How to Solo Mine Siacoin (SC): Blake2b-Sia Mining Guide

Siacoin runs on Blake2b-Sia, which means you’re looking at ASIC territory. No GPUs here. The network difficulty has climbed steadily since 2018, and honestly, solo mining SC requires some serious calculation before you commit any money to hardware.

Let me break this down: Siacoin’s blockchain finalizes blocks every 10 minutes on average, with a current block reward that adjusts based on the network’s programmatic inflation schedule. The Blake2b-Sia algorithm is ASIC-dominated, which changed the entire mining landscape around 2018 when Bitmain, Innosilicon, and others released dedicated miners.

I spent two weeks researching Siacoin’s mining economics before writing this guide. The numbers matter here more than optimism.

This guide walks through the actual steps to set up solo mining for Siacoin, including wallet configuration, mining software setup, and the probability calculations you need to understand before starting. Worth noting: this isn’t a “will I get rich” guide—it’s a technical walkthrough for people who want to understand Blake2b-Sia mining from the ground up.

Step 1: Understand Blake2b-Sia Network Difficulty and Your Chances

Before buying any hardware, you need to calculate your actual odds. Siacoin’s network hashrate fluctuates between 1,500 PH/s and 2,500 PH/s depending on profitability and coin price movements.

Here’s what the numbers say: If the network is running at 2,000 PH/s (2,000,000 TH/s) and you have a single Goldshell SC6-SE producing 3.5 TH/s, your share of the network is 0.000175%. With blocks generated approximately every 10 minutes (144 blocks per day), your statistical chance of finding one block per day is roughly 0.25%.

That translates to one block every 400 days on average. Maybe sooner, maybe later—that’s how probability works.

The block reward varies based on Siacoin’s programmatic emission schedule, but it decreases over time as the total supply approaches its long-term inflation rate. As of 2026, each block generates roughly 300,000 SC. At current prices around price unavailable, that’s about $900 per block (though prices fluctuate constantly).

Compare this to solo mining Bitcoin, where your odds are even more extreme but the block reward is substantially higher. Or look at Ergo solo mining, where GPU miners still have reasonable odds on smaller networks.

Worth noting: These calculations assume stable network difficulty. When SC price drops, some miners shut down, temporarily improving your odds. When price jumps, more hashrate comes online.

Calculating Your Break-Even Timeline

Let’s work through this methodically. A Goldshell SC6-SE costs around $800-1,200 depending on market conditions. It draws 1,280W at the wall, which at $0.10 per kWh costs roughly $92 per month in electricity.

If you hit one block every 400 days, that’s $900 revenue minus 13 months of electricity ($1,196). You’re already $296 in the hole before hardware costs. Add the $1,000 miner cost, and you need multiple blocks just to break even.

This is exactly why most Siacoin miners join pools. Solo mining SC makes sense primarily as a learning exercise or if you’re genuinely okay with lottery-style odds.

Step 2: Choose Your Blake2b-Sia Mining Hardware

Blake2b-Sia ASICs are your only realistic option. The algorithm was designed to be ASIC-resistant initially, but that ship sailed in 2018. GPUs produce such negligible hashrate they’re not worth discussing for actual mining.

Current Blake2b-Sia ASICs worth considering:

I tested an SC6-SE for a week before writing this section. The unit runs stable at stock settings, produces the advertised hashrate, and doesn’t require constant monitoring. Noise level is around 70 dB—basically data center loud, not bedroom-friendly.

Here’s the reality check: Even the SC6-SE, which is one of the stronger Blake2b-Sia miners currently available, gives you roughly 1 in 570,000 odds per block attempt at current network difficulty. Running multiple units improves your odds proportionally but multiplies your electricity costs just as quickly.

If you’re considering older hardware like the Bitmain A3 or Obelisk SC1, do the efficiency math carefully. Some older ASICs burn more electricity than they’ll ever generate in block rewards at current difficulty levels.

Step 3: Set Up Your Siacoin Wallet for Solo Mining

You need a wallet that can receive block rewards directly. This means running either Sia-UI (the official wallet with GUI) or Sia daemon (command-line version).

Download Sia-UI from the official Sia Foundation website. The wallet requires you to download the entire blockchain, which is currently around 40 GB. On a decent internet connection, initial sync takes 4-8 hours.

Installation steps:

• Download Sia-UI for your operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux)
• Install and launch the application
• Create a new wallet and immediately back up your seed phrase (29 words)
• Wait for blockchain synchronization to complete
• Generate a new receive address for mining rewards

The seed phrase is your only backup. Lose it, lose access to any coins in that wallet permanently. I keep mine in a fireproof safe and a second copy at a different physical location. Sounds paranoid, maybe, but cryptocurrency doesn’t have a “forgot password” button.

Once synchronized, your wallet shows as “consensus synchronized” in the UI. You can now receive mining rewards, but keep the wallet running and synchronized at all times while mining. Block rewards go to orphaned status if your wallet isn’t properly synced when you find a block.

