USB miner for altcoins - is it possible?

[avikz]

During the initial days of bitcoin mining evolution, we have seen USB stick miners. It wasn't very popular but it was there and people have used them.

Just wondering if you know any USB miner hardware for altcoins.  Any leads will be appreciated.

As of now I am mining ETH using my Nvidia graphics card which is providing around 27 mh/s power. It's not significant but I am want to scale up with small investment.

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[VRExpress]

27MH? I'm guessing that's a gtx1660  usb miners that are available supports on sha256 algorithm and that's BTC I've never seen any made for altcoins before

[JayDDee]

"Scale up" and "USB miners" don't go together, they are toys at best.

[philipma1957]

there is a ltc/doge stick available.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2420357.0

not a great item but it mines at a profit IIRC

[adaseb]

Those USB miners sticks were typically developed so people can get an intro to mining without having to spend tons of money. They were never designed to be used as money making miners.

Usually people bought them as a hobby and were just messing around with them. They are only available for Sha256 and Scrypt Algos and nothing for ETH.

Since ETH requires a DAG I don’t see a usb stick miner being possible.

[avikz]

27MH? I'm guessing that's a gtx1660   usb miners that are available supports on sha256 algorithm and that's BTC I've never seen any made for altcoins before

Great Spot! It's 1660 Ti to be precise. Not a great tool for mining but runs the games with ease.

"Scale up" and "USB miners" don't go together, they are toys at best.

Understood! That's true! But the prices of ASIC miners are so high, it will break my bank account. I am looking for a cheaper alternative which can be profitable.

[JayDDee]

With your desire to mine altcoins and the high cost of ASICs, GPUs are the best way to scale up gradually and on a budget.

USB stick miners are an interesting idea but not very practical. The high power demands of mining vs the low power of USB
make for too many compromises.

The Moonlander (scrypt) is probably the most well known, I hear philipma might have some.

[FP91G]

Understood! That's true! But the prices of ASIC miners are so high, it will break my bank account. I am looking for a cheaper alternative which can be profitable.

The time has ended when video cards paid off in 3-5 months. If you understand video cards and you have cheap electricity, then the best payback video cards are the RX 470/570 and GTX 1060. You can buy them cheaper if you have such an opportunity. New video cards are now very expensive.