Frequently asked questions

Short answers to what people ask most. Anything not here, ask a person in the Telegram chat or on Discord.

The basics

What is PCoin?

PCoin (PCN) is an independent Layer-1 blockchain with its own genesis block, network and addresses. It is not a token on another chain. It is built on the Bitcoin Core codebase with two changes: proof-of-work is RandomX, which runs well on an ordinary CPU, and difficulty adjusts every block.

The supply rules are Bitcoin's: 21 million maximum, 50 PCN per block, halving every 210,000 blocks, one block every ten minutes on average. The chain went live in August 2026.

Where do I follow news?

Announcements are posted to @PCoinPCN on Telegram and to the PCoin Discord. Release notes are on pc.am/news and the source code is on GitHub.

Why does the old BitcoinTalk announcement link give a 404?

The forum's moderators banned the BitcoinTalk account that posted it on 9 September 2026, and a ban removes that account's threads. Nothing changed with PCoin itself. An appeal has been sent. Any "new official thread" there is not from the project unless @PCoinPCN announces it.

Getting PCN

How do I get PCN?
  • Mine it with your CPU. See the mining questions below.
  • Buy it directly from the project at market.pc.am.
  • Earn it by running GPU jobs at pcnearner.pc.am.
Which wallet should I use?

Every wallet gives you a 12-word recovery phrase. Write it on paper. It is the only way back into your coins, and nobody can recover it for you.

Mining

How do I start mining?
  • Windows: run irm https://pc.am/dl/install.ps1 | iex in PowerShell. It installs a node and the tray miner. Choose how many CPU threads to use from the tray icon.
  • Linux: run curl -fsSL https://pc.am/dl/install.sh | sudo sh. A short setup asks for your payout address and thread count.
  • Pool mining: pool.pc.am has the connection settings, and works with SRBMiner-Multi's randompcn algorithm.

Stock xmrig and SHA-256 miners do not work on PCoin.

My mined coins show as "immature". Is something wrong?

No. A mining reward can only be spent after 100 more blocks, the same rule as Bitcoin. They become spendable on their own.

Why are block times so uneven?

Ten minutes is an average, not a schedule. Finding a block is random, so a gap of half an hour happens regularly and is not a fault.

Windows warns me the download is unrecognised. Is it safe?

That is SmartScreen, which warns about any program that is not code-signed and not yet widely downloaded. It is a reputation warning, not a virus detection. Every release lists SHA-256 checksums on GitHub and at pc.am/dl/SHA256SUMS.txt, so you can check the file you downloaded.

Using PCN

What can I spend PCN on?

Each service gives you your own deposit address on its top-up page. Always use that one, never an address someone posts in a chat. Deposits are credited after 3 confirmations, usually about half an hour.

I sent PCN and part of it went to an address I don't recognise.

That is almost always your change address. A wallet spends whole coins, so sending 1 PCN out of a 10 PCN coin returns about 9 PCN to a new address that belongs to the same wallet. Nothing is lost. You can check any transaction on explorer.pc.am.

Is PCN on an exchange? Can I sell it?

PCN is not listed on any centralised exchange. If you see "PCN" on one, it is either wPCN or a scam. The only public market today is wPCN on PancakeSwap (see below), and it is small.

What is wPCN?

wPCN is a token on BNB Smart Chain that is backed one-to-one by PCN held in a public reserve. It exists so PCoin can trade on PancakeSwap.

Both directions are open. Turn PCN into wPCN at wrapdesk.pc.am — 250 PCN per person, a 5% fee, and 100 confirmations before the wPCN is sent. Turn wPCN back into PCN at wrapdesk.pc.am/redeem, 1 for 1 with no fee on that side. Both are settled by a person, so allow hours rather than minutes, and the wrap desk can run out of its allocation and refuse. Never send wPCN to an exchange deposit address; no exchange lists it.

Return it rather than burning it. The redeem page offers two routes that pay the same PCN: returning the wPCN to the desk's inventory, or burning it through the contract. The supply is fixed at 50,000 and cannot be minted, so every burn permanently shrinks what can ever be wrapped again. A return keeps it usable.

wPCN and PCN can have different prices, and the two directions differ. If wPCN trades below PCN, anyone can buy it, redeem 1:1 and pull it back up. If wPCN trades above PCN, only wrapping more PCN pushes it back down, and that needs wPCN in the desk's inventory. While wrapping is closed the desk's remaining allocation is used up, wPCN can sit at a premium to PCN with nothing to correct it. The rate PCoin's services credit PCN at is never raised by the pool — nor is the price we sell PCN for — so a premium costs no one who spends PCN, but it can mean paying more for wPCN on PancakeSwap than PCN costs at market.pc.am.

Staying safe

Someone messaged me offering help, a listing, or double coins.

It is a scam. Nobody from PCoin will ever message you first, ask for your recovery phrase or private key, ask you to "validate" a wallet, or offer to arrange an exchange listing. Block them and report it in the chat so others see it.

I posted my recovery phrase by mistake.

Treat the coins as exposed: create a new wallet straight away and send everything to it. Anyone who read the phrase can spend from the old one.

Why was my message removed from the chat?

Advertising and outside links are not allowed in the PCoin chat. Links to PCoin's own sites and channels are fine.

Still stuck? Ask in @PCoinPCNChat or on Discord. A person will pick it up.