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Configuration Home Mining Guide Mining Overview Pool API Setup Solo Mining AMD Solo Mining NVIDIA Solo Mining Windows Wallet Guide
1 Mining Overview
Claude edited this page 2026-04-03 11:24:55 +01:00
Table of Contents

Mining Overview

Lethean uses the ProgPoWZ algorithm for Proof of Work mining and a hybrid PoW/PoS consensus model. Blocks alternate between mined (PoW) and staked (PoS) blocks, meaning that attacking the network requires both hashpower and stake.

Mining Parameters

Parameter Value
Algorithm ProgPoWZ
Consensus Hybrid PoW/PoS (alternating blocks)
Block time 120 seconds
Block reward 1 LTHN
Coin unlock 10 confirmations (~20 minutes)
Difficulty adjustment Tri-zone weighted average (720-block window)
Minimum GPU VRAM 2 GB

ProgPoWZ Algorithm

ProgPoWZ (Programmatic Proof of Work - Z variant) is a GPU-friendly mining algorithm designed to be ASIC-resistant. It utilises the full capabilities of commodity GPUs, making specialised mining hardware impractical to develop. This keeps mining accessible to individuals with standard graphics cards.

Both AMD and NVIDIA GPUs are supported. Recommended miners:

  • AMD GPUs: Wildrig Multi (1% developer fee)
  • NVIDIA GPUs: TT-Miner
  • Both (Windows): TT-Miner supports AMD and NVIDIA on Windows

Solo Mining vs Pool Mining

Solo Mining

In solo mining, your miner connects directly to your own Lethean daemon. You receive the full block reward (1 LTHN) when you find a block, but the time between blocks depends entirely on your hashrate relative to the network difficulty.

Pros:

  • Full block reward -- no pool fees
  • Complete control over your mining setup
  • No dependency on pool infrastructure

Cons:

  • Irregular income -- you may go long periods without finding a block
  • Requires running a full node
  • Less practical at lower hashrates

The daemon includes a built-in stratum server for solo mining:

./lethean-chain-node --stratum --stratum-bind-port=11555 --stratum-miner-address=<YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS>

For detailed solo mining guides, see:

Pool Mining

In pool mining, multiple miners combine their hashrate and share rewards proportionally. This provides more consistent income at the cost of a small pool fee.

Pros:

  • Steady, predictable income
  • Works well at any hashrate
  • No need to run a full node (the pool handles it)

Cons:

  • Pool fees (typically 1-2%)
  • Dependent on pool uptime and honesty

To mine on a pool, point your miner at the pool's stratum address instead of localhost. For example with Wildrig (AMD):

sudo ./wildrig-multi --print-full --algo progpowz --protocol ethproxy \
  -u <YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS> -o <POOL_ADDRESS>:<PORT> -w worker1 -p x

Or with TT-Miner (NVIDIA):

./TT-Miner -luck -coin LTHN -u <YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS> -o <POOL_ADDRESS>:<PORT>

CPU Solo Mining (Quick Start)

The daemon also has a built-in CPU miner for testing or low-power mining:

# Start the daemon
./lethean-chain-node --data-dir ./chain-data

# Start CPU mining (in another terminal)
curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:36941/start_mining \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"miner_address":"YOUR_iTHN_ADDRESS","threads_count":4}'

# Check mining status
curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:36941/json_rpc \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":"0","method":"getinfo"}'

# Stop CPU mining
curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:36941/stop_mining \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json'

CPU mining is significantly slower than GPU mining and is primarily useful for testing.

Hardware Requirements

Minimum

  • GPU with 2 GB VRAM (AMD or NVIDIA)
  • 4 GB system RAM
  • 20 GB free disk space (for the blockchain)
  • Stable internet connection

Recommended

  • Modern GPU with 4+ GB VRAM
  • 8 GB system RAM
  • SSD for blockchain storage
  • Ubuntu 20.04+ (Linux) or Windows 10+ (Windows)

Driver Requirements

  • AMD: Driver version 22.40 with OpenCL support
  • NVIDIA: Proprietary driver with CUDA toolkit (nvidia-cuda-toolkit)

Profitability Considerations

Mining profitability depends on several factors:

  1. Hashrate -- Higher hashrate means more blocks found (or larger pool share)
  2. Network difficulty -- Higher network difficulty means fewer blocks per unit of hashrate
  3. Electricity cost -- GPU mining consumes significant power
  4. Block reward -- Currently 1 LTHN per PoW block
  5. LTHN market value -- Determines the fiat value of your mining rewards

The hybrid PoW/PoS model means that only half of all blocks are mineable (the other half are staked). With 120-second block times, approximately 360 PoW blocks are produced per day.

Pool Integration (for operators)

Pool operators can integrate Lethean using the lethean-util Node.js native addon, which provides:

  • convert_blob -- block template conversion
  • get_pow_hash -- PoW hash computation (ProgPoWZ)
  • is_address_valid -- miner address validation
  • address_decode -- address decoding
  • get_blob_from_block_template -- block construction

The daemon's getblocktemplate RPC provides block templates:

curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:36941/json_rpc \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":"0","method":"getblocktemplate","params":{"wallet_address":"YOUR_iTHN_ADDRESS"}}'

Mined blocks are submitted via submitblock:

curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:36941/json_rpc \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":"0","method":"submitblock","params":["BLOCK_BLOB_HEX"]}'

Further Reading