Guide · Oct 15, 2026 · 6 min read
Can a bitcoin miner mine other coins? What the algorithm on the spec sheet decides
A mining machine is built to solve one kind of puzzle, and the spec sheet names it. Here is what the algorithm line means, why a bitcoin miner cannot simply be pointed at another coin, and a three-step check before you buy anything.
TL;DR
- A mining machine solves one puzzle. The spec sheet's algorithm line names it, and for bitcoin the line reads SHA-256.
- A different coin uses a different puzzle, so a bitcoin machine cannot be pointed at it, and a machine for another coin cannot mine bitcoin.
- Hashrate numbers in different units cannot be compared: terahashes, gigahashes and kilosolutions are different things.
- Before you buy, read the algorithm, confirm the coin, then check what that coin's hashing earns.
Short answer: a miner mines what its chip was built for
A bitcoin mining machine is a computer that does one job. Inside it, chips are built to run one calculation, over and over, as fast as they can. They cannot be reprogrammed to run another. That one calculation is called the algorithm, and it appears on the spec sheet, usually just under the model name.
For bitcoin the algorithm is SHA-256. Bitcoin's own white paper describes the work miners do as scanning for a value that, "when hashed, such as with SHA-256," produces a result that begins with a number of zero bits. A machine that does that calculation fast is a bitcoin miner. A machine built for a different calculation is not, however many chips it has.
So the honest answer to the question is: a bitcoin miner mines bitcoin, and nothing in it can be switched to a different coin. The limit is in the silicon, not in a setting or a software update. If you want to mine another coin, you buy a machine built for that coin.
What "algorithm" means, in everyday words
Think of a lock that opens with a key you cannot calculate, only guess. Mining is guessing the key, trillions of times a second. The algorithm is the rule for how a guess is checked. Change the rule and a guess that was good for the old lock is useless for the new one.
A chip built to check guesses under one rule is fast at that rule and no use at any other. That is the whole point of a mining machine, and it is why a graphics card, which can be told to do many things, is slow at bitcoin next to a purpose-built machine. Our guide to mining with a laptop, a phone or a graphics card puts numbers on that gap.
Other coins use other puzzles
Different coins chose different rules. Zcash uses an algorithm called Equihash, according to Wikipedia's entry on the coin. Dogecoin's hash function is listed as Scrypt-based, in its entry, and the page notes that the coin's protocol was based on Litecoin's, which also uses Scrypt in its proof of work.
A few coins share bitcoin's rule. Bitcoin Cash, a separate coin that split from bitcoin, uses SHA-256 as its hash function, Wikipedia says. That is why two coins can share a machine type while still being different coins with different prices and different networks. We sell and host machines for bitcoin, and this guide is about how to tell them apart, not a suggestion to mine anything else.
Our catalogue, counted by algorithm
We list machines for three algorithms. On 15 October 2026 the catalogue held 442 industrial models: 393 built for SHA-256, which is bitcoin, 42 for Scrypt, which our store lists under Dogecoin, and 7 for Equihash, which is Zcash. Of those, 140 SHA-256 machines are in stock, 6 Scrypt machines and 2 Equihash machines.
Each model has exactly one algorithm. There is no machine in the catalogue that can do two. We list no machine for any other algorithm, so no Kaspa machine, for example, although our Data section tracks that coin's hashprice and Zcash's for people who follow them.
| Algorithm | Coin it mines | Models in the catalogue | In stock | Hashrate is quoted in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SHA-256 | Bitcoin | 393 | 140 | TH/s, sometimes PH/s |
| Scrypt | Dogecoin, as our store lists it | 42 | 6 | GH/s or MH/s |
| Equihash | Zcash | 7 | 2 | kSol/s |
Why you cannot compare the numbers across algorithms
Each algorithm counts its work in its own unit. Bitcoin machines quote terahashes a second, TH/s, a terahash being a trillion guesses. Scrypt machines quote gigahashes, a billion, or megahashes, a million. Zcash machines quote kilosolutions, kSol/s, which is a different kind of count altogether.
Here are three real spec lines from our catalogue. The Bitmain Antminer S21 XP does 270 TH/s from 3,645 W. The Antminer Z15 Pro does 840 kSol/s from 2,780 W. The Antminer L9 does 15 GH/s from 3,150 W. The 840 is not bigger than the 270, and the 15 is not smaller: they are not in the same unit and not for the same coin. The only fair comparison is what each machine earns in a day, after power, from its own coin.
That is also why the efficiency figure in joules per terahash only compares machines on the same algorithm. It is a useful number across bitcoin machines and meaningless between a bitcoin machine and a Zcash machine. Our guide to the spec sheet goes through the other numbers.
The pool and the wallet have to match the coin too
The algorithm line reaches past the machine. A machine is pointed at a pool, and each pool connection is for one coin: a bitcoin pool hands your machine bitcoin puzzles, and a machine built for a different algorithm cannot do them. The payout address you give the pool has to be an address for the same coin, as the guide to wallet addresses and payouts explains for bitcoin.
This is the most common way a first purchase goes wrong. Someone buys a machine for the biggest hashrate on the page, finds it is for a different coin, and discovers the pool, the wallet and the earnings all belong to that coin. Reading the algorithm first costs ten seconds and avoids all of it. If a listing gives a hashrate with no unit and no algorithm, ask the seller for both before you pay.
Check any machine in three steps
Step 1: read the algorithm line. It sits on the spec sheet and the product page. If it says SHA-256, the machine mines bitcoin. If it says something else, it does not, whatever the headline hashrate says.
Step 2: confirm the coin is the one you want. The machine mines one coin and, in practice, you will keep what it mines. If you came to keep bitcoin, a machine for another algorithm is the wrong one. Decide the coin before the machine.
Step 3: check what that coin's hashing earns. For bitcoin this is hashprice, the dollars a petahash earns in a day, on our hashprice chart. It was $39.56 a petahash a day on 14 October 2026. A 270 TH/s machine is 0.27 of a petahash, so it earns about $10.68 a day before power, which is $39.56 times 0.27. Other coins have their own figures in their own units, and they are not interchangeable with this one.
Read the algorithm line first. It decides everything after it.
What it means for a miner
If your aim is to hold bitcoin, the algorithm line you want is SHA-256, and the rest of the spec sheet, power, efficiency, cooling and price, is how you choose between machines that already pass that test. The machines we sell and host for this purpose are the SHA-256 ones, and the guide to what to check before you buy your first miner takes it from there.
One last point for anyone tempted by a machine for another coin because its hashrate number looks large. The number is in another unit. What matters is the coin it earns, what that coin costs you to make, and whether you want to keep it.
Pick the coin first. The algorithm follows from it.
Sources and further reading
- Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System — bitcoin.org, 2008
- Zcash — Wikipedia, 2026
- Dogecoin — Wikipedia, 2026
- Bitcoin Cash — Wikipedia, 2026
Disclosure
Firsthand Bitcoin sells and hosts mining hardware, including this machine. No manufacturer, distributor or affiliate programme paid for or reviewed this page and we take no commission on the links above. Historical figures are computed from daily bitcoin price and network hashprice, each day valued at its own prices. Nothing here is investment advice.