# How To: Mine VRSC

Use your CPU to mine Verus blocks and earn rewards.

Estimated time: 10 minutes to start mining
Cost: Electricity only
Difficulty: Beginner

# Prerequisites

Verus CLI installed and daemon fully synced (setup guide)
A modern CPU with AES-NI and AVX support (recommended — GPUs and FPGAs can also mine but CPUs are most cost-effective)
Terminal access

# About VerusHash 2.2

Verus uses VerusHash 2.2, a mining algorithm optimized for CPUs. It leverages AES and AVX instructions. FPGAs can mine but are intentionally equalized to ~2x CPU cost-performance — they're not blocked, just not dominant. No ASICs exist. GPU mining software exists (ccminer Verus2.2gpu branch) but GPUs generally perform worse than modern CPUs. Older CPUs without AES-NI can still mine, just at significantly reduced performance. This keeps mining accessible and fair: anyone with a CPU can participate.

# Steps

# 1. Ensure You Have a Wallet Address

./verus -testnet getnewaddress "mining"

Mining rewards will be sent to addresses in your wallet.

# 2. Start Solo Mining

./verus -testnet setgenerate true NUM_THREADS

Replace NUM_THREADS with the number of CPU threads to use:

# Mine with 4 threads
./verus -testnet setgenerate true 4

# Mine with all available threads
./verus -testnet setgenerate true -1

Expected output: (none — silence means success)

💡 Tip: Leave 1-2 threads free for system stability. If you have 8 threads, use 6.

# 3. Verify Mining Is Active

./verus -testnet getmininginfo

Expected output:

{
  "blocks": 926961,
  "difficulty": 56478309.28295863,
  "errors": "",
  "genproclimit": 4,
  "localhashps": 2500000,
  "networkhashps": 16857317,
  "pooledtx": 0,
  "testnet": true,
  "generate": true,
  "staking": false,
  "numthreads": 4,
  "mergemining": 0
}

Key fields:

"generate": true — mining is enabled
"numthreads": 4 — number of CPU threads mining
"localhashps" — your local hash rate (higher = better)
"networkhashps" — total network hash rate

# 4. Monitor Your Hashrate

./verus -testnet getlocalsolps

Returns your solutions per second. Higher is better.

# 5. Check for Rewards

./verus -testnet listtransactions "*" 10

Mined blocks appear as "category": "generate" transactions.

# 6. Stop Mining

./verus -testnet setgenerate false

# 7. Mine AND Stake Simultaneously

You can mine with CPU threads while also staking:

# Mine with 4 threads + stake
./verus -testnet setgenerate true 4

Any value > 0 enables both mining and staking (if you have mature coins).

# Solo Mining vs Pool Mining

Factor	Solo Mining	Pool Mining
Rewards	Full block reward when you find a block	Proportional share of all blocks found
Consistency	Very inconsistent (feast or famine)	Steady, smaller payouts
Difficulty	Need significant hashrate to compete	Low hashrate still earns
Setup	Built into Verus CLI	Requires pool software
Fees	None	0.1–5% pool fee (varies by pool)

Recommendation: For most users, staking is more practical than solo mining on mainnet. If you want to mine, use a pool — solo mining on an average desktop CPU is no longer practical given current network hashrate. Staking requires no special hardware and earns comparable rewards.

# Pool Mining

For pool mining, you need a separate mining application instead of the built-in miner.

# Popular Verus Mining Pools

Pool	URL	Fee
Luckpool	https://luckpool.net/verus	1%
Zergpool	https://zergpool.com	0.5%
Verus Farm	https://verus.farm	1%
Paddy Pool	https://paddypool.net	0.1%
Verus Pool (VCF)	https://pool.verus.io	5% (donated to VCF)

⚠️ Pool availability and fees change — check current pools at verus.io or the Verus Discord. The full list has 13+ pools.

# Pool Mining Setup (CCMiner)

Download a VerusHash-compatible miner (e.g., CCMiner — the officially recommended mining software)
Configure with your pool and wallet address:

ccminer -a verus -o stratum+tcp://POOL_ADDRESS:PORT -u YOUR_VRSC_ADDRESS.WORKER_NAME

Replace:

POOL_ADDRESS:PORT — from your chosen pool
YOUR_VRSC_ADDRESS — your Verus R-address
WORKER_NAME — any name to identify this miner

# CPU Requirements

CPU Feature	Impact
AES-NI support	Strongly recommended for competitive hashrate (older CPUs can still mine slowly)
Core count	More cores = more threads = higher hashrate
Clock speed	Higher is better per-thread
Cache size	Larger L3 cache helps

Typical hashrates (community estimates — actual results vary):

Intel i5 (4 cores): ~2-4 MH/s
Intel i7 (8 cores): ~5-10 MH/s
AMD Ryzen 7 (8 cores): ~8-15 MH/s
AMD Ryzen 9 (16 cores): ~15-30 MH/s
Server Xeon (32+ cores): ~30-60 MH/s

# Auto-Start Mining on Boot

Add to your Verus config (~/.komodo/VRSC/VRSC.conf):

gen=1
genproclimit=4

# What Could Go Wrong

Problem	Cause	Solution
`"localhashps": 0`	Mining just started	Wait 30-60 seconds for hashrate to register
Very low hashrate	CPU doesn't support AES-NI	Check with `lscpu \| grep aes` on Linux
No blocks found after days	Normal for solo mining	Switch to pool mining for consistent rewards
High CPU temperature	Too many threads	Reduce thread count; check cooling
System unresponsive	Using all CPU threads	Use fewer threads (`setgenerate true N` where N < total cores)

Last updated: 2026-02-07