minting.php

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				<h1>What is Proof-of-Stake/Minting?</h1>
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						<strong>Introduction</strong><br />
						Peercoin (PPC) uses a novel, green and very interesting method of network validation and mining. Most alternative crypto-currencies in existence are forks of Bitcoin, with changed mining parameters or different mining algorithms. Miners maintain the network and check transactions, while spending a lot of energy on cryptographic brute force puzzles. <a href="https://blockchain.info/stats">Blockchain.info</a> estimates that mid December 2013, Bitcoin mining takes up 22 million dollars or 150.000 megawatts of energy <em>per day</em>. Peercoin also started out as a Proof-Of-Work network. But as more blocks and coins have been mined, the network switches slowly to Proof-Of-Stake validation. With it we also switch to a new approach of securing the network. In Peercoin terms this process of generating coins by stake is called minting. And if you have a stake in Peercoin (PPC) coins, you can mint too!
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						Proof-of-work and proof-of-stake are methods of securing cryptocurrency networks. Bitcoin uses a purely proof-of-work-based system, in which the probability of solving a block (and getting the block reward) depends on hashrate. On the Bitcoin network, rewards are distributed solely according to work done by miners.
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					        Peercoin uses a hybrid proof-of-work/proof-of-stake system. Instead of being dependent on hashing power available, proof-of-stake blocks are distributed according to possession of the coins. For example, an individual possessing 1% of all Peercoins currently in existence would be able to mint 1% of the proof-of-stake blocks. Notice that the term "mint" is used in generation of proof-of-stake blocks. The term "mine" refers specifically to the generation of proof-of-work blocks. Minting can be performed by running a full node of the Peercoin client and does not require many resources.
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					        Just like proof-of-work blocks, proof-of-stake blocks generate currency rewards. To generate proof-of-stake blocks, a user sends already-possessed coins to himself in exchange for a preset reward. This reward is currently set at about 1% per year. These transactions increase the "consumed coin age" of the blockchain, a property that Peercoin uses to determine the trustworthiness of the blockchain.</p>
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						<strong>Efficiency</strong><br />
						Proof-of-work security is based on hashing power, and consumes a large amount of energy to solve blocks. This means that mining is prohibitively difficult for those that do not have access to powerful hardware and money for electricity. As the Peercoin network switches over to proof-of-stake security over time, minting proof-of-stake blocks provides security in a sustainable and green way without requiring consuming large amounts of energy.
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						<strong>Security</strong><br />
						In a proof-of-work system, the network is secure as long as no one party controls more than 51% of mining power. To perform an attack, a single attacker must be able to outpace the rest of the network in block generation. This may seem unlikely, but Bitcoin mining pools have approached 51% of the network hashrate in the past. At the time of writing, two mining pools control more than 51% of the Bitcoin network; an attack could be performed by coercing just two people (the pool operators) to collude.
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					    In a hybrid proof-of-work/proof-of-stake system, an attacker would have to possess 51% of mining power <em>and</em> 51% of all coins. This makes the attack more difficult as it is unlikely one party would end up owning 51% of the wealth, but also acts as a deterrent to attack because an attack would cause the value of the currency to drop. A party that possesses more than 51% of coins has a vested interest in keeping the value of the coins steady or rising.
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						<strong>What is minting, exactly?</strong><br />
						All coins in the Peercoin network collect coin age. Your stake is calculated from this coinage, measured by last transaction, and multiplied with the amount of coin (time * coins). Transferred coins lose their age and start a new "life" as fresh coins. When you keep coins for 30 days, they are old enough to start the minting process. From that moment on the software tests the 'search space' given by the coinage, the limited options are tested if they "solve the puzzle" like in Bitcoin mining. You can simply think of this by comparing it with a raffle. But it is a raffle that lets you keep the tickets every time you do not win a round. And with it the chance of producing a valid solution of the next puzzle increases. More coins equal more raffle tickets. So 100 coins at an age of 30 days are twice as likely to solve the "puzzle" as 50 coins with 30 age days. The maximum age a coin can have is 90 days, after this the coin does not age further. When a puzzle is solved you can mint 1% of your input, by sending 101% of the coin to yourself. With it you "consume" your build up coin-age. As you test against a limited number of raffle tickets, the 'limited search space', this requires significantly less power. Attacks become more difficult as well, instead of controlling 51% calculating power to take over the block chain, you need 51% of the coins that are put up as stake! When a block is minted, your new coins will be unspendable for a period of 520 blocks (~ 3.6 days with 10 minutes blocks). More information can be found in the Peercoin <a href="bin/peercoin-paper.pdf">whitepaper</a>.
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						<strong>Minting Return</strong><br />
						Statistically you will get 1% interest on average on your coins per year if you mint. You only mint when your wallet is open, but as the resources use is a lot lower this will not lock up the computer or waste much power. Your wallet is unlocked, but you will still need your passphrase for transactions. An alternative strategy would be to wait till you have a lot of coinage and have a larger chance of minting a block. This would be around 90 days after transaction. However your return will be a little less compared with constant minting. Future wallet version will support in wallet minting, possibly without decrypting.
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					<p>The Peercoin-QT wallet software takes care of this whole process automatically but it needs some configuration before it can start.</p>
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				<h1>How to start minting? </h1>
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							<a data-toggle="collapse" data-parent="#accordion" href="#collapseOne"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-chevron-down"></span> Windows Minting Guide</a>
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								<h4>Set-up required software:</h4>
								<p>	Download and install the <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ppcoin/files/">Peercoin-Qt wallet</a> if you have not done so already.
								Encrypt your wallet with a good passphrase. Write this down and keep it somewhere safe, if you forget the passphrase you will lose your coins.
								The wallet encryption option can be found under the settings tab in the PeercoinQt wallet program. </p>
								<h4>Configure the software: </h4>
								<p>Open up explorer and select the navigation bar. Type in: %appdata%/PPCoin</p>
								<img src="img/minting1.png" alt="Minting" />
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								<p>Now create a text document. Open it up in notepad and copy the following information.<br />
								The reserve balance option sets the number of coins you do not put up for stake. These are the coins for daily use. The newly minted coins cannot be spent for 520 blocks (~ 3.6 days)!
								<br />Be sure to edit the rpc user and rpc password lines! Pick a good long random password; do not use your wallet passphrase!</p>
<pre>
	#ppcoin.conf
	# JSON-RPC options (for controlling a running ppcoind process)

