Currently available in the new test network and no account is set as etherbase to receive mining rewards.
This issue can be addressed by creating a new account and setting that account as etherbase.
Ropsten, Rinkeby, Kovan, and When to Use Each (Part 2)
This will also be required when mining is carried out on the test network.
Note that these commands are entered in the Geth JavaScript console,
In this context, the account will be created on the private network ID 786: personal.newAccount(“Password123”) “0xcf61d213faa9acadbf0d110e1397caf20445c58f” Once the account is created, the next step is to set it as an etherbase/coinbase account so that the mining reward goes to this account.
This can be achieved using the following command: > miner.setEtherbase(personal.listAccounts[0]) true Currently, the etherbase account has no balance, as can be seen using the following command: > eth.getBalance(eth.coinbase).toNumber(); Finally, mining can start by simply issuing the following command.
In the following example, two threads will be allocated to the mining process by specifying 2 as an argument to the start function: > miner.start(2) true After mining starts, the first DAG generation is carried out and output similar to the following is produced: DAG generation Once DAG generation is finished and mining starts, geth will produce output similar to that shown in the following screenshot.
It can be clearly seen that blocks are being mined successfully with the Mined 5 blocks back: .
Why This Matters for Blockchain Technology
Mining output Mining can be stopped using the following command: > miner.stop true In the JavaScript console, the current balance of total Ether can be queried. screenshot.
After mining, a significant amount can be seen in the following example.
Mining is extremely fast as it is a private network with no competition for solving the PoW and also in the genesis file, the network difficulty has also been set quite low: > eth.getBalance(eth.coinbase).toNumber(); A general tip to see the list of available objects is that if two spaces and two tabs on the keyboard are pressed in a sequence, a complete list of the available objects will be displayed.
This is shown in the following screenshot: Available objects Furthermore, when a command is typed, it can be autocompleted by pressing Tab twice.
Key Points to Remember
- This message appears because there are no accounts currently available in the new test network and no account is set as etherbase to receive mining rewards.
- This issue can be addressed by creating a new account and setting that account as etherbase.
- This will also be required when mining is carried out on the test network.
- Note that these commands are entered in the Geth JavaScript console,
Going Deeper: Advanced Concepts
If two tabs are pressed, then the list of available methods is also displayed.
This is shown in the following screenshot: Available methods In addition to the previously mentioned command, in order to get a list of available methods of an object, after typing a command, (semicolon 😉 is entered.
An example is shown in the next screenshot, which shows a list of all the methods available for net: List of methods There are a few other commands that can be used to query the private network.
Some examples are shown as follows: Get the current gas price: > eth.gasPrice Get the latest block number: > eth.blockNumber Debug can come in handy when debugging issues.
Conclusion
This message appears because there are no accounts represents one of the many innovative layers that make blockchain technology so powerful and transformative. As distributed systems continue to evolve, a solid understanding of these core concepts becomes increasingly valuable — not just for developers, but for anyone building, investing in, or working alongside blockchain-powered systems.
Whether you are just starting your blockchain journey or deepening existing expertise, mastering these fundamentals gives you the tools to think clearly about decentralized systems and make smarter decisions in this rapidly evolving space.