Lbry algorithm – LBRY Credits (LBC), coins / miners (CPU, GPU, ASIC, FPGA)

Most Proof of Work (PoW) algorithms including SHA-256 that is used by Bitcoin was only CPU mineable during its early days. Then GPU miners came and made CPU mining less viable. Later GPUs was completely replaced by specialized ASIC mining machines. Now only users who own such specialized miners can make profit from mining Bitcoin and other top most Altcoins.

Most GPU based mining pools only lists coins that are ASIC resistant. At some point if ASICs become available then the mining pool will delist that particular coin to avoid GPU miners from wasting power. On the other hand there are some GPU mining pools that continues to provide support for such coins. All these mining pools provide instructions on how to join and start mining. But you won’t find any mention on whether if the coin is resistance to ASIC or not.

We’ve seen beginners pointing out their GPU miners to coins where the network is dominated by ASICs. Later they realize that mining is not profitable and then switch to some other coins. Before you mine you must decide whether mining the coin will be economically viable or not. If you don’t research that part then you’ll simply end up wasting power. Recently one of our user asked how to mine LBRY credits using GPU as they found some GPU pools listing this coin (For example: Suprnova). So we decided to make a brief note on Lbry algorithm and LBRY credits (LBC).

Lbry algorithm, miners and coins

LBRY is a Proof of Work algorithm that uses a mix of SHA-256, SHA-512 and RIPEMD hash functions. This algorithm enables fast and secure transactions on LBRY network. Aside from this we were not able to find any other details or whitepaper for Lbry algorithm. Just like any other PoW algorithms only CPUs were initially used to mine Lbry. Then GPUs used for mining and currently the mining market is completely dominated by FPGAs.

There is Baikal miner BK-D (FPGA machine) which produces 70 GH/s @ 1100 Watts and it is also capable of dual mining. Whereas a single GTX 1080 TI is only capable of producing 500+ Mh/s so there is no point in mining lbry using CPU or GPU. Anyways if you’d like to support the network then you can use the following miners.

CPU miner for Lbry: https://github.com/ocminer/cpuminer-lbry

NVIDIA: https://github.com/tpruvot/ccminer/releases/

AMD: https://github.com/lbryio/lbrycrd-gpu/releases

If you are wondering then LBRY Credits (LBC) is the only coin that uses this algorithm. Let’s now take a quick look at LBRY Credits.

LBRY Credits (LBS)

LBRY pronounced as ‘Library’ is a open source, decentralized digital marketplace for digital goods. It is a free, community-run marketplace where you own your data and you control the network. LBRY platform is designed to be censorship resistant and content creators are allowed monetize their content (music, art, books, videos) through the build in currency called LBRY Credits (LBC).

Announcement: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1541268.0

Website: https://lbry.io

LBRY Credits specifications:

If you are looking for a GPU mineable coin / algorithm then go through this list where you’ll find explanation for most of the popular PoW algorithms.