What is mining and what are the LBRY block rewards?

« Back to FAQ

What is mining?

Mining is a process where computing power is used to verify transactions on the LBRY network and add them to the public ledger (LBRY blockchain). It is also the process of how new LBRY Credits (LBC) are created as a reward for the successful miners (see details below). The process uses the mining software to calculate complex mathematical puzzles in order to secure the transactions. Both CPU and GPU hardware can be used for mining, but the current market is dominated by GPU and ASIC mining. LBRY uses a mix of SHA512, SHA256 and RIPEMD hash functions in its algorithm. To put it in the most simple terms: mining enables secure and fast LBC transactions.

Only trust the source

The source code, and not this file, is the only true definition of the block rewards. That source file is located here.

Mining reward schedule

Eventually 1,083,202,000¹ LBRY Credits will exist.

¹This value was updated from 1B (which was a nice round number for a FAQ) on 09/21/2018 with the goal of increasing accuracy and transparency. View the calculation here to verify the source code referenced above.

They are awarded on the following schedule:

• The genesis block created 400,000,000 Credits to be administered by LBRY, Inc. 300,000,000 of these will be strategically allocated to partners, many of whom have a direct interest in the naming layer. It also includes 100,000,000 earmarked for charity. Additionally, some may be given directly to the public in ways that add value and make sense. 100,000,000 are owned by LBRY directly.

• The remaining 600,000,000 are mined in 3 stages:

  1. The first stage went from block 1 to block 5100 and took roughly 9 days. Every block in this stage had a reward of 1 credit. This was the testing stage, to ensure that there were no glaring problems with the blockchain.

  2. The second stage was the ramp-up. It went from block 5101 to block 55000 (roughly 3 months of mining). During this stage, the block reward increased linearly from 2 to 500. 500 was the largest block reward available.

  3. The final and current stage is the "normal" mining stage. From block 55001 onward, the block reward decreases logarithmically over the course of 20 years.

• Block rewards ramped up slowly because we wanted to ensure that users were given some time to get LBRY up and running, and to avoid unfairly benefiting the earliest users.

• To see the current block reward, visit the LBRY Blockchain Explorer and explore the latest block details.

Other Information

The LBRY blockchain has a targeted block time of 2.5 minutes. This doesn't mean that a block will be confirmed exactly every 2.5 minutes, just that the average time between blocks is about that length.

The max size of each block is currently around 2 MB. In an average block, this translates to around 1800 transactions.

Where can I see this visually?

The Stats page on the Explorer has this information, including inflation rates and emission schedule. It can be exported to CSV.

See a mistake? Edit this page on GitHub.