Do I need to choose between mining LTC and DOGE?

No. Merged mining (AuxPoW) means your Scrypt hardware submits the same proof of work to both chains at once. Point a rig at a merged-mining pool and it earns full LTC rewards and full DOGE rewards simultaneously — there is nothing to split and nothing to choose.

Does merged mining reduce my Litecoin earnings?

No. Dogecoin accepts Litecoin's proof of work as its own (Litecoin is the parent chain, Dogecoin the auxiliary chain), so DOGE rewards are earned on top of — not instead of — LTC rewards. Your LTC payout is exactly what it would be without merged mining.

Can I mine Scrypt (LTC/DOGE) with a GPU?

Technically yes, economically no. Scrypt ASICs made GPU mining obsolete on these chains: an Antminer L7 produces about 9,500 MH/s at 3,425 W (approx. manufacturer spec), while a GPU manages a few MH/s at hundreds of watts. A GPU's share of network hashrate is far too small to cover its power cost at any realistic electricity price.

LTC + DOGE Merged Mining Calculator

What is merged mining (AuxPoW)?

Merged mining lets one proof-of-work computation secure two blockchains at once. Litecoin is the parent chain; Dogecoin (which enabled this in 2014) is the auxiliary chain — it accepts a Litecoin block header as valid proof of work for a Dogecoin block, through a scheme called AuxPoW (auxiliary proof of work). Both chains use the same Scrypt hash function, which is what makes the pairing possible.

Concretely: your machine hashes one piece of work that commits to a block candidate on each chain. Every hash is checked against both chains' difficulty targets — meet Dogecoin's target and you win a DOGE block, meet Litecoin's and you win an LTC block, and one lucky hash can win both. Nothing is divided: 100% of your hashrate works for both chains simultaneously, which is why most Dogecoin blocks today are produced by Litecoin miners.

The reward schedules differ sharply. Litecoin pays 6.25 LTC per 150-second block, halving every 840,000 blocks (next at height 3,360,000 → 3.125 LTC). Dogecoin pays a fixed 10,000 DOGE per 60-second block forever — no halvings, roughly 5.256 billion DOGE minted per year, with the supply-inflation rate falling each year as the base grows. Dogecoin also retargets difficulty every block (DigiShield), versus Litecoin's 2,016-block retarget.

How combined hashprice is calculated

hashprice_LTC = (86,400 s ÷ 150 s) × 6.25 LTC × (1 MH/s ÷ LTC_network_hashrate) × LTC_price
hashprice_DOGE = (86,400 s ÷ 60 s) × 10,000 DOGE × (1 MH/s ÷ DOGE_network_hashrate) × DOGE_price
combined_hashprice = hashprice_LTC + hashprice_DOGE — same rig, same watts, two reward streams

Each term is: blocks per day × coins per block × your share of the network per 1 MH/s × USD price. Transaction fees are excluded on both chains — LTC fees are typically well under 1% of the block subsidy and DOGE fees are negligible next to the 10,000 DOGE reward — so the figure is slightly conservative. The calculator then applies your hardware and tariff:

profit_per_day = combined_hashprice × your_MH/s × (1 − pool_fee) × uptime − (watts ÷ 1,000) × 24 h × $/kWh × uptime
break_even_$/kWh = daily_revenue_after_pool_fee ÷ ((watts ÷ 1,000) × 24 h)

Why LTC-only economics look weak — and why the pair works

Judged on Litecoin rewards alone, Scrypt ASICs rarely pencil out. Live example — an Antminer L7 (9.5 GH/s, 3,425 W, approx. manufacturer spec) at $0.08/kWh: LTC rewards alone are worth about --/day against --/day of electricity, a net of --/day before pool fees. Add the merged DOGE stream and total revenue becomes --/day, for a net of --/day. At today's prices Dogecoin contributes roughly -- of combined Scrypt revenue.

That is the core of modern Scrypt mining: the two reward streams share one power bill, so the economics only make sense when both are counted. How much DOGE tilts the math — and whether LTC alone covers power at all — moves with prices and network hashrate; the figures above are recomputed from live data every 60 seconds, not fixed claims.

Operational notes before you buy

Heat and noise. An L7/L9-class machine sits in the ~75 dB class (approx. manufacturer spec) — comparable to a vacuum cleaner that never switches off — and converts essentially all of its ~3.4 kW draw into heat that has to be vented somewhere. The Mini-DOGE III class (~400 W) is the usual compromise for home settings, at proportionally lower revenue.

Electricity is the whole business. At current network conditions an Antminer L7 breaks even at about --/kWh. Many residential tariffs sit above $0.10–0.12/kWh — whether that lands above or below break-even depends on the live numbers, so check your own rate in the calculator rather than trusting a fixed rule of thumb.

Payouts. You normally configure nothing extra to receive DOGE: most major LTC pools pay it automatically alongside LTC — ViaBTC, F2Pool and Antpool are examples of pools that support merged mining. You mine Scrypt at the pool; it credits both coins side by side. Check the pool's payout page for which auxiliary coins it credits and the fee applied to each stream.

FAQ

Do I need to choose between mining LTC and DOGE?: No. Merged mining (AuxPoW) means your Scrypt hardware submits the same proof of work to both chains at once. Point a rig at a merged-mining pool and it earns full LTC rewards and full DOGE rewards simultaneously — there is nothing to split and nothing to choose.
Does merged mining reduce my Litecoin earnings?: No. Dogecoin accepts Litecoin's proof of work as its own (Litecoin is the parent chain, Dogecoin the auxiliary chain), so DOGE rewards are earned on top of — not instead of — LTC rewards. Your LTC payout is exactly what it would be without merged mining.
Can I mine Scrypt (LTC/DOGE) with a GPU?: Technically yes, economically no. Scrypt ASICs made GPU mining obsolete on these chains: an Antminer L7 produces about 9,500 MH/s at 3,425 W (approx. manufacturer spec), while a GPU manages a few MH/s at hundreds of watts. A GPU's share of network hashrate is far too small to cover its power cost at any realistic electricity price.