Mine mainnet Stacks tokens

Introducción

Make sure you've followed the run a node procedure. Once completed it's only a few more steps to run a proof-of-burn miner on the mainnet.

If you're interested in mining on the testnet, you can find instructions on how to do that here:

If you want to learn more about the technical details of mining, please review the mining guide:

Running bitcoind locally

To participate as a miner on mainnet, you must have access to a mainnet bitcoin node. One way to accomplish this is to run bitcoind locally. Ensure your computer meets the minimum hardware requirements before continuing.

First, download the bitcoind software for your platform from https://bitcoin.org/en/download.

Next, start bitcoind with the following configuration:

server=1
rpcuser=your-bitcoind-username
rpcpassword=your-bitcoind-password
txindex=0
listen=1
rpcserialversion=0
maxorphantx=1
banscore=1
bind=0.0.0.0:8333
rpcbind=0.0.0.0:8332
rpcport=8332

Finally, start bitcoind as follows:

bitcoind -conf=path/to/bitcoin.conf

It may take a few days for the node to synchronize with the Bitcoin mainnet.

Running a miner

First, a keychain needs to be generated. With this keychain, we'll purchase some BTC from a crytpocurrency exchange, and then use that BTC to start mining.

To get a keychain, the simplest way is to use the stacks-cli. We'll use the make_keychain command.

npx @stacks/cli make_keychain 2>/dev/null | json_pp > keychain.txt

After this runs, you should see some JSON in the new keychain.txt file that looks like this:

{
  "mnemonic": "exhaust spin topic distance hole december impulse gate century absent breeze ostrich armed clerk oak peace want scrap auction sniff cradle siren blur blur",
  "keyInfo": {
    "privateKey": "2033269b55026ff2eddaf06d2e56938f7fd8e9d697af8fe0f857bb5962894d5801",
    "address": "STTX57EGWW058FZ6WG3WS2YRBQ8HDFGBKEFBNXTF",
    "btcAddress": "mkRYR7KkPB1wjxNjVz3HByqAvVz8c4B6ND",
    "index": 0
  }
}

Don't lose this information - we'll need to use the privateKey field later on.

The above BTC address will then need to be imported into the BTC network.

bitcoin-cli -rpcport=8332 -rpcuser=your-user -rpcpassword=your-password importaddress <btcAddress from JSON above>

Once imported, we need to get some BTC to that address. You should be able to transfer BTC to this address using a crytpocurrency exchange such as Coinbase, Binance, or Kraken.

Now, we need to configure our node to use this Bitcoin keychain. Clone the stacks-blockchain repository to your local machine if you haven't already. In the stacks-blockchain folder, modify the file at testnet/stacks-node/conf/mainnet-miner-conf.toml.

Update the following properties:

[node]
...
# Enter your private key here
seed = "replace-with-your-private-key"
local_peer_seed = "replace-with-your-private-key"
...

[burnchain]
...
# To mine on mainnet, you need to run bitcoind locally
# Details can be found in above section, 'Running bitcoind locally'
peer_host = "127.0.0.1"
username = "<USERNAME>"
password = "<PASSWORD>"
...

Now, grab your privateKey from earlier, when you ran the make_keychain command. Replace the seed field with your private key. Save and close this configuration file.

To run your miner, run this in the command line:

stacks-node start --config=./testnet/stacks-node/conf/mainnet-miner-conf.toml

Your node should start. It will take some time to sync, and then your miner will be running.

Creating an optimized binary

The steps above are great for trying to run a node temporarily. If you want to host a node on a server somewhere, you might want to generate an optimized binary. To do so, use the same configuration as above, but run:

cd testnet/stacks-node
cargo build --release --bin stacks-node

The above code will compile an optimized binary. To use it, run:

cd ../..
./target/release/stacks-node start --config=./mainnet-miner-conf.toml

To read more about the technical details of mining on the Stacks 2.0 network, have a look at the mining guide.

Enable debug logging

In case you are running into issues or would like to see verbose logging, you can run your node with debug logging enabled. In the command line, run:

STACKS_LOG_DEBUG=1 stacks-node mainnet

Running a miner in Windows

Pre requisitos

Make sure are running a node and running bitcoind locally before starting this tutorial.

Generate keychain and get mainnet tokens in Windows

To setup the miner, first we need to generate a keychain. With this keychain, we'll purchase some BTC from a crytpocurrency exchange, and then use that BTC to start mining.

To get a keychain, the simplest way is to use the stacks-cli. To get a keychain, the simplest way is to use the stacks-cli.

Generate a keychain:

npm install --global @stacks/cli
stx make_keychain > cli_keychain.json
type cli_keychain.json

After this runs, you'll probably see some installation logs, and at the end you should see some JSON that looks like this:

{
  "mnemonic": "exhaust spin topic distance hole december impulse gate century absent breeze ostrich armed clerk oak peace want scrap auction sniff cradle siren blur blur",
  "keyInfo": {
    "privateKey": "2033269b55026ff2eddaf06d2e56938f7fd8e9d697af8fe0f857bb5962894d5801",
    "address": "STTX57EGWW058FZ6WG3WS2YRBQ8HDFGBKEFBNXTF",
    "btcAddress": "mkRYR7KkPB1wjxNjVz3HByqAvVz8c4B6ND",
    "index": 0
  }
}

Check out the Stacks CLI reference for more details :::

The above BTC address will then need to be imported into the BTC network.

bitcoin-cli -rpcport=8332 -rpcuser=your-user -rpcpassword=your-password importaddress <btcAddress from JSON above>

Once imported, we need to get some BTC to that address. You should be able to transfer BTC to this address using a crytpocurrency exchange such as Coinbase, Binance, or Kraken.

