Nockchain

Zorp incorporated in 2022 as a research lab for zero-knowledge proofs over Nock, the tiny combinator language also used by Urbit. Logan Allen argued that Nock should outgrow the personal-server niche. Zorp built a ZKVM and then a chain where producing its proofs would be mining.

The company raised equity and token-forward financing, but chose not to assign investors a genesis percentage. Its stated plan was to compete in mining. Later contracts shared Zorp's own mined or licensed NOCK with investors and staff; they did not mint a separate founder allocation.

After a 40-hour internal run in December 2024, Zorp released the client. Its next-day report says mainnet opened at 7:19 PM on May 21, 2025, without naming a timezone. Genesis referenced Bitcoin block 897,767, making advance mining of that block impossible; the first propagated block is timestamped 00:15:01 UTC on May 22.

More than 10,000 peers arrived against an internal high estimate of 2,000. Genesis then failed to propagate for roughly six hours, proving that a fair start and a healthy network are different claims. The next-day report counted four blocks and blocks roughly three hours apart after propagation.

NOCK sits in notes like Bitcoin UTXOs. Miners prove Nock execution, and nodes verify proofs rather than replaying a heavyweight application. The mechanism created a live proof market, but early Dumbnet mainly settled money; NockApps and useful third-party computations were later layers.

At block 12,000 a mandatory fix added polynomial constraints already present in the paper but absent from implementation. Community contributor h33p found the gap. Block 39,000 later replaced the transaction engine and added SegWit, data attachments and lockscripts.

These events are stronger evidence than claims of formal security: the proof design can be precise while code is incomplete. The current repository itself warns that Nockchain is experimental and includes unaudited parts.

Iris, the NockApp SDK and a real-NOCK Blackjack demo existed by December 2025. Wrapped NOCK then opened on Base on December 22 at 0x9B5E262cF9bb04869ab40b19AF91D2dc85761722. It is a 16-decimal ERC-20 representation; native NOCK still moves as notes on Nockchain.

The wrapper lets only its configured MessageInbox mint and lets users burn to request withdrawal. Its owner can replace that inbox, and the contract itself enforces no supply cap. The bridge was separately described as 3-of-5: two Zorp signatures plus one each from SWPS, NockBox and Lambda Collective. A Base balance therefore adds signer, owner, contract and relay risk to native consensus.

The launch schedule sent 100% of rewards to miners and was advertised as immutable. Aletheia activated at block 65,500, timestamped 19:11:01 UTC on May 7, 2026. It cut target time from ten minutes to 150 seconds, replaced periodic difficulty changes with ASERT, and installed a new decay curve while keeping the 2^32 cap.

Each new reward now sends 80% to the miner and 20% to a consensus-known 3-of-4 fund. Both outputs use the ordinary coinbase timelock; the fund has no separate unlock schedule. This was a coordinated hard fork, not a holder vote. It gives the ecosystem capital for development, while disproving the older claim that destination and curve could not change.

The live roadmap now marks the AI Compute Network complete and bridge withdrawals in progress. A full Nock ZKVM and a broad market for useful private proofs remain planned; as the post-launch issuance change showed, reaching them still depends on implementation and coordinated node adoption.