Litecoin (LTC) has been doing pretty well lately and no wonder that with the returning user interest in one of the oldest altcoins out there, ASIC manufacturers are also trying to attract new customers for their improved mining hardware. Here comes the new Innosilicon A6+ LTC Master ASIC miner wth PSU included promissing 2.2 GHS Scrypt hashrate at 2100W of power usage ready for shipping at a price of $3000 USD (or 0.613874 BTC or 45.034 LTC with the current prices). Innosilicon A6+ is an enhanced version of last year’s Innosilicon A6 LTC Master with improved performance and energy efficiency. The new Scrypt ASIC miner almost doubles the hashrate with just half of the power usage increase and it is interesting to note that Innosilicon still sells the old A6 miner at a price of $2000 USD without PSU for 1.23 GHS hashrate with 1500W power usage (significantly less than the initial price of $6300 USD it had when announced). Unfortunately running the numbers for the new miner through an LTC mining calculator, while profitable, the profit you can currently get over the power cost isn’t really attractive to really make you want to pull the trigger and get the miner.

Innosilicon A6+ LTC Master Specifications:
– Hashrate: 2.2 Gh/s (+/-5% performance)
– Power Consumption: 2100w ( +/-10%, normal mode, at the wall, with 93% efficiency PSU, 25°C temperature)
– Size: (L)360mm*(W)155mm*(H)247mm (dual tube)
– Net Weight: 9.31KG (without PSU)
– Internet connection: Ethernet
– Ambient Temperature: 0°C to 40°C

– For more details about the new Innosilicon A6+ LTC Master Scrypt ASIC miner…

Futurebit’s Apollo LTC Pod ASIC Miner is not new, but the mining device is getting better and more functional over time. The latest Batch 3 of the Apollo comes with support for a full Litecoin (LTC) Node that can run on the miner itself with the blockchain stored on a large enough USB drive plugged in to the USB port of the device. There are three different version of the Apollo LTC Pod available – a Standard one for the miner only with no PSU sold for $349.99 USD, Full Package with a 200W custom power supply for $399.99 USD and a Full Node package that also includes a 64GB USB flash drive for the Litecoin blockchain available for $419.99 USD. All three versions support running a full Litecoin node, so you can use a custom PSU and your own USB flash drive if you already have them and get just the standard package or get everything bundled.

Full node support is available out of the box with the latest Batch 3 of the Apollo LTC Pod miners, earlier Batch 2 miners will just require software update in order to be able to get the new functionality. Owners of the first batch of Futurebit Apollo LTC Pod ASIC miners however should need a hardware upgrade in the form of a new MCU board due to insufficient RAM on Batch 1 units. The good news is that there is also an Apollo Full Node Upgrade Kit available. Here you can find more details and instructions on how to run a full node on the Futurebit Apollo LTC Pod.

Futurebit Apollo LTC Pod ASIC Miner Features:
– Compact Stand-alone Pod Style Miner (4x6x4in) that mines any scrypt based algorithm coin (Litecoin, Digibyte, Verge, Einsteinium, Gulden, etc)
– Runs a Full Litecoin Node directly on the device
– Very wide range of operation modes with preset ECO (quiet) mode, BALANCED, and TURBO mode.
– 100-135+ MH/s of Scrypt performance per miner (+/- 5%)
– Industry leading 1W/MH in ECO mode, and 1.4W/MH for TURBO (100-200 watts +/- 10%)
– Powered by a fully integrated Quad-Core A7 ARM based controller
– First miner to be fully controlled over wifi, only cable needed is power! (this will be a Beta feature on launch..backup ethernet port is available as well).
– Clocks and Voltage is fully customizable by user with easy to use interface (no more pots!)
– Industry leading 97% efficiency 12v power-stage, with 27 ASIC chips powered in a 3×9 parallel/serial power arrangement
– Custom designed cold forged hexagonal pin heatsink with leading thermal performance for the quietest ASIC miner in operation!
– 2k-6k PWM High Static Pressure Dual Ball Bearing Fan with automatic thermal management with onboard temperature sensor
– Controlled via local connection on a web browser similar to antminers. You can simply set it up via smartphone browser. No crazy driver installs, hard to use miner software or scripts needed.
– Two Six Pin PCIE power connectors for wide-range of power draw (only one is needed in ECO mode)
– Custom Designed all Aluminum case
– Now comes with its own optional PSU and is ready to run out of the box with the PSU+SD Card option!
– New future platform features including full-node/peer to peer fully decentralize mining, full stand-alone solo mining, cloud/app based controls, and more in development.

