ACADEMY
MINING EDITION
MODULE 3
LESSON 4
Security and Decentralization in Qubic Mining
Mining on a decentralized network comes with responsibilities – both to keep your operation secure and to support the network’s decentralization. Qubic’s approach to mining and consensus has some unique aspects that miners should be mindful of to maintain a healthy, secure ecosystem.
Secure Your Miner
The Qubic.li client downloads and executes small AI training programs (“runners”) to perform the uPoW tasks. While these come from the Qubic network/pool, you should always run the miner with the least privileges necessary . On Windows, do not run it as Administrator; on Linux, avoid running as root. Create a dedicated user account for mining if possible. This follows the principle of least privilege – even if a malicious task somehow slipped through (highly unlikely given network verification, but still), it limits potential harm. Similarly, only download Qubic mining software from official sources (the Qubic.org site or Qubic’s GitHub ). There have been no reports of fake Qubic miners yet, but as with any crypto, be wary of random links. Verify file hashes if provided and keep your system’s security software up to date.
Wallet Security
By now you likely have a Qubic wallet address (needed for mining payouts). Keep your seed phrase and private keys safe – this is not unique to Qubic, but it’s worth reiterating. The miner itself does not require your seed, only the public wallet address or an access token. Never input your seed or private key into any mining software or share it with anyone. The pool or miner only needs your public address (or a token derived from it for authentication). Treat your Access Token (if using one from the pool dashboard) like a password – it authorizes your miner to a pool account. If someone else got it, they could theoretically hijack your mining account (though not steal your coins, since payouts go to your wallet). If you suspect your token is compromised, invalidate it on the pool and generate a new one .
Network Decentralization
Qubic’s design inherently promotes decentralization – it avoids specialized ASIC mining and instead uses widely available hardware (CPUs/GPUs) . As a miner, one way to support this principle is by spreading out: there are multiple mining pools (for example, the official Qubic.li pool, and community pools like MinerLab’s pool, Apool, etc.). If every miner only used one pool, that pool could become a centralizing force. Consider the options and maybe distribute your miners between pools, especially if you control a large farm. Different pools maintain their own instance of the AI training (ANN) and have their own reward schemes/pros/cons . Diversity in pools keeps any single operator from having outsized influence. You can find discussions about alternative pools and their stats on the Qubic Discord .
Computors and Consensus
With Qubic, the 676 Computors form the decentralised validator layer . They run the full tick-based consensus (the “blockchain” logic) and rely on miners for work. This is somewhat analogous to Bitcoin mining pools and Bitcoin nodes – miners (hash power) and nodes (consensus) are separate roles. To maintain decentralization, Qubic ensures that Computors are picked based on merit (useful work done) rather than how many coins one has staked or purely random. This meritocracy means if one entity wants to control a large portion of Computors, they’d need to muster enormous compute power to outcompete the world – a high barrier that encourages broad participation. As a miner, your job is to contribute honestly and robustly. The protocol will handle selection fairly, and many individuals each contributing some hashpower is better than a few giants doing it all. In practice, even if you never become a Computor, your presence makes the network more secure by adding to the total uPoW capacity an attacker would have to overcome.
Sybil Resistance and Attacks
A common concern is 51% attacks or Sybil attacks on networks. Qubic’s recent demonstration of overtaking Monero’s hash rate in a controlled test shows the raw power of uPoW – but note, that was a consensual demo, not a malicious act. It proved that useful work can rival traditional PoW in sheer output. To keep Qubic secure, the community must ensure no single pool or organization amasses >50% of the mining power consistently (just like any PoW network). If you see one pool getting too dominant, it’s a good idea to switch some hash to smaller pools to balance it out. The codebase is open-source, and the community is vigilant; any attempt to introduce a bad actor “runner” or manipulate results would be caught by Computors not validating incorrect work . In essence, trust the protocol but verify community health: stay active in channels to hear about any security updates or consensus changes.
Staying Updated
Qubic is cutting-edge, and improvements roll out frequently. Always update your mining client to the latest version when notified – updates often include security patches, performance enhancements, and compatibility for new AI models or algorithms. For example, if a new epoch brings a new neural network structure, the QLI client auto-updates the trainer binary for you . Alienminer users must be extra vigilant here: ensure you get the updated binary or instructions before a new epoch starts; otherwise, you might find your miner doing invalid work. It’s wise to hang out in the Qubic Discord’s mining channel for announcements of upcoming changes or recommended client versions . The community and devs regularly share tips and warnings there.