Crypto Ticker & Local Home-Miner Monitor

for Raspberry Pi TFT/HDMI Displays

Real-time prices, candlestick chart, local miners' hashrate, and Bitcoin network stats, all in one dashboard.

Screenshots

Table of Contents

• Features
• Hardware
• System Prerequisites
• Installation
• Project Structure
• Configuration Notes
• Troubleshooting
• License
• Acknowledgments
• Support The Project

Features

📈 Market Data (from Binance, Kraken and Coingecko)

• Real-time prices for one or more primary pairs + configurable altcoins via WebSocket (with fallback)
• Primary pairs auto-rotate (~21 seconds) when multiple are configured
• 1-minute candlestick chart for active primary pair (duration & max candles configurable)
• Scrolling marquee: configurable altcoins with prices and 24h change coloring (green/red)

⛏️ Local Miner Monitoring (shown only if miners configured)

• Aggregated local miner stats:
  • Total hashrate (TH/s)
  • Best share difficulty among connected miners
  • Connected/active count
  • Color-coded health indicator (blue: all good, orange: partial, red: issues)
• Hashrate overlay curve from aggregated local miners on the chart
• Miner section auto-hides when miners_ips is empty (time is shown instead)

🌐 Bitcoin Network Stats (from mempool.space)

• Recommended fees (sat/vB)
• Current block height
• Latest block mining pool
• Network hashrate (EH/s)
• Network difficulty

⚙️ UX / Performance / Config

• Global connection status indicator (green/orange/red circle)
• Fully configurable via config.json (reloads on start)
• Optimized for Raspberry Pi: configurable 25 FPS cap, static background, low CPU usage
• Native 480×320 for 3.5" TFT + auto-scaling (with preserved aspect ratio) on HDMI displays
• Automatic reconnection, thread-safe data, rotating logs

Perfect for an always-on TFT/HDMI crypto dashboard on Raspberry Pi 3B+, 4 or 5.

Hardware

Developed and tested with:

• Raspberry Pi 3B+, 4, 5
• Waveshare 3.5" TFT touchscreen (480×320, XPT2046 controller)
• HDMI monitors (auto-scaled with preserved aspect ratio)

System Prerequisites

• The Raspberry Pi must be on the same local network as the miners.
• Make sure /boot/firmware/config.txt has dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d enabled.

Before installing the Python dependencies, make sure you have the necessary system packages for Pygame and graphical support.

Run the following command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install python3-venv python3-pygame libsdl2-dev libegl-dev

Additionally, add the user to the video and input groups to avoid permission issues with the framebuffer:

sudo usermod -aG video,input $USER

Log out and log back in (or reboot) for the group changes to apply.

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/DozNot/rpi-crypto-ticker-display.git
cd rpi-crypto-ticker-display

2. Create and activate a virtual environment (recommended):

Important: Use the system-provided python3-pygame package (from apt) for best compatibility with Raspberry Pi's kmsdrm driver.

python3 -m venv --system-site-packages venv
source venv/bin/activate

Why --system-site-packages?

→ This allows the venv to use the optimized system pygame while keeping other dependencies isolated.

3. Install dependencies:

python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Copy and edit the configuration file (miners hidden if "miners_ips" is empty):

cp config.example.json config.json
nano config.json

• Example config.json:

{
  "miners_ips": [
    "192.0.2.100",
    "192.0.2.101",
    "192.0.2.102",
    "192.0.2.103"
  ],
  "btc_logo_path": "logos/btc.png",
  "fps": 25,
  "dim_alpha": 50,
  "candle_seconds": 60,  
  "max_candles": 14, 
  "marquee_height": 24,
  "marquee_speed": 1.0,
  "marquee_refresh_interval": 8.0,
  "main_symbols": ["BTCUSDT", "DOGEUSDT"], 
  "marquee_symbols": [
    "ETHUSDT", "BNBUSDT", "XMRUSDT", "SOLUSDT", "LTCUSDT",
    "XRPUSDT", "ADAUSDT", "TRXUSDT", "MEUSDT", "HBARUSDT", "ESXUSD",
    "XECUSDT", "RUNECOIN"  
  ],
  "price_decimals": {
    "xecusdt": 8,
    "esxusd": 6,
    "runecoin": 8
  },
  "kraken_pairs": {
    "xmrusdt": "XMR/USDT",
    "esxusd": "ESX/USD"
  },
  "coingecko_ids": {
    "runecoin": "runecoin"
  },
  "miner_active_threshold": 0.25, 
  "data_timeout": 300,
  "hashrate_curve_thickness": 2, 
  "wifi_check_interval": 12.0
}

→ Replace IPs with your real miner IP addresses (BitAxe/NerdQaxe/etc.)

