ReadableCryptoMiner

Educational Python 3 code for understanding Monero-era CryptoNight mining and Stratum/JSON-RPC interactions.

Project Status

This project is deprecated for real Monero mining.

Monero switched its Proof-of-Work algorithm from CryptoNight-family variants to RandomX on 2019-11-30 (network upgrade at block 1978433).

Strictly speaking, this repository implements a CryptoNight variant=1 style path (Apr 2018 era) and is not a RandomX miner. It is also not a complete CryptoNight v4 / CryptoNight-R implementation.

Use this repository as educational/reference code only, not as a current XMR miner.

Historical Context (Monero PoW)

1. CryptoNight v0 from genesis (block 0, 2014-04-18)
2. CryptoNight v1 at block 1546000 (2018-04-06)
3. CryptoNight v2 at block 1685555 (2018-10-18)
4. CryptoNight v3 / CryptoNight-R (CN/R, often called CNv4 in miner tooling) at block 1788000 (2019-03-09)
5. RandomX v0 at block 1978433 (2019-11-30)

References:

• https://docs.getmonero.org/proof-of-work/cryptonight/
• https://docs.getmonero.org/proof-of-work/random-x/
• https://github.com/tevador/RandomX

Scope and Limitations

• The code is intentionally readable and optimized for learning, not performance.
• The implementation is CPU-only and very slow compared to production miners.
• CLI currently exposes --algo cryptonight only, with code paths tied to CryptoNight variant=1 behavior.

Command Line Interface

ggminer.py [-h] [-a {cryptonight}] [-o URL] [-u USERNAME] [-p PASSWORD] [-t THREAD] [-d DEBUG]

optional arguments:
  -h, --help                       show this help message and exit
  -a, --algo                       hashing algorithm to use for proof of work {cryptonight}
  -o URL, --url URL                stratum mining server url (e.g. stratum+tcp://foobar.com:3333)
  -u USERNAME, --user USERNAME     username for mining server
  -p PASSWORD, --pass PASSWORD     password for mining server
  -t THREAD, --thread THREAD       number of mining threads to start
  -d, --debug                      show extra debug information

Quick Start (Legacy Demo)

python src/rd_cryptominer/ggminer.py --url stratum+tcp://example.com:3333 --debug 2

Use this as a protocol/hash experimentation entry point, not for production mining.

Config File Format

{
  "wallet": "YOUR_XMR_ADDRESS",
  "rigName": "YOUR_WORKER",
  "email": "YOUR_EMAIL"
}

License

The code is licensed under MIT + LGPLv3. See LICENSE for details.