DERO Mining

DERO's Σ-blocks (also called Sigma blocks, Sigma Mining in older Captain posts, or MiniBlock in the source tree) turn the entire network into one giant mining pool. Even miners with 100 KH/s get daily rewards based on their hashrate contribution.

Solo Mining Made Easy: No pools needed - the network automatically distributes rewards proportionally to all miners every few minutes.

The Σ-Blocks Revolution

Traditional mining:

Big miner (1 MH/s):  Finds blocks → Gets rewards ✓
Small miner (10 KH/s): Never finds blocks → Earns nothing ❌

Solution: Join pool, pay 2-5% fees
Problem: Centralization, trust pools

DERO Σ-mining:

Big miner (1 MH/s):   1000 shares/day → Proportional rewards ✓
Small miner (10 KH/s): 10 shares/day → Proportional rewards ✓

Solution: Network IS the pool
Benefit: Everyone earns daily, no pools needed

How It Works

Metric	Value	Notes
Miniblock time	~1-2 seconds	Σ-block (miniblock) emission
Main block	18 seconds	Settles 10 miniblocks
Settlement	Every block	~18 seconds
Daily miniblocks	~48,000	4,800 blocks × 10 miniblocks
Blocks per day	~4,800	86,400 seconds ÷ 18

Reward Calculator

Your hashrate vs network determines reward frequency:

Your Share of Network	Reward Frequency	Example Hashrate*
1/48,000	Daily	1 KH/s (if network = 48 MH/s)
1/96,000	Every 2 days	500 H/s (if network = 48 MH/s)
1/480,000	Every 10 days	100 H/s (if network = 48 MH/s)

*Network hashrate varies - check current hashrate in your daemon/miner output

Formula:

Your expected miniblocks per day = (Your hashrate / Network hashrate) × 48,000

Example:
  You: 10 KH/s
  Network: 48 MH/s
  Your share: 10,000 / 48,000,000 = 0.0208%
  Daily miniblocks: 48,000 × 0.0208% = 10 miniblocks/day

Mining Algorithm

AstroBWT v3

CPU-optimized, ASIC-resistant:

Memory requirement: ~256MB per thread
Difficulty: Adjusts every block
Target block time: 18 seconds

Why CPU-only?

✅ Democratizes mining (everyone has CPU)
✅ Prevents ASIC dominance
✅ Lower barrier to entry
✅ Better decentralization

Source: astrobwt/ directory, pow/pow.go

Solo Mining Setup

Step 1: Run Daemon

./derod-linux-amd64 --integrator-address=dero1qy...your_address

Step 2: Start Miner

./dero-miner-linux-amd64 \
  --daemon-rpc-address=127.0.0.1:10100 \
  --wallet-address=dero1qy...your_address \
  --mining-threads=4

Step 3: Monitor

Miner output:
  Hashrate: 10.5 KH/s
  Shares: 150 submitted
  Blocks: 2 found today
  
Daemon output:
  Miniblocks: Being processed
  Height: Increasing
  
Wallet:
  Rewards: Arriving proportionally based on your miniblock contributions

Time sync — install chrony

Miniblocks carry timestamps. derod's peer time check rejects clock offsets over ±1 second (p2p/timecheck.go:86) — sustained drift breaks chain sync and your blocks can be rejected by peers. MBR is a separate counter that tracks PoW-test failures only (cmd/derod/rpc/websocket_getwork_server.go:137 — "only counting rejected as those which didnot pass Pow test"), so clock drift won't show up there directly — it'll surface as failed peer time syncs and lost miniblocks. Captain's recommendation is chrony, not the default ntpd:

Install:

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install chrony
 
# CentOS / RHEL / Fedora
sudo yum install chrony
 
# Start and enable
sudo systemctl enable --now chrony

Captain's recommended config — add to /etc/chrony.conf or /etc/chrony/chrony.conf:

server time.google.com iburst prefer
server time.cloudflare.com iburst prefer

Verify:

chronyc tracking   # confirm offset is in microseconds, not seconds

If your derod prompt shows non-zero values in field 9 (time offsets — Bs|Cs|Dms), your clock is the problem — fix chrony first.

Reward Breakdown

Every Σ-block reward distributed as:

Recipient	Percentage	Goes To
Miners	88.4%	Split among share contributors
Integrator	10%	Daemon operator's address
Pool Fee	1.6%	Daemon operator (your daemon = you keep this!)

If mining on your own daemon:

You get: 88.4% (miner share) + 10% (integrator) + 1.6% (fee) = 100%
Pool miners get: 88.4% only

Advantage: 11.6% more rewards by running your own node!