	#Server mode allows Qt to accept JSON-RPC commands
	server=1

	# You must set rpcuser and rpcpassword to secure the JSON-RPC api
	rpcuser= "A username"
	rpcpassword= "A random password"

	#The reserve balance field is the minimum amount of coins you want to have available and NOT put up as stake.
	#The reason for this is that if you are generating proof of stake you cannot spend those coins for 520 blocks.
	#reservebalance=25
</pre>
								<p>Rename the file to PPCoin.conf</p>
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								<h4>Set-up the minting daemon: </h4>
								<p>Go back to the Peercoin-Qt wallet folder and go to the daemon folder. Create a new text document. Copy over this information:</p>
								<img src="img/minting2.png" alt="Minting" />
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<pre>
	@echo off
	@echo Enter PPC password...
	SET /P variable=Password :
	ppcoind walletpassphrase %variable% 9999999 true
</pre>
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								<p>Save the document and rename it to Minting.bat<br />
								<h4>Start minting:</h4>
								Run the PeercoinQt wallet. The bottom left should display a message that the wallet is locked and the minting process is suspended.</p>
								<img src="img/minting3.png" alt="Minting" />
								<p>Now double click the minting.bat file and enter your passphrase.<br /></p>
								<img src="img/minting4.png" alt="Minting" /><br />
								<p>If the bottom right corner shows a unlocked padlock after 30 seconds you are now minting. <strong>Congratulations!</strong></p>
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       <a data-toggle="collapse" data-parent="#accordion" href="#collapseTwo"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-chevron-down"></span> Linux Minting Guide</a>
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								<p> For this tutorial we'll assume the binaries are installed. If you have you can skip the next few lines. Otherwise use the binaries provided on the sourceforge page, click to download them: <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ppcoin/files/0.3.0/ppcoin-0.3.0-linux.tar.gz/download">here</a>.
								<br> Download the compressed binaries either by command line or via the browser. Decompress the binaries and copy over the contents of either the 32bit or 64bit folder (depending on your CPU) to the usr/bin directory or whichever directory you prefer for your binaries.
								We'll use the QT version of peercoin: ppcoin-qt. Navigate to the /usr/bin folder and execute the ppcoin-qt binary. This will set-up the required folders. Encrypt the wallet and write down the passphrase. Don't lose it!
								Now close the Peercoin-QT client.</p>
								<p>Open a terminal and copy/type this block of text. Before you execute the command be sure to edit the password!</p>
<pre>
	cd ~
	echo '
	#ppcoin.conf
	# JSON-RPC options (for controlling a running ppcoind process)

	#Server mode allows Qt to accept JSON-RPC commands
	server=1

	# You must set rpcuser and rpcpassword to secure the JSON-RPC api
	rpcuser=rpcuser
	rpcpassword=&lt;A random password that is not your wallet passphrase&gt;

	#The reserve balance field is the minimum amount of coins you want to have available and NOT put up as stake.
	#The reason for this is that if you are generating proof of stake you cannot spend those coins for 520 blocks.
	#reservebalance=25
	' &gt; .ppcoin/ppcoin.conf
</pre>
					<p>Start the Peercoin-QT client. The bottom left should display a message that the wallet is locked and the minting process is suspended. Type this in the terminal: (If you have not installed peercoin system-wide, you need to first go to the directory you installed it in)</p>
<pre>
	ppcoind walletpassphrase &lt;secretpasswordtoyourwallet&gt; 9999999 true
</pre>

								<p>This unlocks the wallet for minting and starts the minting process if you have the Peercoin-Qt client open. After a few second you should see the padlock on the bottom right unlock. Congratulations you are minting!
										Don't forget to back-up your private key by backing-up the wallet.dat from the ~/.ppcoin folder or extracting the private key.
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							<p>A Mac OS X tutorial, visually supported with step-by-step images,
										will follow soon. Step by step command line instructions for Mac Peercoin
										minting are available at the peercointalk forum <a
										href="http://www.peercointalk.org/index.php?topic=1104.0">here</a>.</p>
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