Do note that the Apollo LTC Pod ASIC miner is not intended for use in large Scypt ASIC mining farms, the device is designed with the home user in mind that will most likely run a single not so powerful miner at home and will require a more affordable and silent in terms of operation hardware. The Apollo LTC Pod is a Scrypt miner that comes with its own web-based control and monitoring functionality, it is a standalone miner that does not require to be connected to a computer to operate. With it you can mine any Scrypt-based cryptocurrency and not just Litecoin (LTC), however as far as the new full node support is concerned it is only for Litecoin at the moment in order to provide more nodes to the network.

– If you are interested in the Futurebit Apollo LTC Pod ASIC Miner Running Full Litecoin Node…

The Bitmain AntMiner S9 series for Bitcoin (BTC) mining and AntMiner L3 series for Litecoin (LTC) or other Scrypt crypto coins re now legendary as although a bit old already they are still being used around the world and can still be nice to play around for various custom projects. You can pick these ASIC miners pretty cheap at the moment and use them as space heaters with a little tinkering to make them not so noisy. And they will not only provide you with heat or the cold winter days, but will also pay for some of the electricity they use by mining some crypto coins for you. So, although they may not be profitable if you think about them as miners, they can be turned into great space heaters that will still be better than regular heaters that only use a lot of electricity to generate heat.

If you still have and Antminer S9 or AntMiner L3 series of ASIC miners from Bitmain, or get some used units cheap, then you might want to check out the Hiveon ASIC Firmware for these devices as it will allow you to easily tweak them for either performance or efficiency. There are easy to use profiles to help you run the miner at the exact settings you want to with multiple options in between optimal power efficiency with reduced hashrate or highest possible hashrate. So, you can turn your AntMiner L3+ into a power efficient 500 MH/s Scrypt miner with 660W of power usage, or a 720 MH/s miner at 1300W of power usage or a few more options in between. Then you can head on to dual mining Litecoin (LTC) and DogeCoin (DOGE) for maximum earnings and the same applies to the AntMiner S9 series where you could be mining Bitcoin with a hashrate of 8.8 TH/s at 680W of power usage or up to 19.1 TH/s with 1880 Watts of power if you manage to properly keep the miner cool.

But HiveOn does not only offer alternative mining firmware of these ASIC miners, it comes with a complete management platform ASIC Hub for easier mining with ASIC miners, especially if you have more than just one miner. And there are not only the older S9 and L3 models supported with alternative firmware, newer Bitmain AntMiner ASICs are also available for use such as the S19 models or the T19. The ASIC Hub supports much more ASIC mining devices with their standard firmware from Bitmain, WhatsMiner, Avalon (Canaan), Innosilicon, Ebang etc. So, if you still haven’t checked out what features and advantages you might get with your mining hardware. Then there is also the HiveOS for GPU miners by HiveOn, if you still haven’t checked this one out as well.

