Where do mined bitcoins go?

Question

I am running a bitcoin node with the following bitcoind.conf

# bitcoind.conf
bind=127.0.0.1

# use minimum disk space
prune=550

# Pare down traffic to bare minimum
blocksonly=1
maxconnections=20
maxuploadtarget=150

# Use only tor
proxy=127.0.0.1:9050
listenonion=1
onlynet=onion

torcontrol=127.0.0.1:9051
torpassword=Not_Posting_Here
##############################
addnode=gyn2vguc35viks2b.onion
addnode=kvd44sw7skb5folw.onion
addnode=nkf5e6b7pl4jfd4a.onion
# more onion nodes elided

I have pared down the disk usage and bandwidth as much as possible. I want to run a node that will allow me to spend coins anonymously - small purchases like 4chan passes etc. Not too concerned with being robbed as my wallet would never have more than 50 dollars worth in it but want to be able to spend anonymously.

It's in the process of downloading enough of the blockchain to be ready to spend now ( I think - not too much traffic over tor according to nyx ) and I tail the debug log and see this sort of thing:

6b756b2d2cb7db97f39c7bd2 height=14835 version=0x00000001 log2_work=45.75637 tx=13952 date='2009-05-09 05:00:57' progress=0.000044 cache=3.0MiB(15823txo)
2018-04-17 13:11:31 UpdateTip: new best=00000000349ad71b516db92e4799a7bad2dc8976ca6b3cd2d894167011d51b92 height=13836 version=0x00000001 log2_work=45.756474 tx=17956 date='2009-05-09 05:44:46' progress=0.000044 cache=3.0MiB(14829txo)

and it keeps spitting these out

bitcoind is using like 1-3% of cpu according to top.

Is bitcoind mining? I don't want it to mine.

Is there a way to shut this off?

Also if it is mining, and if I can't stop it from mining, where would coins I'd mine go? I search for this, but it says the miner gets them. BUT WHERE? If I am the miner, how does bitcoind know what my bitcoin address is?

I have not created any addresses in my wallet. So where would the coins go?

The mining question is moot if I can find a way to shut off mining anyway.

I have run a node once and deposited some coins in the wallet, and then later spent them. But I want to do this all over tor without hogging all my bandwidth or disk space.

Answer 1

Bitcoin Core no longer contains any mining code, so it's definitely not mining. (If it were, you'd see 100% CPU usage.) Mining has nothing to do with the behavior you are seeing.

You're downloading the entire block chain (150+ GB) and checking it for validity, which explains the CPU usage. The UpdateTip message simply records that you've received a new block, and you've checked it and determined that it is a valid addition to the blockchain. This is normal behavior for Bitcoin Core or any other full node, and is inherent to its operation.

I see you have enabled pruning, so that will save disk space. It won't save bandwidth or CPU though. If you don't want to use that much bandwidth, don't use Bitcoin Core. There are other "thin" wallet clients that don't need to download the entire blockchain - the tradeoff is that you have to trust other nodes to tell you that transactions are valid, instead of being able to check it for yourself.