{"id":5353,"date":"2026-08-03T10:27:52","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T10:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2miners.com\/blog\/?p=5353"},"modified":"2026-08-03T10:27:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T10:27:52","slug":"july-2026-work-progress-ethereum-classic-cuts-block-reward-by-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/2miners.com\/blog\/july-2026-work-progress-ethereum-classic-cuts-block-reward-by-20\/","title":{"rendered":"July 2026 Work Progress: Ethereum Classic Cuts Block Reward by 20%"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>July was a month of shrinking block rewards. Ethereum Classic cut its block reward by 20% under ECIP-1017, Kaspa went through another scheduled reduction, and Zcash activated the Ironwood upgrade that closes the Orchard flaw we reported last month. We also refreshed our Zcash, Nervos, and Pearl nodes and rotated the SSL certificates on all pools.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/2miners.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/july-2026-work-progress-report-2miners.jpg\" alt=\"2Miners July 2026 work progress report - miner cooling ASIC rigs with a fan in summer heat\" width=\"1344\" height=\"768\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5357\" data-wp-pid=\"5357\" srcset=\"https:\/\/2miners.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/july-2026-work-progress-report-2miners.jpg 1344w, https:\/\/2miners.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/july-2026-work-progress-report-2miners-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/2miners.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/july-2026-work-progress-report-2miners-1024x585.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/2miners.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/july-2026-work-progress-report-2miners-768x439.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1344px) 100vw, 1344px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Ethereum Classic (ETC) Block Reward Reduction<\/h2>\n<p>In accordance with the <a href=\"https:\/\/ethereumclassic.com\/research\/emission-schedule\" target=\"_blank\">Ethereum Classic Monetary Policy<\/a> and the ETC emission schedule defined in <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/ethereumclassic\/ECIPs\/blob\/master\/_specs\/ecip-1017.md\" target=\"_blank\">ECIP-1017<\/a>, the block reward dropped again in July. The reduction happens every 5,000,000 blocks and takes 20% off the reward each time. This one landed at block <strong>25,000,001<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Previous Reward:<\/strong> 2.048 ETC<\/li>\n<li><strong>New Reward:<\/strong> 1.6384 ETC<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Please pay attention!<\/strong> This is a 20% cut to what every ETC block pays out, and it applies to POOL and SOLO alike. We have already updated <a href=\"https:\/\/2cryptocalc.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">2CryptoCalc<\/a> with the new reward, so the numbers you see there are current.<\/p>\n<p>Mining continues as usual on the <a href=\"https:\/\/2miners.com\/etc-mining-pool\">ETC pool<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/2miners.com\/solo-etc-mining-pool\">ETC SOLO<\/a>. No configuration changes are needed on your side.<\/p>\n<h2>Kaspa (KAS) Block Reward Reduction<\/h2>\n<p>As defined by the <a href=\"https:\/\/kaspa.org\/tokenomics\/\" target=\"_blank\">Kaspa Tokenomics<\/a>, the Crescendo Hard Fork, and the official emission schedule, Kaspa underwent another scheduled block reward reduction in July.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Previous Reward:<\/strong> 2.596 KAS<\/li>\n<li><strong>New Reward:<\/strong> 2.449 KAS<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Please pay attention!<\/strong> Kaspa mining profitability has changed. We have already updated <a href=\"https:\/\/2cryptocalc.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">2CryptoCalc<\/a> to reflect the new reward values. Mining continues on the <a href=\"https:\/\/2miners.com\/kas-mining-pool\">KAS pool<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/2miners.com\/solo-kas-mining-pool\">KAS SOLO<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Zcash (ZEC) Ironwood Upgrade Activated<\/h2>\n<p>Last month we reported the emergency response to the Orchard soundness flaw. July closed that chapter. The <strong>Ironwood<\/strong> network upgrade \u2014 formally <strong>NU6.3<\/strong> \u2014 activated on mainnet at block <strong>3,428,143<\/strong> on July 28, sealing the old Orchard pool and routing the shielded supply through a public accounting checkpoint known as the turnstile. The upgrade had been pushed back one week from July 21 specifically to give exchanges, wallets, and mining pools time to prepare.