How to mine Flux (FLUX) – setting up a miner based on the ZelHash algorithm

Learn how to mine FLUX using the ZelHash algorithm: choosing a wallet, setting up a pool and software, understanding the intricacies of overclocking, and considering the network’s future transition to Proof-of-Useful-Work. A historical guide for miners worldwide.

🔎 It didn’t all start with numbers

I’d venture to guess that your first encounter with crypto mining was far from romantic: the hum of a dozen fans, the smell of dust, the hysterical look from your neighbor when you realized your electricity bill had skyrocketed. I remembered how, in the winter of 2022, I packed up an old Nvidia 1060 with four gigabytes of memory and hauled it into the garage. Back then, Flux — the Zelcash project renamed in 2017 —seemed like a breath of fresh air for those intimidated by bulky ASIC rigs. Digging into ZelHash (a variant of Equihash 125.4 ) I felt like an explorer of the unknown: the algorithm was resistant to ASICs and even FPGAs, and its author, Wilke Trei (known for his work on lolMiner ), understood exactly how to protect the coin from predatory corporations.

And yes, ironically, today, in early 2026, Flux has already abandoned traditional GPU mining. Since October 2025, the network has been switched to Proof-of-Useful-Work v2 (PoUW v2): blocks are now mined by Flux Nodes , and mining pools are disabled. But that’s precisely why it’s so important to preserve the memory of how things were. After all, the ZelHash algorithm can be useful for other projects, and the lessons learned from Flux remain relevant.

☁️ What is Flux and why did miners love it so much?

Flux isn’t just another “coin,” but a fully-fledged decentralized cloud infrastructure. The project provides developers with FluxOS —a layer on top of Linux that enables the deployment of Docker applications and the management of nodes and resources. The ecosystem includes:

Flux Nodes – a network of thousands of nodes (Cumulus, Nimbus, Stratus) providing computing power, memory and storage.
Flux Fusion is a bridge for cross-blockchain asset exchange that works through parallel assets such as FLUX-KDA or FLUX-BSC .
Zelcore is an official multi-currency wallet that supports over two hundred assets. It doesn’t store private data or keys on servers, giving users complete control over their funds.

Before the 2025 fork, Flux’s economic model incentivized both miners and node operators: each block yielded 75 FLUX , distributed equally between miners and node operators. The mining cycle was 2.5 years , and blocks were mined every two minutes.

🎒 What You Need to Mine Flux — A Nostalgic Checklist

To start mining Flux in the ZelHash era, you needed a wallet to receive rewards, a mining pool, a mining program, and minimal hardware setup. At the same time, users had to be mindful of security: separate the wallet from the mining machine, use mobile apps to store keys, or use hardware wallets.

👜 Choosing a wallet

Zelcore was the perfect choice . It’s a non-custodial wallet that supports hundreds of assets, including Flux, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others. It’s available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. Zelcore features:

Full local master key generation; password and username are used to encrypt the account;
three addresses for each asset, which can be renamed for specific tasks;
Built-in d2FA (decentralized two-factor authentication) provides additional security when sending funds.

The alternative was to store FLUX on exchanges such as KuCoin , Gate.io or Bittrex , but this increased the risk of losing control of the keys.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Selecting a pool

Several pools supported ZelHash: minerpool.org , fluxpools.net , 2miners.com . Minerpool.org was the largest, accounting for over 51% of the network hashrate. Centralization negatively impacted decentralization, but Minerpool.org offered rewards for parallel assets , which added 39% to revenue. An alternative was 2Miners, which supported solo mining and a simple batch file setup.

🛠️ Select a program

There were several popular miners for mining ZelHash:

miniZ is optimized for Nvidia graphics cards; it is highly efficient on the 30xx series .
GMiner — works on Nvidia and AMD, supports customization of commission percentage and ZelProof parameters.
lolMiner is a universal option for AMD and Nvidia, including ZelHash support and evenly distributing the hashrate. The dev-fee for ZelHash ranges from 1% to 1.5%.

🧾 Setting up a Bat file

After downloading the miner, the .bat file needed to be edited. For miniZ, the command structure was roughly as follows:

miniz --url=wallet_address.farm_name@flux-eu.minerpool.org:2033 \ 
      --pass=Pool_Password --par=125,4 --pers=ZelProof --extra

For GMiner :

miner.exe --algo 125_4 --server flux-eu.minerpool.org --port 2033 \ 
         --user wallet_address.farm_name --pass Password --pers ZelProof

For lolMiner there were more settings, since the configuration was stored in user_config.json:

"flux" : { 
  "COIN" : "FLUX", 
  "POOLS" : [{"POOL" : "flux-eu.minerpool.org", 
               "PORT" : "2033", 
               "USER" : "wallet_address.farm_name", 
               "PASS" : "Password"}] 
}

It’s important to use the closest pool server and set your own password to prevent attackers from changing the payout threshold. After saving the file, the miner launched, and the GPU began solving ZelHash equations.

🧑‍🚀 Hive OS: Ready to Fly

Miners appreciated Hive OS , a specialized Linux-based system. For Flux, all they had to do was add a wallet in the Wallets section , then create a Flight Sheet , specify a pool, and select a miner (lolMiner or GMiner). Hive OS automatically populated the parameters, eliminating the need to edit batch files.

🔧 Overclocking and cooling

ZelHash puts a lot of strain on the core, so overclocking settings differ from Ethash. It’s best to start with the stock frequencies and gradually increase the core and memory frequencies, as with Ravencoin mining. Monitor the temperature, set the fan speed manually, and reduce the overclocking if memory errors occur.

🧭 How much did it bring in?

Before switching to PoUW, Flux’s profitability often outpaced Ethereum and Ravencoin: on an Nvidia 1060 3GB GPU , you could earn around $0.55 per day, excluding electricity costs. Additional income was provided by parallel assets—tokens on the Kadena, Binance Smart Chain, Ethereum, Solana, and Tron blockchains; these were automatically awarded by pools and exchanged 1:1 for FLUX. There was also the Titan program , which allowed users to rent node shares and receive bonus payments for each transaction, earning an additional 0.5 Flux per block.

To estimate profitability, miners used calculators like 2CryptoCalc and Minerstat , which used hashrate in Sol/s (for Equihash). However, even these calculators didn’t take into account the entire incentive structure, and actual payouts were often higher.

⏳ In the wake of the update: Proof-of-Useful-Work and the end of an era

In October 2025, Flux took an unprecedented step: launching Proof-of-Useful-Work v2 , shifting from wasted energy consumption to computations actually needed by the ecosystem. Blocks are now issued by Cumulus , Nimbus , and Stratus nodes ; block times have been reduced from two minutes to thirty seconds, and rewards are distributed among node operators and a development fund. GPU mining was officially halted, and pools like 2Miners ceased operations by October 20th. The new model is projected to provide a more predictable reward distribution and 10% annual inflation.

What should miners do? They can deploy a Flux Node , investing resources in one of the layers, or switch to other PoW projects. However, the legacy of ZelHash lives on: the algorithm remains ASIC-resistant and is used in some altcoins, and knowledge of how to configure miners and pools remains useful.

🧠 Summary and personal reflections

The Flux story is a shining example of how a project can evolve from GPU mining to fully useful computing. For me personally, mining Flux was a journey: the screaming fans, the fine-tuning of batch files, the choice of pool—it all felt exciting. However, it’s important to understand: technology evolves. ZelHash remains an interesting distributed proof-of-concept mechanism, but the Flux ecosystem has decided to dedicate computation to real-world tasks. Perhaps we’ll see other networks adopt this idea.