Ore mining is becoming more intense, is it still worth participating?

Author: shaofaye123, Foresight News

Ore, as an experimental hackathon project, once caused congestion on the Solana network, and its token price drew attention. The launch of the second phase of the project immediately attracted countless followers. This article will guide you in participating in the gold rush.

What is Ore?

Ore is a digital currency deployed on the Solana blockchain, utilizing a proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm. This algorithm is designed to allow miners to maintain network security by solving cryptographic problems and earn corresponding cryptocurrency rewards. Unlike traditional mining projects, Ore adopts a non-exclusive mining reward mechanism, ensuring fair distribution of rewards among miners. Ore provides personalized computational challenges for each miner, and as long as miners complete their calculations, they can receive certain rewards. This mechanism avoids the "winner-takes-all" phenomenon in mining, giving every participant a chance to earn returns, thus enhancing the network's inclusivity and fairness. Ore has also set strict supply growth rates to address inflation issues during the mining process, with a linear increase of 0 to 2 Ore per minute. However, the background of the Ore project team is relatively mysterious, with the only known core developer being Hardhat Chad.

The second phase of Ore mining was announced to start at 8:00 AM Beijing time on August 6, activating the V2 upgrade while upgrading the V1 token metadata.

Ore v2 Version Update

Ore founder Hardhat Chad released the ORE v2 version update. The new version will be rolled out in three phases (upgrading V1 token metadata, activating V1 to V2 upgrade, and activating mining). The Ore v2 version update brings a series of noteworthy new features and improvements for miners, including the following key points:

• Removal of administrator variables: The new version replaces the management of administrator variables with an open-source algorithm, enhancing the system's decentralization;
• Supply limit: Ore v2 sets a total supply limit of 21 million coins, expected to be mined by 2064;
• Introduction of staking mechanism: Miners can earn up to 2 times the mining rewards through staking;
• CPU-friendly hash function: A more CPU-friendly hash function is adopted, lowering the requirements for mining equipment and improving accessibility;
• Optimized anti-witch attack strategy: The strategy has been optimized to reduce the risk of witch attacks;
• Client upgrades: Future support for more devices;
• Upgradable smart contracts: Smart contracts can be upgraded in the early stages and will be permanently frozen later;
• Token exchange: V1 tokens can be exchanged 1:1 for the new Ore within 3 months, providing a smooth transition for holders of the old tokens.

How to Participate?

Web Browser Mining Guide

1. Create an account: Visit the Ore official website, register, and create a new mining account.

2. Deposit funds: Deposit 0.1 SOL into your account, which will be used for Gas.

3. Start mining: Find and click the "Mine" button on your account interface, and the system will automatically allocate block difficulty, allowing you to start earning Ore.

4. Check rewards: In the mining interface, you can view the amount of Ore mined in real-time. Once confirmed, these rewards will be added to your account balance.

Script Mining Guide

For command-line mining (suitable for Linux or Mac systems):

If you have mined in the first season, simply execute: cargo install ore-cli, then input ore --- version, which should return ore-cli 1.1.0.

Install Rust environment: curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh

Install dependencies: sudo apt-get install build-essential

Install Solana development environment: sh -c "$(curl -sSfL https://release.solana.com/v1.18.4/install)"

Install ORE mining command-line program: cargo install ore-cli

Create ORE mining wallet: solana-keygen new

Input the following command to start mining: ore --- rpc https://api.mainnet-beta.solana.com --- keypair ~/.config/solana/id.json --- priority-fee 1 mine --- threads 4

Check mining rewards: ore --- rpc https://api.mainnet-beta.solana.com --- keypair ~/.config/solana/id.json rewards

Claim rewards: ore --- rpc https://api.mainnet-beta.solana.com --- keypair ~/.config/solana/id.json claim

(Script mining guide reference: @BtcCrush https://x.com/BtcCrush/status/1820475971042156872)

Mac and Linux support is more convenient due to the native terminal; for Windows, it is recommended to use the Ubuntu subsystem for operations.

(Official mining guide reference: https://ore.danielchrobak.software/)

Mining Efficiency Analysis

Ore primarily rewards based on difficulty allocation; the higher the difficulty, the greater the reward. Difficulty allocation is random and mainly relies on luck to produce high-difficulty blocks.

The probability of producing high-difficulty blocks is hard to increase

------ Extending the official default time of 30 seconds to search for high-difficulty blocks will halve the reward for each attempt, making it difficult to calculate profits.

------ Setting a minimum difficulty limit in the source code can also lead to losses if repeatedly rejected, making it equally challenging to balance.

Currently, the mining situation for Ore is quite competitive, with excessively high fees and low difficulty potentially leading to losses.

Gas rates below 50w may not be able to go on-chain, and based on current calculations, a difficulty below 18 may not cover costs, leading to losses. It is also advisable to participate cautiously if the machine is below M3 configuration. Compared to the current high enthusiasm for mining, the price trend of the coin appears somewhat average, remaining at a high level.

Here is a simple calculation of the relationship between current costs and coin prices:

• If Gas rises above 50w, assuming a successful transaction in about 1 minute, it consumes 0.00023 Sol, leading to a daily cost of approximately:
• 0.000255 Sol X 148 U X 60 X 24 = 54.3 U
• The current number of participating addresses is around 10,000 according to Dune statistics, and with the current coin price calculated at 450 U, the expected daily profit could be:
• 0.0001 X 450 U X 60 X 24 = 64.8 U (if luck is good, and the difficulty for top players is above 25, the returns can indeed be quite good)

Although current participation yields are average, Ore, as a POW token on Solana, is still worth keeping an eye on.