SIGMA Mining
On October 16th 2019, Gulden switched from Scrypt to its own developed and more modern SIGMA mining algorithm.
This makes it possible for anyone with a modern PC to create Gulden at home by mining. There is no need for special mining equipment anymore. However, it is advisable to use a minimum of 4GB of freely available RAM memory to mine optimally.
SIGMA stands for Semi Iterated Global Memory Argon. Where Argon is an algorithm that won the first prize at the in Luxembourg organized Password Hashing competition. The principle of Argon2 has been further developed by Malcolm – Gulden’s Lead Developer – and has become an algorithm of its own in the field of design and implementation.
Below is an example of a graph showing the relationship between available memory and threads when mining on a 2.30GHz Intel i3. This CPU has 2Cores/4Treads.
Mining can be turned on in the desktop wallet with a few simple steps. The Gulden wallet makes it possible to experiment with this in a very accessible way. For the usual consumer hardware, the magic number is simple: use 1 arena of 4GB, nothing else. Reason: the maximum speed of the two-channel memory (RAM). More memory does not lead to higher performance. Please make sure that there are still enough threads and memory available for normal computer tasks.
On average, one block is mined every 150 seconds. This means that approximately 576 blocks are distributed amongst the miners every day. The more people mine, desto thinner of course the rinse.
The block reward is 50 Gulden. That’s the reward a miner gets when he finds a block with his PC. Before a block can be added to the Blockchain it has to be approved by a Witness.