What is Vertcoin?

Vertcoin is a cryptocurrency similar to Bitcoin and Litecoin, with the goal of being resistant to ASICs.

What is an ASIC?

Many popular cryptocurrencies are proof-of-work based, where a task is done in exchange for a reward. This type of cryptocurrency is normally based on a specific hashing algorithm (where this 'work' would be done), some of the more well-known ones are:

• SHA256 (used by Bitcoin)
• Scrypt (used by Litecoin & Dogecoin)
• X11 (used by Dash)

An ASIC, application-specific integrated circuit, is a device designed to mine a specific algorithm really efficiently, significantly more so than a normal CPU/GPU would. This means that the people who create these ASICs are able to earn money though mining with them significantly faster than anyone that doesn't have them. This gives hardware companies developing them the ability to monopolise both the process of mining & sale of these devices. ASICs have been created for all of the above algorithms.

Vertcoin's big selling point is that it's designed to be resistant to these ASIC devices (making it harder to create an ASIC that's significantly better than existing CPUs & GPUs). It's not the first to attempt this; Litecoin attempted to use the Scrypt algorithm, which is designed to counter ASICs by requiring large amounts of memory compared to SHA256. This worked for a time, but since January 2014 Scrypt ASIC devices started becoming available privately, and publically, over time.

Vertcoin's approach has been to require more memory over time - making any ASIC work only for a short time before modifications need to be made (they refer to this as an adaptive N-Factor). Many cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have had millions of dollars invested in ASICs for the associated algorithms, so the developers of these are under significant pressure to not change the associated algorithm (as the ASIC miners control so much of the mining power). The team behind Vertcoin has publically stated that if an ASIC is ever developed that works for their algorithm, they'd change the associated algorithm in a hard fork. This needs to be adopted by a large percentage of miners and, given the community around the coin, would very likely be adopted straight away to deter any ASIC from gaining a large percentage of the mining power.

Other unique features?

Other than being ASIC resistant, Vertcoin has a few other interesting features:

Atomic swap is coming soon between Litecoin & Vertcoin. This is a process where you can trade between Litecoin & Vertcoin directly with other individuals with no need to use an exchange. If this goes well (and lots of other coins don't do the same thing) it could cause significant gains in the price of Vertcoin.
Mining Vertcoin is very easy compared to most cryptocurrencies, as it has a one-click miner available (software which can easily be installed, and configured to mine in just a few clicks).
Mining difficulty for Vertcoin changes after every block using a difficulty adjustment called Kimoto Gravity Well, rather than after every 2016 blocks like Bitcoin & Litecoin do (this allows Vertcoin's block time to stay very consistent if large miners turn their hardware off/turn lots more on).
Here is a nice Infographic posted on Reddit with some highlights of Vertcoin's features.

Mining hardware

We've tried to focus on summarising Vertcoin rather than analysing its profitability, after a search we came across these graphics cards which seem to be popular for mining it (these are affiliate links):

• GeForce GTX 1080
• GeForce GTX 1070
• GeForce GTX 780

If you intend to buy one of these, do some research into its profitability!

Closing thoughts

I'm big fans of Vertcoin! It has lots of interesting features, and is taking steps to stay minable for the everyday person. In the near future there are some factors that might affect the Vertcoin mining difficulty though. Soon, Ethereum will be switching from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, which may cause the people currently mining Ethereum to move over to coins like Vertcoin. So be aware before you buy a GPU to start mining Vertcoin that the difficulty might increase sharply if this happens.

Given the upcoming changes to Ethereum & significant price increases for Vertcoin recently, be careful buying too much of it straight away! A method of investing called dollar cost averaging may be useful here, where rather than investing all your money in one go, you invest a smaller amount at a set interval, for example $200 once a month.