Quai Network is preparing a major protocol upgrade scheduled for December 17, known as SOAP — the Subsidized Open-market Acquisition Protocol. This upgrade fundamentally changes how merge-mining works by transforming it into a continuous QUAI buyback and revenue stream for the network. From a mining perspective, SOAP introduces several significant changes aimed at expanding participation, increasing network security, and improving miner incentives.

The most notable mining-related updates include: - KawPow replacing ProgPow for GPU mining - SHA-256 mining enabled - Scrypt mining enabled These changes open the door to a much broader range of mining hardware, from GPUs to widely deployed ASICs. KawPow will serve as the primary algorithm for GPU miners. Existing mining software that already supports KawPow will work without requiring any modifications, ensuring a smooth transition. A major advantage of this change is native support for TeamRedMiner, which allows AMD GPUs to perform significantly better than they did under the previous ProgPow variant. With TeamRedMiner support, AMD cards are expected to close the performance gap with NVIDIA GPUs, improving overall mining efficiency and hardware balance. The introduction of Scrypt mining enables ASIC miners to participate in securing the Quai network. If you already operate an ASIC miner for Litecoin (LTC) or Dogecoin (DOGE), Quai will become an additional mining option following the SOAP upgrade. This change lowers the barrier to entry for existing Scrypt miners and helps rapidly scale network hashrate. In addition to Scrypt, Quai will also support SHA-256 mining, making it compatible with existing Bitcoin ASIC miners. These miners can be repurposed to mine Quai after the update, and the implementation includes support for ASICBoost, further improving mining efficiency.


The overarching goal of these changes is to dramatically increase network hashrate, thereby strengthening Quai’s security. At the same time, emission levels will rise, which—combined with expanded hardware support—should improve mining profitability and incentives across the ecosystem. With SOAP, Quai positions itself as one of the most hardware-inclusive and miner-friendly networks moving forward.