– To check out the alternative ASIC firmware available from HiveOn…

Goldshell has completed their new BOX II home-oriented mini miners line-up with the release of the MINI DOGE II miner that is now available on their website for orders. The new Goldshell MINI DOGE II ASIC miner, much like the other BOX II devices, comes with dual operating modes – 420 MH/s at 400 Watts or 355 MH/s at 260 Watts for the Scrypt algorithm. The device can merge-mine LTC and DOGE simultaneously or any other Scrypt-based crypto currency. The new Mini DOGE II miner comes in the updated slightly larger and heavier form factor compared to the older MINI DOGE PRO devices and with dual 6-pin PCI-E power connectors due to the increased power usage, just like the rest of the BOX II product line. There is a slight improvement in terms of efficiency for the higher hashrate mode where you get 0.95 Watts per Megahash (compared to 1.1 Watt per Megahash for the MINI DOGE PRO), but the more interesting efficiency wise number is in the low power mode where you get 0.78 Watts per Megahash in terms of power usage.

The new MINI DOGE II Scrypt ASIC miner is available for order at a price of $495 USD from the official Goldshell website, the price does not include shipping and taxes and it is for a WiFi equipped version (apparently wireless connectivity comes standard for this model). Expected date for the orders to start shipping is said to be before March 13, so in about two weeks. Do note that the official specs, just like with other BOX II devices are wrong in terms of the actual size cited by Goldshell, the devices are slightly larger and heavier compared to the previous PRO models!

Official Goldshell MINI DOGE II Specifications:
– Default Hashrate Mode: 420 MH/S ±5%
– Default Hashrate Power: 400 W ±5%
– Low-Power Mode: 335 MH/S ±5%
– Low-Power Mode: 260 W ±5%
– Operating Temp: 0~35 ℃
– Dimension: 178mm*150mm*84mm
– Noise： ≤35 dB
– Connection Port: Ethernet/Wi-Fi
– Net Weight: 2.3 kg

In terms of efficiency even in the low power mode the Goldshell MINI DOGE II is still very far from what the latest Bitmain Antminer L7 Scrypt ASIC miner is able to offer, but not everyone can afford an L3 or be able to run it due to its high-power requirements. Goldshell MINI DOGE II comes as a more affordable, even though not the most efficient solution, that you can easily run at home or in a small mining operation. It is pretty silent and easy to operate, placement around the home is easier if using WiFi connectivity and can be used as a compact home heater that kind of covers the whole electricity it uses (depending on your electricity costs) at the moment. Interesting, but not very profitable new release with the current market conditions, so do think twice before pulling the trigger on this one.

– To visit the official Goldshell MINI DOGE II Scrypt ASIC miner product page…

The next generation of Scrypt mining performance and efficiency comes from Lokotech, a Norwegian company, that has opened pre-orders for their Lokotech Hashblade Scrypt ASIC boards offering about 2 GH/s mining hashrate at just 145 Watts of power (about 0.0726 J/MH) and the mining boards come in the form of PCI-E cards. The device comes in the form of a PCI-E x1 board with 128 pieces of the S1 ASICs mounted on it, air or immersion cooled and powered by 2x 6/8-pin PCI-E power connectors, communication with the computer is done either over PCI-E x1 or USB cable. And now for the most important question – the price – it is currently set at $1999 USD per board for the just opened pre-orders with shipping expected in the second half of 2024. Lokotech is also offering for pre-order a complete mining system with 10 of their Hashblades inside giving you around 20 GH/s hashrate with around 1750 Watts of power usage, also shipping in the second half of 2024 with a price tag of $20199 USD.

We haven’t seen much of development from other already known manufacturers of Scrypt ASIC miners for a while now, so maybe Lokotech will help a bit in moving and shaking that space as well with their upcoming release that offers better hashrate and power efficiency. So, if you pre-order now it will be more than half a year before you get your mining hardware and you should have that in mind as a lot can and will probably happen next year in the crypto world. Some of you might know that earlier this year we’ve had another Litecoin (LTC) halving with the block reward going down from 12.5 LTC to 6.25 LTC and the next halving will be in 4 more years, so that is a while before mining profitability for LTC goes down significantly due to another halving. Then there is the merged mining of LTC and DOGE, so this is probably what most people will point their Scrypt miners at anyway, but then again you will also have the option to mine other alternative Scrypt-based crypto coins as well.

– For more information about the preorder of Lokotech’s Scrypt ASIC miners…