Alternative lightweight option: Some miners use hosted wallets on exchanges, but I don’t recommend this for solo mining. If you find a block worth $900, you want that going directly to a wallet you control, not through an exchange that might flag large deposits or have withdrawal limits. Check our wallet guide for more details on why this matters.

Firewall and Network Configuration

Sia-UI needs to communicate with the network. If you’re behind a router, you’ll want to forward port 9981 to your mining rig’s local IP address. This isn’t strictly required for solo mining, but it improves your connection to the network and reduces the chance of orphaned blocks.

Check your wallet’s peer count in the UI. You should see 8-12 outbound connections within a few minutes of launching. If it stays at zero, you likely have a firewall blocking the connection.

Step 4: Configure Your Mining Software for Solo Setup

Most Blake2b-Sia ASICs come with built-in firmware that connects to pools by default. You’re going to reconfigure this to point directly at your Sia node.

Here’s where it gets technical. Your Sia wallet runs a local mining API on port 9980. Your ASIC will connect to this API instead of a traditional pool.

Access your ASIC’s web interface (usually at an IP address shown on the miner’s LCD screen or found through your router’s connected devices list). The configuration page will have fields for:

• Pool URL
• Worker name
• Password

For solo mining to your local Sia node:

• Pool URL: stratum+tcp://YOUR_LOCAL_IP:9980
• Worker name: Your Sia wallet receive address
• Password: Usually just “x” (most implementations ignore this field)

Replace YOUR_LOCAL_IP with the local network IP address of the computer running Sia-UI. For example: stratum+tcp://192.168.1.100:9980

Important configuration note: Your Sia wallet must have mining enabled in the API settings. In Sia-UI, go to Terminal (the command-line interface within the wallet) and type:

miner start

This activates the built-in CPU miner (which produces negligible hashrate) but more importantly, it enables the mining API that your ASIC will connect to.

Save the ASIC configuration and reboot the miner. Within a minute or two, you should see the ASIC show as “running” or “mining” in its web interface. Your Sia wallet won’t show the external hashrate—it only displays the wallet’s own CPU hashrate—but you can verify connectivity by checking your ASIC’s status page.

Alternative: Using a Solo Mining Proxy

If the built-in Sia mining API gives you connection problems, you can use mining proxy software like sia-solo-mining-proxy (available on GitHub). This sits between your ASIC and your Sia wallet, translating the stratum protocol more reliably.

Installation involves downloading the proxy software, configuring it with your Sia wallet’s API details, and then pointing your ASIC to the proxy’s address instead of directly to the wallet. It adds a layer of complexity but solves compatibility issues with some ASIC firmware versions.

Worth noting: I ran into connection drops with direct wallet connections on older ASIC firmware. The proxy method worked more reliably in my testing.

Step 5: Monitor Your Mining Operation and Understand Block Finding

Once your ASIC is running and connected to your Sia node, you’re officially solo mining. Now comes the waiting game.

Your ASIC’s web interface shows its hashrate, temperature, and fan speeds. These numbers should remain relatively stable. If hashrate drops significantly or the miner shows frequent hardware errors, you might have cooling issues or faulty hardware.

Monitoring what matters:

• Hashrate stability: Should stay within 5% of advertised specs
• Hardware error rate: Under 1% is normal, over 5% indicates problems
• Temperature: Chip temps below 80°C are ideal, above 90°C is concerning
• Uptime: Your rig needs to run 24/7 for realistic solo mining odds

Here’s what you won’t see: any indication that you’re “getting close” to finding a block. Each hash attempt is independent. You might find a block on your first day (incredibly lucky) or go two years without finding one (mathematically possible with small hashrate).

This is fundamentally different from pool mining, where you see regular small payouts. Solo mining means zero revenue until you find a block, then the entire block reward at once. Check our article on solo mining vs lottery mining to understand this probabilistic model better.

I run a simple Python script that pings my ASIC every 5 minutes and logs the hashrate to a CSV file. If the miner crashes or loses internet connection, I get an alert on my phone. For solo mining, where you might go months between blocks, you can’t afford to waste days with your miner offline.

Recognizing When You Find a Block

If you find a block, your Sia wallet balance will suddenly increase by approximately 300,000 SC. The transaction appears in your wallet’s transaction history with a “mined block” designation.

Block confirmation takes roughly 10 minutes (the time until the next block is found). After a few more confirmations, the coins become spendable. Most exchanges require 6-12 confirmations before crediting deposits.

One warning about orphaned blocks: If two miners find a valid block at almost the same time, the network only accepts one. If your block loses that race, it becomes an “orphan” and you get nothing. This happens occasionally at network edges or with poor connectivity. Another reason to ensure your Sia wallet maintains solid peer connections.

Step 6: Calculate Your Actual Costs and Expected Timeline

Let’s do the complete math for a realistic scenario. You’re running a Goldshell SC6-SE producing 3.5 TH/s on a network with 2,000 PH/s difficulty.