→ If no miners, leave "miners_ips": [] empty to hide the miner feature (make sure you remove example IPs)

5. Run the application:

python3 app.py

• Then make it start automatically at boot (systemd, crontab @reboot, etc.)
• Recommended for a dedicated dashboard

Project Structure

rpi-crypto-ticker-display/
├── app.py                  # Main entry point
├── config.json             # User configuration
├── config.example.json     # Template: copy to config.json and edit
├── LICENSE                 # Project license
├── requirements.txt        # Python dependencies
├── assets/                 # Images used in README
│   ├── demo.png            # Demo screenshot
│   ├── btc-qr.png          # BTC QR
│   ├── xmr-qr.png          # XMR QR
│   └── ...                 
├── logos/                  # Crypto logo images
│   ├── btc.png
│   ├── eth.png
│   └── ...                
├── logs/
│   └── app.log             # Rotating log file (INFO/WARNING/ERROR)
├── src/                    # Source code modules
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── constants.py        # Constant values and settings
│   ├── data.py             # Price and market data fetching
│   ├── helpers.py          # Utility functions
│   ├── mempool.py          # Mempool/BTC network data
│   ├── miners.py           # Local miner monitoring
│   ├── rendering.py        # Display rendering and drawing logic
│   └── websockets.py       # WebSocket connections for live data
├── README.md               # Project documentation and setup guide
└── SECURITY.md             # Security Policy

Configuration Notes

All paths are relative to the project root.

• miners_ips: List of local miner IP addresses (BitAxe, NerdAxe, etc.).
• btc_logo_path: Path to the Bitcoin logo.
• fps: Display refresh rate in frames per second.
• dim_alpha: Transparency level for the dimming/fade effect (0-255).
• candle_seconds: Duration in seconds for each candlestick on the price chart.
• max_candles: Maximum number of candlesticks displayed on screen.
• marquee_height: Height in pixels of the scrolling marquee.
• marquee_speed: Scrolling speed of the marquee (higher value = faster).
• marquee_refresh_interval: Interval in seconds to refresh price data in the marquee.
• main_symbols: List of primary symbols shown. Add or remove as desired.
• marquee_symbols: List of symbols to scroll in the marquee. Add or remove as desired.
• price_decimals: Force decimals shown for specific symbols. Useful for low-value coins.
• kraken_pairs: Mapping for symbols that use the Kraken API instead of Binance.
• coingecko_ids: Mapping for symbols that use CoinGecko (for coins not listed elsewhere).
• miner_active_threshold: Minimum threshold to consider a miner "active".
• data_timeout: Timeout in seconds for data requests (prices, hashrate, etc.).
• hashrate_curve_thickness: Thickness of the hashrate curve line.
• wifi_check_interval: Interval in seconds to check WiFi connection status.

→ If config.json is missing, invalid, or corrupted, the program falls back to defaults.

Troubleshooting

• pygame.error: video system not initialized or black screen:

  → Ensure you used --system-site-packages when creating the venv and installed python3-pygame via apt.¹

  → Verify /boot/firmware/config.txt contains or enables dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d (and reboot).

• No display → Verify SDL environment vars in app.py. Check /dev/fb0 exists.

• No prices/"Connecting…" forever → Internet required. Check firewall, DNS. Check logs for details.

• Miners not showing / red indicator → Verify IPs, miner WebSocket/API enabled, no firewall block.

• High CPU → Lower FPS in config.json (default 25 → try 15-20).

• Marquee stuck/empty → Wait 8–10 seconds after start. Check logs for rebuild errors.

• Candlestick chart missing → Needs at least 2 candles (wait ~2 min after start).

¹ The pip-only version of pygame often fails with kmsdrm on Raspberry Pi OS.

→ Logs are written to ./logs/app.log

License

MIT License – see LICENSE file

Acknowledgments

• Market data: Binance, Kraken, Coingecko public APIs
• Bitcoin Network stats: mempool.space
• Open-source Bitcoin Community and Home-Miners (OSMU/BitAxe/NerdQaxe/etc.)

Support the Project

If you find this project useful, consider supporting its development with a small donation. Thank you!

[ BITCOIN ]	[ MONERO ]

Bitcoin:

bc1qkaqaxqheejuddrp5604wy592k423vjmk3uu35l

Monero:

457KEpgmvXJgNSnrkVs2poFPCVNXxPoqBAnxjSC1T9C3QUSSxXMR3iLFx1LtPc77oUAmoVwHgrh7KGzFugVpc1RCJ9nR3PS