Update configuration file

Update the following properties:

[node]
...
# Enter your private key here
seed = "replace-with-your-private-key"
local_peer_seed = "replace-with-your-private-key"
...

[burnchain]
...
# To mine on mainnet, you need to run bitcoind locally
# Details can be found in above section, 'Running bitcoind locally'
peer_host = "127.0.0.1"
username = "<USERNAME>"
password = "<PASSWORD>"
...

Now, grab your privateKey from earlier, when you ran the stx make_keychain command. Replace the seed field with your private key. Save and close this configuration file.

Run the miner

To start your miner, run this in the command line:

stacks-node start --config=testnet/stacks-node/conf/mainnet-miner-conf.toml

While starting the node for the first time, windows defender might pop up with a message to allow access. If so, allow access to run the node. :::

Your node should start. It will take some time to sync, and then your miner will be running.

Enable debug logging in Windows

In case you are running into issues or would like to see verbose logging, you can run your node with debug logging enabled. In the command line, run:

set RUST_BACKTRACE=full;
set STACKS_LOG_DEBUG=1;
stacks-node start --config=mainnet-miner-conf.toml

Optional: Running with Docker

Alternatively, you can run the mainnet node with Docker.

Ensure you have Docker installed on your machine. :::

Generate keychain and get tokens

Generate a keychain:

docker run -i node:14-alpine npx @stacks/cli make_keychain 2>/dev/null

We need to get some BTC to that address. You should be able to transfer BTC to this address using a crytpocurrency exchange such as Coinbase, Binance, or Kraken.

Update configuration file

Update the following properties:

[node]
...
# Enter your private key here
seed = "replace-with-your-private-key"
local_peer_seed = "replace-with-your-private-key"
...

[burnchain]
...
# To mine on mainnet, you need to run bitcoind locally
# Details can be found in above section, 'Running bitcoind locally'
peer_host = "127.0.0.1"
username = "<USERNAME>"
password = "<PASSWORD>"
...

Now, grab your privateKey from earlier, when you ran the stx make_keychain command. Replace the seed field with your private key. Save and close this configuration file.

Start the miner

docker run -d \
  --name stacks_miner \
  --rm \
  --network host \
  -e RUST_BACKTRACE="full" \
  -e STACKS_LOG_DEBUG="1" \
  -v "$(pwd)/testnet/stacks-node/conf/mainnet-miner-conf.toml:/src/stacks-node/mainnet-miner-conf.toml" \
  -p 20443:20443 \
  -p 20444:20444 \
  blockstack/stacks-blockchain:latest \
/bin/stacks-node start --config /src/stacks-node/mainnet-miner-conf.toml

You can review the node logs with this command:

docker logs -f stacks_miner

Optional: Running in Kubernetes with Helm

In addition, you're also able to run a mainnet node in a Kubernetes cluster using the stacks-blockchain Helm chart.

Ensure you have the following prerequisites installed on your machine:

Docker
minikube (Only needed if standing up a local Kubernetes cluster)
kubectl
helm

Generate keychain and get some tokens

Generate a keychain:

docker run -i node:14-alpine npx @stacks/cli make_keychain 2>/dev/null

We need to get some BTC to that address. You should be able to transfer BTC to this address using a crytpocurrency exchange such as Coinbase, Binance, or Kraken.

Install the chart and run the miner

To install the chart with the release name my-release and run the node as a miner:

minikube start # Only run this if standing up a local Kubernetes cluster
helm repo add blockstack https://charts.blockstack.xyz
helm install my-release blockstack/stacks-blockchain \
  --set config.node.miner=true \
  --set config.node.seed="replace-with-your-privateKey-from-generate-keychain-step" \
  --set config.burnchain.mode="mainnet"

You can review the node logs with this command:

kubectl logs -l app.kubernetes.io/name=stacks-blockchain

For more information on the Helm chart and configuration options, please refer to the chart's homepage.

Introducción​

Running bitcoind locally​

Running a miner​

Creating an optimized binary​

Enable debug logging​

Running a miner in Windows​

Pre requisitos​

Generate keychain and get mainnet tokens in Windows​

Update configuration file​

Run the miner​

Enable debug logging in Windows​

Optional: Running with Docker​

Generate keychain and get tokens​

Update configuration file​

Start the miner​

Optional: Running in Kubernetes with Helm​

Generate keychain and get some tokens​

Install the chart and run the miner​

Introducción

Running bitcoind locally

Running a miner

Creating an optimized binary

Enable debug logging

Running a miner in Windows

Pre requisitos

Generate keychain and get mainnet tokens in Windows

Update configuration file

Run the miner

Enable debug logging in Windows

Optional: Running with Docker

Generate keychain and get tokens

Update configuration file

Start the miner

Optional: Running in Kubernetes with Helm

Generate keychain and get some tokens

Install the chart and run the miner