Influenced largely around the potential of DeFi on bitcoin, today, I decided to run a STX node, connect it to the public testnet network., and document my thoughts around the setup process.

I followed the commands at https://docs.blockstack.org/stacks-blockchain/running-testnet-node, and set up a local node on my Macbook Pro, using a docker container. This guide will help you accomplish the following:

• Download and install the node software
• Run the node
• Mine Stacks token

The node can easily be run in a containerized environment, pulling from the blockstack/stacks-blockchain repo, by entering the following Docker run command:

docker run -d \   
--name stacks_follower \   
--rm \   
-e RUST_BACKTRACE="full" \   
-e BLOCKSTACK_DEBUG="1" \   
-p 20443:20443 \   
-p 20444:20444 \   
blockstack/stacks-blockchain:latest \ 
/bin/stacks-node krypton

Once you setup a testnet node, you can easily start mining!

Mining STX

With BTC the more electricity running through it, the more secure it is. With STX, the more BTC transferred through it (via Proof of Transfer “PoX”) the more secure it is.

To get started mining with my testnet node, I followed the instructions here: https://docs.blockstack.org/mining. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Generate a keychain
2. Send the BTC address some faucet testnet BTC
3. Run the node via standard configuration

Easily get faucet BTC via a curl command

Running the Argon command starts a node that will join and stream blocks from the public argon testnet, powered by Blockstack (Proof of Burn).

Running the Krypton start a node that will join and stream blocks from the public krypton testnet, powered by Blockstack via (Proof of Transfer).

Running the start command lets you start a node with a custom config. After running my custom config for PoX, a generated a public node, who’s ID is

02a0224380e6702830c253da9b69ba6923d1d98b220e8cbbe2594e8aad0529194d

I traded some testnet BTC for STX via PoX. Overall, the process to setup a blockstack testnet node is relatively straightforward and easy.

Note that mining STX is an almost activity similar to trading in that it deals with transferring BTC in exchange for STX, where they may even arbitrage it as they earn it. Traders may like it for that reason, because it doesn’t require special hardware.