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What is ORE? The Solana mining game, explained simply

ORE is a token on Solana with a fixed maximum supply and an unusual way of being handed out: a mining game where you put SOL on a grid and a program draws a winner every round. Here is how a round works, what it costs you, and where staking fits in.

  • 7 min read
  • Published
  • Facts checked
  • By StonkBuilder Community

In short

  • ORE is a Solana token with a hard cap of 3,000,000, set in code that cannot be changed.
  • You mine it by putting SOL on a 5 by 5 grid. A program draws one winning tile every round.
  • Mining costs real SOL: the winning tile gets 99% back and every other tile gets 89.1% back.
  • Claiming mined ORE carries a 10% fee that goes to miners who hold on. Staking is separate.
  • The ORE you win can be worth less than the SOL it cost. This is not financial advice.

Words you'll meet

Fair launch
A token launched with nothing held back for insiders.
Tile
One of the 25 squares on ORE's grid. Each round, one tile wins.
Deploy
To put SOL on tiles for a round. Most of it comes back.
Motherlode
A jackpot of ORE that grows every round until a lucky round pays it out.
Unrefined ORE
Mined ORE you have not claimed yet. Claiming it costs a 10% fee.

More words, explained plainly: the StonkBuilder Learn glossary

What ORE is

ORE is a token on Solana. Its own site calls it a store of value: a token with a fixed total that is handed out by a game rather than set aside for insiders.[1] It was fair launched in April 2024 with no pre-mine, and it can never pass 3,000,000 ORE, a limit enforced by code that cannot be changed.[1]

It is called mining, but it is not like Bitcoin mining. ORE calls it virtual mining: you put SOL on a game board and a program picks the winner.[1]

How a round works

  1. The board

    Each round uses a shared grid of 25 tiles, five by five. Every tile has the same 1-in-25 chance of winning.[2]

  2. Miners deploy SOL

    Miners choose tiles and put SOL on them. After the round, most of that SOL comes back.[2]

  3. A program draws the winner

    When the round closes, an onchain program that ORE calls an entropy program draws one winning tile. Every round settles onchain and the result is public.[2]

  4. New ORE goes to the winners

    One new ORE goes to the miners on the winning tile. On a split tile it is shared in proportion to the SOL each miner put there. On a solo tile, one miner gets all of it, and each miner's chance matches their share of the SOL. Each round has 15 split tiles and 10 solo tiles, shown before you deploy.[2]

  5. The Motherlode grows

    Another 0.2 ORE goes into a shared jackpot called the Motherlode. Each round has a 1-in-500 chance of paying it out to the miners on the winning tile.[2]

What mining costs

This is the part to understand before you deploy anything. After each round your SOL is returned, but not all of it: miners on the winning tile get 99% back, and miners on every other tile get 89.1% back. The SOL the protocol keeps is the cost of mining.[2]

Where your SOL ends up after a round
You get backThe protocol keeps
Winning tile99%1%
Every other tile89.1%10.9%

The protocol uses what it keeps to buy ORE on the open market. Of the ORE it buys, 90% is buried, which removes it from circulation, and 10% goes to people who stake ORE.[3]

What happens to the ORE you win

Mined ORE first sits in your miner account as unrefined ORE. Claiming it costs a 10% refining fee, which is shared among miners who still hold unrefined ORE. Claim 10 and 9 reach your wallet, while the other 1 goes to those holders.[4] Wait, and you earn a share of other miners' fees as refined ORE, which carries no fee when you claim it.[4]

Staking and stORE, briefly

Separately from mining, you can stake ORE. Stakers share the 10% slice of the ORE the protocol buys back, in proportion to how much they have staked. The rate you see is an estimate based on the past 7 days, and it is not fixed or guaranteed.[3] The liquid version, stORE, is a standard Solana token that you can unwrap at any time. The number of stORE in your wallet stays the same, and the amount of ORE each one unwraps to rises as yield builds up. Apps that accept stORE have their own fees and risks.[5]

If you decide to try it: Lite mode, step by step

  1. Get a Solana wallet and some SOL

    You need a Solana wallet connected to ore.com and SOL in it. Some pays for network fees and rent, and the rest is what you mine with.[6] StonkBuilder Learn explains recovery phrases before you set a wallet up.

  2. Open the official site

    Go to ore.com, or start from our ORE hub, which shows the verified contract address. Never follow a mining or swap link from a message or an ad.

  3. Choose Mine, then Lite

    Lite mode uses a ready-made plan: it deploys on all 25 tiles and spreads your SOL over several rounds.[7]

  4. Enter an amount and deploy

    Start small. Enter the SOL to mine with and click Deploy. The SOL moves from your wallet to your miner and is deployed round by round.[7]

  5. Watch the Autominer panel

    It shows your balance and the estimated number of rounds. Top up to add SOL, or press Stop to return what is left to your wallet.[7]

  6. Claim when you choose to

    Claiming unrefined ORE carries the 10% fee described above.

Want more control? Pro mode lets you choose your tiles and how many rounds to mine.[8] Our ORE hub shows the whole flow, and every official ORE guide is linked from it.

The risks, honestly

  • Mining costs SOL every round. Even a win returns only 99%, and the other tiles return 89.1%. The ORE you receive may be worth less than that.[2]
  • Look-alike tokens exist. An older ORE token has an address that also starts with the letters oreo. Compare every character of the address on our ORE hub before you swap.
  • Staking rates move. The number you see is an estimate, not a promise.[3]
  • Nobody needs your recovery phrase. Support staff, airdrops and so-called migrations never do.
  • Taxes. In many countries, mined rewards, swaps and staking can be taxable. Keep records.
  • We are independent. StonkBuilder Community is not run by or affiliated with ORE, and none of this is financial advice.

StonkBuilder Learn also shows how to spot a crypto scam and why the contract address is a token's real name .

Questions people ask

Is ORE mining like Bitcoin mining?

No. You do not run special hardware. You put SOL on a game board and a program draws the winning tile. ORE calls it virtual mining.

How many ORE can ever exist?

3,000,000. The limit is enforced by ORE's immutable mint program, so it cannot be raised.

Do I lose my SOL when I mine?

Not all of it, but some. After each round you get back 99% of the SOL on the winning tile and 89.1% of the SOL on every other tile. The rest is the cost of mining.

What is the Motherlode?

A jackpot that grows by 0.2 ORE every round. Each round has a 1-in-500 chance of paying it out to the miners on the winning tile, in proportion to their SOL.

Is this the official ORE site?

No. The official site is ore.com. This is an independent guide from StonkBuilder Community.

Go deeper in our project communities

Sources

  1. ORE: What is ORE? ore.com/learn/what-is-ore
  2. ORE: How mining works ore.com/learn/how-mining-works
  3. ORE: How staking works ore.com/learn/how-staking-works
  4. ORE: Refining ore.com/learn/refining
  5. ORE: stORE, the liquid staking token ore.com/learn/store
  6. ORE: Getting started ore.com/learn/getting-started
  7. ORE: Lite mode ore.com/learn/lite-mode
  8. ORE: Pro mode ore.com/learn/pro-mode

Checked on 30 Sep 2026. Projects change their fees and features; the linked pages are the source of truth.

StonkBuilder Community writes independent, educational guides. We are not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by the projects we cover; names and trademarks belong to their owners. Nothing here is financial, investment or legal advice. Crypto prices are volatile and you can lose money.