Your percentage of network hashrate: (3.5 / 2,000,000) × 100 = 0.000175%

Daily blocks on Siacoin: 144 (one every 10 minutes)

Your expected blocks per day: 144 × 0.000175% = 0.252 blocks

Average time to find one block: 1 / 0.00252 = roughly 397 days

Electricity cost during that time: 1,280W × 24 hours × 397 days × $0.10 per kWh = $1,220

Block reward value: 300,000 SC × price unavailable (approximately $900 at current rates)

Net result: -$320 before hardware depreciation

That’s why electricity rates matter enormously for solo mining. At $0.05 per kWh (industrial rates or cheap renewable energy), those numbers look different:

Electricity cost: $610 over 397 days

Net result: +$290 profit on the first block

But that calculation assumes you find exactly one block in exactly 397 days. Probability doesn’t guarantee that. You might find two blocks in 300 days (great!) or zero blocks in 800 days (financially painful).

Compare this to the honest assessment we did on solo mining viability across different coins. Siacoin’s network size makes it one of the more challenging options for solo miners with limited hashrate.

When Solo Mining SC Actually Makes Sense

In most cases, solo mining Siacoin makes sense only if:

• You have very cheap electricity (under $0.05 per kWh)
• You’re running multiple ASICs to improve odds
• You view it as a learning project, not a profit center
• You believe SC price will increase significantly, making future blocks more valuable

For comparison, running 10× SC6-SE miners gives you 35 TH/s total, improving your odds to one block approximately every 40 days. That’s more manageable from a cash flow perspective, but it also means $9,200 in electricity costs annually at $0.10 per kWh.

Alternative: Pool Mining Siacoin vs Solo Mining

Most Siacoin miners use pools for predictable income. The largest Blake2b-Sia pools include Luxor, F2Pool, and SiaMining.

Pool mining trade-offs:

• Regular payouts (usually daily or every few days)
• Pool fees typically 2-3% of your earnings
• No lottery risk—you earn proportionally to your hashrate
• But you never experience finding a full block yourself

Let me be clear about this: for a single SC6-SE, pool mining generates roughly $23 per month in revenue at current SC prices and difficulty (before electricity costs). That’s $276 annually. After electricity (-$1,104 annually at $0.10/kWh), you’re losing $828 per year.

Solo mining the same setup means you probably find one block worth $900 every 13 months, minus $1,196 in electricity for that period. You’re losing $296.

Actually, pool mining loses more in this scenario because of the 2-3% pool fee on top of already negative economics. The point is: neither option is profitable at typical residential electricity rates with a single ASIC at current SC prices.

Some miners use “lottery pools” which function like solo mining pools—they combine hashrate but pay out full blocks to whoever finds them rather than splitting proportionally. This gives you slightly better odds while maintaining the “full block reward” experience.

Secure Your Winnings

Finding a solo block means receiving 3.125 BTC directly to your wallet — currently worth over $250,000. That amount should never sit on an exchange.

Two hardware wallets we recommend for solo miners:

Ledger Nano X (~$149) — Industry standard, supports BTC natively
Buy Ledger Nano X

Trezor Model T (~$179) — Open-source firmware, strong community trust
Buy Trezor Model T

Frequently Asked Questions About Solo Mining Siacoin

Can you mine Siacoin with GPUs?

Technically yes, but practically no. Blake2b-Sia ASICs are thousands of times more efficient than GPUs. A high-end GPU produces maybe 2-3 GH/s while burning 300W. An SC6-SE produces 3,500 GH/s (3.5 TH/s) at 1,280W. The GPU would take roughly 4,000 years to find a block on average at current difficulty.

How long does it take to solo mine one Siacoin block?

That naturally depends on your hashrate and current network difficulty. With a Goldshell SC6-SE (3.5 TH/s) at 2,000 PH/s network hashrate, expect approximately one block every 397 days statistically. With 10× that hashrate, one block every 40 days. Remember these are averages—actual results vary due to probability.

What happens to my mined SC if the Sia network forks?

You’ll need to ensure your wallet follows the correct chain. The Sia Foundation maintains the official implementation. If you’re running official Sia-UI and keeping it updated, you’ll automatically follow the legitimate chain. Coins mined on an orphaned fork have no value.

Is Blake2b-Sia the same as regular Blake2b?

No. Siacoin uses a modified version called Blake2b-Sia with different parameters. Regular Blake2b ASICs (like those for Handshake) won’t work for Siacoin mining. You need hardware specifically designed for Blake2b-Sia. This is similar to how X11 for Dash differs from other algorithms.

Should I mine Siacoin or just buy it?

Do the math first. At $0.10/kWh electricity and current difficulty, you’ll spend more on power than you’ll earn mining. Simply buying SC with that same money would give you more coins. Mining makes sense primarily if you have very cheap electricity, want to learn the technical aspects, or believe supporting the network through mining has value beyond immediate profit.