is it possible to use a Bitcoin ASIC to mine an Alt Coin?

[colinistheman]

Would this even be possible? And if so, would it require re-programming of the device or could a software solution be made to mine, say, Litecoins, or Prime Coin?

I presume that if possible at ALL, it would only be possible for those alt coins which use a similar or nearly identical mining hash code?

[phatsphere]

well, "an ASIC" implies that it could be any one. hence, the answer is always yes. one just has to build one. if an "existing ASIC" could be used, well, that depends on the asic and the alt coin.

[franky1]

a bitcoin ASIC can mine any coin that is SHA256

a litecoin ASIC can mine any coin that is Scrypt

i have yet to see an ASIC that is released and being used that can do both

[Fallout]

Probably there will never be an ASIC being able to do both ... because then, it would not really be Application Specific (that is what the A and S are standing for), it would more be like an FPGA.

[colinistheman]

a bitcoin ASIC can mine any coin that is SHA256

This is what i was wondering. My bad, i left out the "Bitcoin ASIC" in my title and just put "ASIC".

How would one go about using the Bitcoin ASIC to mine the alt coin also based on SHA256?

[litecoin_messiah]

You can mine Bitcoin or any other Scrypt currency and sell them for The Alt Coin at http://cryptsy.com


Check http://coinchoose.com to see the profitability though

[TheSpiral]

a bitcoin ASIC can mine any coin that is SHA256

This is what i was wondering. My bad, i left out the "Bitcoin ASIC" in my title and just put "ASIC".

How would one go about using the Bitcoin ASIC to mine the alt coin also based on SHA256?

Same way you mine bitcoin.

[bumpk1nK]

a bitcoin ASIC can mine any coin that is SHA256

How would one go about using the Bitcoin ASIC to mine the alt coin also based on SHA256?

You have to use pool which allow mining alt coins

[krusin]

a bitcoin ASIC can mine any coin that is SHA256

How would one go about using the Bitcoin ASIC to mine the alt coin also based on SHA256?

You have to use pool which allow mining alt coins

Not true, I have been solo mining Zetacoin with my erupters. -o 127.0.0.1:port

[krasnyoktyabr]

a bitcoin ASIC can mine any coin that is SHA256

How would one go about using the Bitcoin ASIC to mine the alt coin also based on SHA256?

You have to use pool which allow mining alt coins

Not true, I have been solo mining Zetacoin with my erupters. -o 127.0.0.1:port

You can mine them, meaning that cgminer will allow you to try to use the wrong hashing algorithm to mine the coins, but it is impossible for something hashing SHA256 to successfully solve a block on a network with a different hashrate. CGminer will display your hashrate and everything, but you will never find a block.

[crazyearner]

a bitcoin ASIC can mine any coin that is SHA256

How would one go about using the Bitcoin ASIC to mine the alt coin also based on SHA256?

You have to use pool which allow mining alt coins

Not true, I have been solo mining Zetacoin with my erupters. -o 127.0.0.1:port

only with upto about 5GH then it shit its pants already tried to solo mine this stuff with 88GH with and just spits out stales so good luck trying with more hash power

[krusin]

a bitcoin ASIC can mine any coin that is SHA256

How would one go about using the Bitcoin ASIC to mine the alt coin also based on SHA256?

You have to use pool which allow mining alt coins

Not true, I have been solo mining Zetacoin with my erupters. -o 127.0.0.1:port

only with upto about 5GH then it shit its pants already tried to solo mine this stuff with 88GH with and just spits out stales so good luck trying with more hash power

I was only mining with a few Erupters...I have since moved back to mmpool.

a bitcoin ASIC can mine any coin that is SHA256

How would one go about using the Bitcoin ASIC to mine the alt coin also based on SHA256?

You have to use pool which allow mining alt coins

Not true, I have been solo mining Zetacoin with my erupters. -o 127.0.0.1:port

You can mine them, meaning that cgminer will allow you to try to use the wrong hashing algorithm to mine the coins, but it is impossible for something hashing SHA256 to successfully solve a block on a network with a different hashrate. CGminer will display your hashrate and everything, but you will never find a block.

You are talking about using a SHA-256 asic on scrypt I assume?

I have found almost 1000 Zetacoin blocks solo as Zetacoin is an altcoin with a SHA-256 algorithm.

[SpaceCadet]

I've been mining PPC with my BE's (also BTC for a while).  Could also mine TRC (and a few lesser SHA coin), but it's much less profitable (and PPC has PoS ...

[shakezula]

a bitcoin ASIC can mine any coin that is SHA256

How would one go about using the Bitcoin ASIC to mine the alt coin also based on SHA256?

You have to use pool which allow mining alt coins

Not true, I have been solo mining Zetacoin with my erupters. -o 127.0.0.1:port

only with upto about 5GH then it shit its pants already tried to solo mine this stuff with 88GH with and just spits out stales so good luck trying with more hash power

I was only mining with a few Erupters...I have since moved back to mmpool.

a bitcoin ASIC can mine any coin that is SHA256

How would one go about using the Bitcoin ASIC to mine the alt coin also based on SHA256?

You have to use pool which allow mining alt coins

Not true, I have been solo mining Zetacoin with my erupters. -o 127.0.0.1:port

You can mine them, meaning that cgminer will allow you to try to use the wrong hashing algorithm to mine the coins, but it is impossible for something hashing SHA256 to successfully solve a block on a network with a different hashrate. CGminer will display your hashrate and everything, but you will never find a block.

You are talking about using a SHA-256 asic on scrypt I assume?

I have found almost 1000 Zetacoin blocks solo as Zetacoin is an altcoin with a SHA-256 algorithm.

I also had no issues mining ZET with my erupters, and only Solo. I mined more than 1M of them in a few days, sold them all too. Very nice coin for mining.

[krusin]

You didn't keep any Shake? I have a small reserve...just in case.

[bcp19]

You can mine Bitcoin or any other Scrypt currency and sell them for The Alt Coin at http://cryptsy.com


Check http://coinchoose.com to see the profitability though

Did you even read the OP?  The thread title?  

[colinistheman]

You can mine Bitcoin or any other Scrypt currency and sell them for The Alt Coin at http://cryptsy.com

Check http://coinchoose.com to see the profitability though

That's true, one could always mine BTC and sell for the alt coin of their choice. My understanding was that because Bitcoin is becoming more difficult to mine, perhaps mining alt coins and then converting would be more profitable?

Is this a good idea or pointless? I've never figured out the conversion numbers of it all