XBT miners: when your locked rewards actually unlock
Mining XBT right now means earning coins you can't spend yet. Every block reward from block 973,440 on is locked until at least block 979,920, around Nov 1. Here's what that means for your payouts, how to work out when your coins free up, and what to ask your pool.
When does my reward unlock?
Take the block height where the reward was created (your pool's payout block, or your own block if you solo mine):
| Mined at block | Spendable by consensus | Relays through Knots nodes |
|---|---|---|
| Before 973,440 | 100 blocks later | 6,480 blocks later |
| 973,440 to 979,819 | Block 979,920 | 6,480 blocks later |
| 979,820 to 979,919 | 100 blocks later | 6,480 blocks later |
| 979,920 and after | 100 blocks later | 6,480 blocks later |
The consensus lock switches off at block 979,920 for everything at once. Bitcoin Knots keeps a 6,480-block rule for relaying and for its wallet, and that doesn't switch off. Why the two differ.
Example: a payout created at block 975,000 is spendable by consensus at 979,920. Broadcast through a Knots node, it relays at 981,480, about 11 days later.
Pool payouts
How the lock hits you depends on how your pool pays:
- Paid straight from the block reward (solo, TIDES-style and other coinbase payout pools): your share sits in the block's coinbase, so it's locked like any other reward. Your wallet will show it as immature.
- Paid from the pool's wallet (most PPLNS and PPS-style pools): the pool needs spendable coins to pay you. Some pay on schedule out of their own funds, some hold balances until rewards unlock, some pay in batches after. Ask.
Questions worth asking your pool before block 979,920:
- Are my earnings paid from the coinbase or from the pool's wallet?
- Are payouts paused, delayed or batched during the lock?
- When the lock ends, will you pay out the backlog, and at what pace?
- If the lock gets extended, what happens to my balance?
Running the numbers
The lock costs time, not coins. You still own every reward you earn. But your power bill doesn't wait. A 19 TH/s miner using 3,100 W at $0.13/kWh runs about $9.70 a day in power, about $435 over 45 days, before you can sell a coin. Hash renters front far more, since rent costs about what the hash earns. Plan the float before you plug in more machines. The mining calculator has today's numbers.
Wallet tips
- If you run Bitcoin Knots, its wallet counts coinbase rewards as immature for 6,480 blocks, even after block 979,920. That's expected.
- Don't try to "unstick" a locked reward with a higher fee. Fees don't change maturity.
- Check your payout address is one you control and have backed up. Locked coins are still yours to lose.
Watch for an extension
A proposal to extend the lock until the RDTS soft fork expires (Sept 1, 2027) is still being discussed. It would need a new node release and enough nodes and miners running it. Anything that changes your payouts will show up on the unlock page and in the news first.
Based on the Bitcoin Knots 29.x source as of Oct 15, 2026. Rules can change by soft fork. Not financial advice.
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