Difficulty of mining BTC v PPC

General
1

I’m trying to decide whether my 2.4 Mh/s rig should carry on mining mine BTC or switch to PPC.

So I thought I’d use the value of each and compare that against the current difficulty in generating a hash for each:

BTC value of PPC (according to BTC-e) = 0.00194
BTC Difficulty = 11,187,257
PPC Difficulty = 360016.9

Which means that generating BTC hash’s is ~31 times more difficult (11,187,257 / 360016.9 = 31.0742565141 more difficult, to be precise). Also, given the value of PPC, you need 1/.00194 = ~515 PPC to match the value of one BTC.

Now, unless I’m misunderstanding something, if BTC is ~500 times more valuable, then BTC should be ~500 times harder to generate. But since BTC’s are only ~30 times more difficult to generate, it makes much more sense to continue mining BTC and “watch this space” for PPC. At least for today. Doesn’t it?

2

I’m not sure about your figures or calculations (not saying you are wrong, just that I haven’t independently checked), but what you are saying is right, it depends upon the coins mined per day (difficulty) and the value of the coins…which is more valuable to mine can and will change daily, sometimes LTC, sometimes BTC, sometimes PPC.

3

[quote=“glowkeeper, post:1, topic:92”]I’m trying to decide whether my 2.4 Mh/s rig should carry on mining mine BTC or switch to PPC.

So I thought I’d use the value of each and compare that against the current difficulty in generating a hash for each:

BTC value of PPC (according to BTC-e) = 0.00194
BTC Difficulty = 11,187,257
PPC Difficulty = 360016.9

Which means that generating BTC hash’s is ~31 times more difficult (11,187,257 / 360016.9 = 31.0742565141 more difficult, to be precise). Also, given the value of PPC, you need 1/.00194 = ~515 PPC to match the value of one BTC.

Now, unless I’m misunderstanding something, if BTC is ~500 times more valuable, then BTC should be ~500 times harder to generate. But since BTC’s are only ~30 times more difficult to generate, it makes much more sense to continue mining BTC and “watch this space” for PPC. At least for today. Doesn’t it?[/quote]

I notice that today, the difficulty of mining PPC has [size=14pt]dropped[/size]. Interesting! How is the PPC mining difficulty calculated? In particular, can someone give me an idea of how the likely difficulty ratio between BTC and PPC might change over time?

4

The OP misses a particularity of PPC.

According to the whitepaper:
We modified the proof-of-work mint rate to be not determined by block height (time) but
instead determined by difficulty. When mining difficulty goes up, proof-of-work mint
rate is lowered. A relatively smooth curve is chosen as opposed to Bitcoin’s step
functions, to avoid artificially shocking the market. More specifically, a continuous curve
is chosen such that each 16x raise of mining difficulty halves the block mint amount.

So you can’t just compare difficulty and exchange rate

5

[quote=“brenzi, post:4, topic:92”]The OP misses a particularity of PPC.

According to the whitepaper:
We modified the proof-of-work mint rate to be not determined by block height (time) but
instead determined by difficulty. When mining difficulty goes up, proof-of-work mint
rate is lowered. A relatively smooth curve is chosen as opposed to Bitcoin’s step
functions, to avoid artificially shocking the market. More specifically, a continuous curve
is chosen such that each 16x raise of mining difficulty halves the block mint amount.

So you can’t just compare difficulty and exchange rate[/quote]

I thought there must be something I was missing. I’d like to see this graphed…

6

[quote=“glowkeeper, post:3, topic:92”][quote=“glowkeeper, post:1, topic:92”]I’m trying to decide whether my 2.4 Mh/s rig should carry on mining mine BTC or switch to PPC.

So I thought I’d use the value of each and compare that against the current difficulty in generating a hash for each:

BTC value of PPC (according to BTC-e) = 0.00194
BTC Difficulty = 11,187,257
PPC Difficulty = 360016.9

Which means that generating BTC hash’s is ~31 times more difficult (11,187,257 / 360016.9 = 31.0742565141 more difficult, to be precise). Also, given the value of PPC, you need 1/.00194 = ~515 PPC to match the value of one BTC.