<\/p>\n<p>Two things happened around it that matter to node operators:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>zcashd reached end of life on July 18.<\/strong> The reference client is done. Zebra is now the node to run.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Zebra 6.2.3<\/strong> shipped on July 28 as the Ironwood-ready release, built against the NU6.3 versions of the librustzcash libraries.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Our ZEC node runs <strong>Zebra 6.2.3<\/strong> (commit 7121c82). Beyond Ironwood compatibility, the release is about network resilience: peers are no longer penalized for branch ID mismatches during the 40-block window around activation, the stall detector stops disconnecting peers near the chain tip, and outbound connection slots no longer clog with non-serving peers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What it means for miners on 2Miners:<\/strong> nothing changes in your setup. Equihash mining and payouts ran normally through the activation. If you run your own node, migrate to Zebra \u2014 zcashd is no longer maintained. Mining continues on the <a href=\"https:\/\/2miners.com\/zec-mining-pool\">ZEC pool<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/2miners.com\/solo-zec-mining-pool\">ZEC SOLO<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Node Updates<\/h2>\n<h3>Nervos CKB \u2014 0.208.0 and 0.209.0<\/h3>\n<p>Nervos shipped twice in July and we took both. Neither is a mandatory upgrade: all networks stay on the ckb2023 consensus version, and there are no protocol changes in either release.<\/p>\n<p><strong>0.208.0<\/strong> (commit 585395c, July 14) is routine maintenance \u2014 the live cell RPC response now includes the block hash, plus dependency upgrades, a Windows runtime fix, and a rotation of the release signing key. Nothing mining-specific.<\/p>\n<p><strong>0.209.0<\/strong> (commit d166e28, July 29) is the more useful one for anyone running their own node:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bearer-token authentication for miner notify mode \u2014 relevant to anyone running pool notification plumbing against their own node<\/li>\n<li>Tor support reimplemented directly, with better connection-loss detection<\/li>\n<li>Fixes for unbounded logger and relay-queue memory growth<\/li>\n<li>Transaction pool bug fixes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Eaglesong mining is unaffected. Mine on the <a href=\"https:\/\/2miners.com\/ckb-mining-pool\">CKB pool<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/2miners.com\/solo-ckb-mining-pool\">CKB SOLO<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Pearl \u2014 1.2.1<\/h3>\n<p>Our Pearl node is now on <strong>1.2.1<\/strong> (commit e72ad36), a maintenance release following the network&#8217;s move to v2 certificates in June. PearlHash mining is unchanged. Pearl runs on both <a href=\"https:\/\/2miners.com\/prl-mining-pool\">PRL POOL<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/2miners.com\/solo-prl-mining-pool\">PRL SOLO<\/a>, and profitability is on <a href=\"https:\/\/2cryptocalc.com\/prl-mining-calculator\" target=\"_blank\">2CryptoCalc<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>SSL Certificates Renewed<\/h2>\n<p>We rotated the SSL certificates across all pools and restarted the stratum servers with the new certificates. If your miner logged a brief reconnect in July, this is the most likely reason. No action is required \u2014 mining resumed automatically, and connections using TLS stratum ports continue to work with no configuration change.<\/p>\n<h2>Stay Updated<\/h2>\n<p>Follow us on <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/pool2miners\">X (Twitter)<\/a> and join our <a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/chat2miners\">Telegram chat<\/a> to stay informed about new developments, miner alerts, and network upgrades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>July was a month of shrinking block rewards. Ethereum Classic cut its block reward by 20% under ECIP-1017, Kaspa went through another scheduled reduction, and Zcash activated the Ironwood upgrade that closes the Orchard flaw we reported last month. We also refreshed our Zcash, Nervos, and Pearl nodes and rotated the SSL certificates on all [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5357,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>July 2026 Work Progress: Ethereum Classic Cuts Block Reward by 20% - Crypto Mining Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"July was a month of shrinking block rewards. 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