nonceMiner

A quick casual project I wrote to try out applying hash midstate caching on the cryptocurrency project duino-coin. The idea is to cache the SHA-1 algorithm's state after it processes the prefix (creating the midstate) then to finish the hash with the guessed nonces repeatedly, but while reusing the midstate, until the right nonce is found. This saves a lot of calculation, and it's already being used in Bitcoin mining.

Aside from server bottlenecks, my i7-8550U peaked at 18 MH/s running mp_miner.py. In other words, it's probably the fastest DUCO-S1 miner around, barring GPUs. To try it out yourself, grab a release! When prompted about processess, 16 or 8 is recommended.

The "src" folder contains C code that implements the shortcut and also a Cython wrapper, so C/C++ programmers can use those source files. This includes an unmodified copy of sha1. Python programmers can grab the precompiled extension from a release.

Compiling

On the other hand, cloning this repo will require compiling the program from scratch.

Windows

Prerequisites: cython, pyinstaller, and Visual Studio Build Tools 2019

1. Call make windows in the nonceMiner directory
2. Call make executable
3. Execute mp_miner.exe in ./dist/

Linux

Prerequisites: cython, and pyinstaller

1. Call make linux-gnu in the nonceMiner directory
2. Call make executable
3. Execute mp_miner in ./dist/

macOS

Currently not supported, but confirmed working by @MattLancaster

Prerequisites: cython

1. Call make linux-gnu in the nonceMiner directory
2. Execute python3 mp_miner.py