Now, unless I’m misunderstanding something, if BTC is ~500 times more valuable, then BTC should be ~500 times harder to generate. But since BTC’s are only ~30 times more difficult to generate, it makes much more sense to continue mining BTC and “watch this space” for PPC. At least for today. Doesn’t it?[/quote]

I notice that today, the difficulty of mining PPC has [size=14pt]dropped[/size]. Interesting! How is the PPC mining difficulty calculated? In particular, can someone give me an idea of how the likely difficulty ratio between BTC and PPC might change over time?[/quote]

proof-of-work mint formula is: difficulty == (9999 / (mint per block)) ** 4

Proof-of-work mint rate is a function of difficulty (every 16x in difficulty mint rate is halved).

The difficulty in PPC is adjusted continuously, as opposed to every so often as with bitcoin, so as it becomes more profitable to mine PPC than BTC, many miners will jump over and then switch back when difficulty readjusts. Its just sort of the nature of the beast I suppose.

There will always be a block every ten minutes or so, but it won’t always be a proof of work block. As you noted, when difficulty of POW increases, it drops in POS and vice versa.

as Sunny writes:

As ppcoin has two type of blocks, proof-of-work block and proof-of-stake block, each type has its own spacing target. Proof-of-stake blocks have a constant spacing target of 10 minutes. Target spacing of proof-of-work blocks are variable, with a minimum target of 10 minutes, and a higher target spacing when proof-of-stake block spacing approaches 10 minutes. When proof-of-stake blocks become abundant, (Sunny) estimates that proof-of-work block spacing would eventually settle around 30 minutes. The purpose of this design is to reduce the variance of block spacing and maintain overall spacing target around 7.5~10 minutes.

Mining returns are only based on current values though, I think it would be easier for PPC to appreciate in value given time than Bitcoin (because the valuation is already much higher). Having said that, I have no idea.

I hope this helps you.

7

What’s the current mint rate?

8

From the White Paper:

“A mint rate of 1 cent per coin-year consumed is chosen to give rise to a low future inflation rate.”

I understand this to mean that if you have 100 coins held for one year, you could expect minting of one coin. Actual results would vary based on luck.

9

[quote=“allbits, post:8, topic:92”]From the White Paper:

“A mint rate of 1 cent per coin-year consumed is chosen to give rise to a low future inflation rate.”

I understand this to mean that if you have 100 coins held for one year, you could expect minting of one coin. Actual results would vary based on luck.[/quote]

This is true based upon POS, if your wallet is open for minting, of course.

Current mining difficulty (POW) 352809 (based on Coinotron’s box).

10

[quote=“allbits, post:8, topic:92”]From the White Paper:

“A mint rate of 1 cent per coin-year consumed is chosen to give rise to a low future inflation rate.”

I understand this to mean that if you have 100 coins held for one year, you could expect minting of one coin. Actual results would vary based on luck.[/quote]

That’s for Proof of Stake. What’s the current Proof of Work mint rate? How many cois do you get for each block solved? I’ve assumed 50…

11

According to dustcoin.com/mining, it’s 411.39

12

Thanks! (nice link :slight_smile: )

13

Do you have all of the information you need now, Glowkeeper?

14

Getting there :wink:

How long will the PoW mint rate stay at 411.39? What will it be next? And how is the mint rate determined? How long will PoW continue?

Meanwhile, I’ll think of a few more questions too :wink:

15

Getting there :wink:

How long will the PoW mint rate stay at 411.39? What will it be next? And how is the mint rate determined? How long will PoW continue?

Meanwhile, I’ll think of a few more questions too ;)[/quote]
Let’s see if I have the formulas right:
difficulty == (9999 / (mint per block)) ** 4 this one is not working for me … difficulty is set every block and announced in CGminer
PoW networking hashing rate = 2^32*difficulty/60/30
Mint per block is = 9999/(difficulty^.25)

16

Getting there :wink:

How long will the PoW mint rate stay at 411.39? What will it be next? And how is the mint rate determined? How long will PoW continue?

Meanwhile, I’ll think of a few more questions too ;)[/quote]
Let’s see if I have the formulas right:
difficulty == (9999 / (mint per block)) ** 4 this one is not working for me … difficulty is set every block and announced in CGminer
PoW networking hashing rate = 2^32*difficulty/60/30
Mint per block is = 9999/(difficulty^.25)[/quote]

Thanks!

But if difficulty is dependent upon mint per block and mint per block is dependent upon difficulty, won’t there be an earthquake in China? Er, that can’t be quite correct…

Ah yes - I see that. Thanks!

17

The difficulty is based on total hashing so I don’t see that formula working here … so after each block it is recalculated.