Mining Performance

Hashrate Expectations

CPU Performance (approximate):

CPU	Threads	Expected Hashrate
Intel i5 (modern)	4	5-8 KH/s
Intel i7 (modern)	8	10-15 KH/s
AMD Ryzen 5	6	8-12 KH/s
AMD Ryzen 9	16	20-30 KH/s
Server (high-end)	32+	50-100+ KH/s

Benchmark your hardware:

./dero-miner --bench

This runs local performance tests and shows hashrate for different thread counts.

Mining Pools vs Solo

Aspect	Traditional Pool	DERO Solo (Σ-blocks)
Rewards	Daily, but 2-5% fee	Daily, 0% fee (own node)
Setup	Easy (just connect)	Medium (run daemon)
Centralization	High (pool controls)	Low (you control)
Trust	Trust pool operator	Trustless
Small miner friendly	✅ Yes	✅ Yes (even better!)

DERO = Best of both worlds

Captain's doctrine — solo on your own node

This isn't editorial framing. It's the architect's direct recommendation, repeated across the post-Stargate window:

Captain also shared specific reasoning during the same period: a single daemon supports more than 10,000 miners (2022-11-17, #suggestions (opens in a new tab)), and bench tests show solo mining has same-or-better rewards than pool (2023-04-04, #dero-mining (opens in a new tab)).

Sigma Mining's miniblock structure means even small miners produce shares regularly — the long variance penalty that drives pool culture on Bitcoin doesn't apply here the same way. A single daemon supports 10,000+ connected miners, so even a family or small mining group can share one node without scaling concerns.

Getting Started

Quick start:

Download:

https://github.com/deroproject/derohe/releases

Run daemon:

./derod --integrator-address=YOUR_ADDRESS

Mine:

./dero-miner --daemon-rpc-address=127.0.0.1:10100 --wallet-address=YOUR_ADDRESS

Profit:

Start contributing miniblock shares immediately
Rewards arrive proportional to your hashrate contribution
Check wallet for incoming miniblock rewards

Optimizing Mining

CPU Settings:

# Use all cores except 1 (keep system responsive)
--mining-threads=$(nproc --ignore=1)
 
# Set process priority
nice -n 19 ./dero-miner ...

Multiple Machines:

# All point to your daemon
Machine 1: ./dero-miner --daemon-rpc-address=192.168.1.100:10100
Machine 2: ./dero-miner --daemon-rpc-address=192.168.1.100:10100
Machine 3: ./dero-miner --daemon-rpc-address=192.168.1.100:10100
 
# Daemon tracks all shares, distributes rewards

Mining Economics

Block reward: Currently ~0.615 DERO per block (decreases over time via halving)

Daily emission:

Blocks per day: ~4,800 (86,400 seconds / 18 seconds)
Daily emission: ~2,952 DERO

Your daily earnings (example):

Your hashrate: 10 KH/s
Network: 48 MH/s
Your share: 10,000 / 48,000,000 = 0.0208%

Daily rewards: 4,800 × 0.0208% = ~1 DERO/day
Miniblock rewards: 48,000 × 0.0208% = ~10 miniblocks/day

Values are approximate and change with network hashrate and block rewards

Common Questions

Q: Can I mine with GPU/ASIC?
A: No - AstroBWT is memory-hard, CPU-optimized. GPUs/ASICs have no advantage.

Q: Do I need a pool?
A: No - Σ-blocks make solo mining practical for everyone.

Q: How often do I get paid?
A: Miniblocks settle every 18 seconds (each main block). You receive rewards proportional to your contributed shares in each block.

Q: What if my hashrate is tiny?
A: You'll still get rewards proportional to your hashrate share! Even 100 H/s contributes to miniblocks and earns rewards, just less frequently than higher hashrates.

Key Takeaways

What makes DERO mining special:

✅ Σ-blocks - Network is one giant pool
✅ Solo mining works - Even for small miners
✅ Daily rewards - Proportional to hashrate
✅ No pools needed - Decentralized by design
✅ CPU-only - Fair, accessible to all
✅ Integrator rewards - 10% bonus for node operators

Start small, earn daily: Even a laptop can mine DERO profitably. Try it with 1-2 threads and see rewards within hours!

Get Started Mining:

Run a Daemon - Setup your own node
Running a Node - VPS integrator node guide
DERO Wallets - Store your mining rewards

Technical Details:

AstroBWT Algorithm - Mining algorithm explained
Golang Performance - Why DERO is fast

Resources:

Mining Pools Stats (opens in a new tab) - Available mining pools
Daemon RPC API - Get block templates for mining
DERO Discord (opens in a new tab) - Mining help and community