Gridcoin (GRC): how it works, supply and reviews
In short
- Type
- Own permissionless blockchain with its own coin, GRC
- Issuance
- 37,600 GRC minted per day: 9,600 GRC to stakers and 28,200 GRC to computing contributors (2022 whitepaper)
- Risks and caveats
- Rewards depend on statistics from third-party research projects, collected by a small set of authorised oracle nodes.
- Checked
- 31 October 2026
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Key facts
- Ticker
- GRC
- Official site
- gridcoin.us
Key facts checked on 31 October 2026 against official sources.
What is Gridcoin
Gridcoin (GRC) is an open-source proof-of-stake cryptocurrency that rewards volunteer computing for science on the BOINC platform and Folding@home. Stakers secure the chain and earn 10 GRC per block, while most new GRC goes to people who contribute computing power to approved research projects.
Network and consensus
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Type | Own permissionless blockchain with its own coin, GRC |
| Consensus | Proof of stake (PoSv2); network consensus does not depend on BOINC rewards |
| Block time | 90 seconds target block spacing (960 blocks a day) |
| Launched | Gridcoin-Classic launched 16 October 2013; the proof-of-stake Gridcoin-Research chain launched 11 October 2014 |
| Oracle | Once a day the network records approved project statistics in a 'superblock', collected by authorised oracle nodes (six in 2022) |
| Staking | Coins can stake after they have been unmoved for at least 16 hours |
| Approved projects | Only work for whitelisted BOINC projects earns GRC; greylisted projects earn nothing until they return to the whitelist |
Supply and issuance
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Issuance | 37,600 GRC minted per day: 9,600 GRC to stakers and 28,200 GRC to computing contributors (2022 whitepaper) |
| Staking rewards | 10 GRC per staked block plus the transaction fees in that block |
| Maximum supply | No maximum supply is stated; the 2022 whitepaper gives a total supply of 463,000,000 GRC as of 20 August 2022 |
| Initial distribution | No premine; the proof-of-stake chain's initial distribution came from a proof-of-burn of Gridcoin-Classic |
What GRC is used for
- GRC rewards stakers who secure the chain and contributors who run approved BOINC or Folding@home work.
- GRC is used for payments like any other cryptocurrency.
Who develops and governs Gridcoin
- Founders
- Launched in 2013 by Rob Halförd (described in the 2022 whitepaper as an anonymous developer)
- Governance
- No owners, executives or board; changes are proposed in public code and adopted by nodes, guided by on-chain polls
- Foundation
- The Gridcoin Foundation is a community-managed multi-signature wallet of about 15 million GRC, from coins abandoned in the 2014 switch to proof of stake
- Developer
- Volunteer core developers, led by James C Owens (lead core developer)
- Open source
- Gridcoin-Research wallet code on GitHub under the MIT licence
History
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 16 October 2013 | Gridcoin-Classic, a scrypt proof-of-work coin, launches. |
| 11 October 2014 | The proof-of-stake Gridcoin-Research chain launches. |
| 20 April 2015 | Gridcoin-Classic is retired. |
| 27 August 2022 | Stakers start to fulfil Manual Reward Claim (MRC) requests, letting small contributors claim rewards without staking. |
| 3 April 2026 | Mandatory release 5.5.0.0 'Natasha' activates block v13 and v14 rules, including time-locked contracts (HTLC). |
Security and audits
- The chain is secured by proof of stake, so it keeps producing blocks even if BOINC rewards stop working.
- If a research project is compromised, it can be removed from the approved list without disrupting the network.
- Release 5.5.0.0 added v3 beacons that need a cryptographic proof of BOINC account ownership.
Security incidents
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 8 June 2026 | Outage: Gridcoin published hotfix 5.5.1.0 to fix a crash of mainnet nodes caused by a logic error in a divide-by-zero guard in the scraper/AutoGreylist code; the developers called the update effectively mandatory. | github.com |
Further incidents are reported by third parties (press, incident databases) but are not confirmed in the company’s own channels, so they are not listed here.
Risks and caveats
- Rewards depend on statistics from third-party research projects, collected by a small set of authorised oracle nodes.
- The Foundation's GRC sits in a multi-signature wallet whose keys are held by a group of trusted individuals.
- Nodes must install mandatory upgrades before set heights or they cannot follow the chain.
Official links
- Website: gridcoin.us
- Docs: gridcoin.us/wiki
- Whitepaper: gridcoin.us/assets/docs/whitepaper.pdf
- Source code: github.com/gridcoin-community/Gridcoin-Research
Questions and answers
What is Gridcoin?
Gridcoin (GRC) is an open-source proof-of-stake cryptocurrency that rewards volunteer computing for science through BOINC and Folding@home.
Who created Gridcoin?
Rob Halförd launched Gridcoin on 16 October 2013; today volunteer core developers maintain it and there are no owners or executives.
What is the maximum supply of Gridcoin?
No maximum supply is stated. The protocol mints about 37,600 GRC a day; total supply was 463 million GRC on 20 August 2022.
How does Gridcoin work?
Stakers secure the chain with proof of stake and earn 10 GRC per block; daily superblocks record research statistics so computing contributors are paid GRC.
Sources
- Gridcoin - Home
- Gridcoin Wiki - Home
- Gridcoin Wiki - FAQ
- Gridcoin Wiki - Team and Contributors
- Gridcoin - Project Whitelist
- Gridcoin Whitepaper (2022)
- Gridcoin Staking Bluepaper, section 1
- GitHub - Gridcoin-Research repository (API)
- GitHub - Release 5.5.0.0 'Natasha'
- GitHub - Release 5.5.1.0 hotfix
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- All Crypto projects →
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