True Cost Explained: What Mining $SOLZ Really Costs
The mining rate is what you commit, the true cost is what you spend. Here is how the two relate, why the true cost doubles every cycle, and how to compare mining with buying.
Two numbers sit next to each other on the Mine page, and they look like two prices for the same thing. They are not. One is what you commit for each token. The other is what each token really costs you. Once the difference clicks, comparing mining with buying takes one glance.
The mining rate: what you commit
In cycle 1 the mining rate is 0.00016 SOL per $SOLZ. Commit 1 SOL and the program prices 6,250 $SOLZ for you on the spot. That SOL is not gone. After 24 hours, 90 percent of it comes back to you together with your tokens.
The true cost: what you spend
The part that does not come back is 10 percent. That is your true cost: one tenth of the mining rate, 0.000016 SOL per $SOLZ in cycle 1. In the example above you committed 1 SOL, got 0.9 SOL back, and spent 0.1 SOL for 6,250 $SOLZ.
You commit the rate. You spend the true cost.
Why it doubles every cycle
$SOLZ has a cap of 21 million, released over 32 cycles. Each cycle offers half as many tokens as the one before at twice the rate, so the true cost doubles too. It is the halving curve Bitcoin made famous, with one difference: a SOLZ cycle ends when it is mined out, not on a clock. Early miners always pay the least.
Mine or buy?
$SOLZ also trades on Raydium, so you can compare the two directly:
- Market above the true cost: mining gets you more tokens for the same SOL spent, and 90 percent of what you commit comes back.
- Market below the true cost: buying is cheaper. That is also when the 2 percent buy and burn goes to work, buying $SOLZ and burning it.
The home page and the Mine page show this comparison live, with a chart of the market price against the true cost.
Every cycle the true cost doubles. Early miners pay the least.
Where your 10 percent goes
The true cost is not a fee that disappears. On $SOLZ it is split by constants in the locked program: 4 percent deepens the Raydium pool with the LP burned, 3 percent is paid in SOL to stakers, 2 percent buys and burns $SOLZ below the true cost, and 1 percent goes to operations. Every mine makes the market deeper and pays the people who stake.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between the mining rate and the true cost?
The mining rate is how much SOL you commit for each token. Because 90 percent of it comes back after 24 hours, what you really spend is a tenth of the rate. That tenth is the true cost.
Why does the true cost double?
Each cycle offers half as many tokens as the one before at twice the rate. It is the same halving curve Bitcoin follows, written into the program so nobody can change it.
Is it better to mine or to buy?
Compare the market price with the true cost. If the market is higher, mining gets you more tokens for the same SOL spent. If the market is lower, buying is cheaper, and that is when the buy and burn steps in too.
Where does the 10 percent go?
On $SOLZ: 4 percent deepens liquidity with the LP burned, 3 percent is paid in SOL to stakers, 2 percent buys and burns $SOLZ below the true cost, and 1 percent goes to operations.
Mine $SOLZ in cycle 1
Commit SOL for 24 hours. 90% comes back with your $SOLZ. The rate only goes up from here.