How to Mine Ethereum Classic (ETC) in 2026 (Free GPU Miner)

Ethereum Classic is one of the most established GPU-mined coins, and it's still a natural home for an NVIDIA rig. It runs on Etchash — a memory-bandwidth algorithm — so the trick to mining it well is your memory clock, not your core clock.

We build the HydraX miner, so this is the hands-on version: what Etchash needs from your card, the exact steps to point a free NVIDIA miner at ETC, how to tune for it, and how to mine Monero on your CPU at the same time so one rig earns on two coins at once.

What is Etchash, and why it suits a GPU

Ethereum Classic mines with Etchash, a variant of the old Ethash algorithm. Like Ethash, it's memory-hard: each share requires reading from a large dataset called the DAG, which lives in your GPU's memory. That design is deliberate — it keeps mining tied to memory bandwidth, which consumer GPUs have in abundance, and makes purpose-built ASICs far less dominant than on simpler algorithms.

The practical upshot for you: Ethereum Classic is genuinely GPU-friendly, a modern graphics card earns a fair share, and the single biggest lever on your hashrate is memory speed. Hold that thought — it changes how you tune the card later.

What you need before you start

1. An NVIDIA GPU with enough VRAM for the DAG. The ETC dataset is a few gigabytes and grows slowly over time, so a card with roughly 4 GB or more of memory works; RTX 30, 40 and 50 series cards all mine ETC well. If a card runs out of VRAM for the DAG, it can no longer mine the coin — so more memory also means more headroom for the future.
2. An ETC wallet address to receive payouts. Ethereum Classic uses an Ethereum-style address (it starts with 0x). Make sure it's actually an ETC address, not one for a different chain.
3. A mining pool for ETC (more below).
4. A miner. We'll use the free HydraX miner because it mines Etchash and can dual-mine Monero from the same program — but the steps generalize to any Etchash miner.

Step 1: Pick a pool

Unless you run a large farm, you'll mine ETC on a pool rather than solo — pooled payouts are small but steady instead of rare and random. An ETC pool gives you a stratum address and port to point your miner at, and you attach your 0x wallet address as the username. We list ready-to-paste connection details for ETC and the other coins we support on the recommended pools page, so you can copy a working config instead of hunting one down.

Step 2: Download and unzip the miner

Grab the latest free build, unzip it somewhere you can find, and you're ready to configure. The HydraX miner is a single Windows package — no installer, no toolkit to set up.

Step 3: Edit the config with ETC, your pool and wallet

Mining setup comes down to three facts: which coin, which pool, which wallet. Set the coin to ETC (Etchash), paste the pool's address and port, and paste your 0x ETC wallet address. Add a worker name if you run more than one rig so you can tell them apart on the pool dashboard. Save, and you're ready to run.

Step 4 (optional): Turn on Monero to dual-mine

This is the part most people leave on the table. Your GPU mines ETC; your CPU is free to mine Monero (XMR) with RandomX at the same time. Because the two use completely different hardware, you earn on a second coin for almost no loss on the first — ETC and Monero run together out of one miner. Set your XMR pool and wallet alongside ETC, pick the dual mode, and one rig now earns on two coins from a single power bill. For the full walkthrough, see our dual-mining guide.

Step 5: Start it and watch for the DAG and accepted shares

Launch the miner and watch the console. The first thing it does for ETC is build the DAG — it generates that multi-gigabyte dataset in GPU memory, which takes a short while the first time. Once that's done it connects to the pool and starts reporting a hashrate in MH/s. The number that matters is accepted shares: each one is proof your rig contributed valid work and is earning. If you turned on dual mining, you'll see Monero's shares scrolling alongside ETC's. Once you cross the pool's minimum payout, the balance lands in your wallet.

Step 6: Tune for Etchash (memory first)

Here's where ETC differs from a coin like Ravencoin. KawPow leans on the core clock; Etchash is memory-bandwidth bound, so your memory clock is the dial that moves hashrate most. The high-value levers, in order:

• Memory clock — the big one for Etchash. A stable memory overclock raises ETC hashrate directly. Push it gradually and back off the moment you see invalid shares or instability, because a fast-but-erroring memory clock loses you more in rejects than it gains.
• Power limit — cap it. Etchash doesn't need a high core clock, so lowering power usually trims heat and your electricity bill with little hashrate loss.
• Core clock — can often be kept modest or slightly reduced. Chasing core speed on a memory-bound algorithm mostly just wastes watts and adds heat.
• Temperatures — watch memory junction temperature especially, since you're pushing the memory. Keep airflow strong; sustained heat shortens hardware life.

Change one setting at a time, let it run, and confirm shares are still accepted before the next tweak. The goal is hashrate per watt, not raw hashrate — because watts are your power bill. A rig stable at a slightly lower clock beats one that crashes every few hours and loses uptime.

Step 7: Track it like a business

ETC's price and difficulty move constantly, so a coin that's green today can flip red after a price drop or a difficulty jump. Log what each rig earns, what you pay in electricity, and your real net over time — that's the difference between mining on hope and mining on numbers. Our free mining calculators make this easy: plug in your hashrate and power rate to see your real daily profit, and re-check whenever price or difficulty moves so you always know where you stand.

Frequently asked

Why does my miner spend time "building the DAG" before it mines? Etchash needs a large dataset in GPU memory to work. The miner generates it once at startup (and regenerates it occasionally as the network advances). It's normal — just wait for it to finish and the hashrate to appear.

My memory overclock raised hashrate but now I get rejected shares. What gives? You've pushed memory past stability. Invalid or rejected shares mean wasted work, so back the memory clock down until shares are clean again. Stable-and-slightly-slower beats fast-and-erroring every time.

Is ETC better than mining Ravencoin or Neoxa? It depends on price and difficulty for your exact card on the day. Compare them in the calculator, and remember you can switch — the same miner does both. See our KawPow coins guide for the GPU alternatives.

Does dual-mining Monero hurt my ETC hashrate? Almost not at all, because Monero runs on the CPU and ETC runs on the GPU. A well-built dual miner reserves just enough CPU to keep the GPU fed, so you gain a second income stream for a negligible cost.

Estimates only. Mining returns depend on volatile prices, rising difficulty, and your real costs. Not financial advice.