PIVX Frequently Asked Questions

Because a lot of people where having the same questions in the Slack #support channel, I decided to collect them in this document.

Official website

General

What is the best place to get PIVX?

The best place to get PIVX is BITTREX.

What is the difference between PIVX and PIV

PIVX is the name of the currency, and PIV is the amount. Most Exchanges use PIVX for both though.

Is PIVX a fork of DASH?

PIVX is a "code fork" of dash. There was no "hard fork" where the chain has split. If you want to know the differences between PIVX and DASH, please visit pivx.org.

How do I mine PIVX?

In contrary to bitcoin, which is Proof Of Work (POW), PIVX is Proof Of Stake (POS). Instead of using a lot of CPU power to create new coins, new PIV is created by having it and staking it. It can be compared to receiving interest on your savings account.

Wallet

How do I install the wallet?

Crypto Lanka has made a great youtube series about that. Have a look at part 1, part 2 and part 3.

How do I encrypt my wallet?

Encrypting your wallet is a great idea to prevent other people using your computer to steal your money or your wallet.dat file. Please don't forget the encryption password. If you lose it, you can't access your funds.

How do I backup my wallet?

The most important thing in cryptocurrencies is backing up your wallet data! Always keep backups in multiple places so your money is safe when somebody steals your computer or your house burns down.

That being said, There are two ways to backup your wallet. And you probably should do both.

Method 1 - Backup wallet.dat.

  1. Make your your PIVX wallet application is closed.
  2. Go to your PIVX wallet folder.
  3. Copy the wallet.dat file and save it on a usb stick in a secure location. Remember: if your wallet is unencrypted and it gets stolen, your PIV is not safe! You can backup the pivx.conf file as well.

Method 2 - Backup your private keys.

You can find how to backup your private keys here. If you have used the masternode genkey command, remember to backup that private key as well. It is good practice to print the private key and put it in a secure and external location. NEVER GIVE ANYONE YOUR PRIVATE KEYS.

Where is my wallet data located?

You can find your wallet in the following directory:

- Windows: %APPDATA%\PIVX\

- Linux: ~/.pivx/

- Mac: ~/Library/Application\ Support/PIVX/

Syncing is taking forever

You can speed up syncing by downloading a backup of the blockchain:

  1. Close the wallet application
  2. Go to your wallet directory
  3. BACKUP YOUR wallet.dat AND pivx.conf FILES ON AN EXTERNAL DRIVE AND KEEP IT IN A SAFE LOCATION
  4. Remove the blocks and chainstate directories
  5. Download the Pivx_Blockchain_Backup-***.zip file at the official PIVX Github page here
  6. Unzip the file and put the new blocks and chainstate directories in your wallet directory
  7. Start your wallet
Error: corrupted blockchain / Crashing wallet

Any problems with crashing wallets, or corrupted blockchains: Follow the steps in 'Syncing is taking forever' to resync your blockchain.

Masternode

How to setup a masternode?

Follow the steps here. It's for setting up two masternodes, but you can also use it to setup one. There is also a great video here.

How much do you earn with a masternode?

A masternode costs 10.000 PIV. You can see how much you earn here.

Which port does the PIVX masternode use?

PIVX uses port 51470. Be sure to let your firewall only accept that port. If you use SSH, make sure only your IP address can connect to the server.

Staking

What is staking?

You can compare staking with bitcoin mining, but instead of using cpu power, you use your PIV to gain interest. The more PIV you have, the more often you will earn a 'stake'.

How much do you earn with staking?

It depends. At the time of writing you get about 1 stake per 14 days if you have 1000 PIV in your wallet, and 1 stake per 1-2 days if you have 10.000 PIV in your wallet. The stake earnings are shown on this site.

How to start staking?

If you have a substantial amount of PIV, you should stake. It's safe and you get free PIV! You only have to run your computer/server for 24/7 (it can be offline about 50 minutes per day for updates/reboots). Staking is enabled by default.

Do I need to restart my wallet after adding PIVX?

No, that's not necessary, after 101 confirmations it will be added to your staking amount.

Why isn't staking working?

It could be a couple of things. Make sure your added funds have 101 confirmations. Make sure your wallet is unlocked for staking, and make sure your wallet has more than 1 active peers (see the icons in the bottem right). If staking works, the arrow in the bottem right will turn green.

Other Questions

Find us at Slack

If this FAQ didn't answer your question. Please find us at pivx.slack.com. There is a special #support channel where we will answer all your questions!

This is an unofficial PIVX Frequently Asked Questions page made by me @zanydu. If you want to contribute to this page, please contact me in the PIVX Slack or create a pull request at Github.