry about tricky software downloads and configuration anymore. ASICs come with pre-configured software pre-installed which means you are ready to get going by doing some basic configuration.

Connect your ASIC to your power supply of choice. It's easy to do this but do make sure you plug in every connector, you also need to plug your power supply into your power grid, of course. Don't forget to plug the LAN cable in too.

Choose the Dogecoin mining pool that suits you best. Look at the popular DOGE mining pools and weigh up how these pay out rewards, what the fees are for mining and also make sure the payment method suits you. Some of the best pools include Aikapool, BlockMasters and Multipool.

Mining DOGE in the cloud

Like other cryptocurrency, you can mine DOGE using a cloud platform, which could be attractive to you if you don't want to faff with anything technical, prefer not to make an initial investment or simply don't want to risk the electricity bills. When you use cloud mining you are basically asking a third party to do all the work, in exchange for a payment.

You might find some cloud mining vendors offer a couple of months of free mining. However always make sure you are completely aware of all terms and conditions. ICAPMarket can be a good option here.

Calculating Dogecoin profits

You always need to check your potential earnings before you start to mine. Note that returns vary depending on a range of factors which will change all the time – from block reward, to the value of DOGE and of course the overall network difficulty.

Common questions about Dogecoin

How long will it take me to mine one DOGE?

It depends on your mining hardware, but by example the BW L21 can hash at 550 megahashes per second, which means you can mine one DOGE in less than an hour.

Should I mine DOGE?

Well, work out if the money that you get from selling the DOGE you earn will cover the costs of mining it – if so, you should consider mining Dogecoin.

Is there a fixed supply of DOGE?

Unlike some other cryptocurrencies, there is no limit to the supply of Dogecoins – as such you can't estimate when the very last DOGE will be mined.

Is DOGE mining legal?

For the most part, yes – many countries ranging from Canada and the US through to Russia are completely open to cryptocurrency but some countries including Morocco, Algeria, Bolivia and Nepal will have limits on both mining and trading of cryptocurrencies.

More about Dogecoin

Billy Markus (from Portland in Oregon) created a coin which he hoped will be fun and easy to access. Since then, Dogecoin (DOGE) has achieved a big market cap. Around the same time someone called Jackson Palmer was asked by a student on Twitter to make the idea popular.

Dogecoin is based on the Scrypt algorithm and DOGE was released on the 6th of December in 2013, quickly becoming a sensation. It's no wonder it has become a sensation on the internet – and it also brings solid opportunities to make profits by mining it.