A ton of updates this week. In this issue...
- Consensus Upgrade: Security enhancements go live at block 12,000
- NockBlocks Block Explorer: First Nockchain block explorer launches
- Emerging OTC Market: Over $1.5M in peer-to-peer $NOCK trades claimed in Telegram
- First Halving Approaches: Block reward reduction in ~5 days
- Open Source Mining Client Improvements: Community optimizations have made the open source client more competitive
- The NockStrategy: Zorp publishes its treasury strategy and a company history
Consensus Upgrade: Security Improvements at Block 12,000
This week's headline development is a critical consensus upgrade that will go live today at block 12,000, strengthening the security of Nockchain's Zero-Knowledge Proof-of-Work algorithm.
The upgrade addresses unconstrained portions of the ZKVM tables, as detailed in our technical forum post.
The solution was to add polynomial constraints to ensure single witness hardness: one single valid set of tables per input computation. We also resolved constraint name duplications that were overwriting security checks.
For Nockchain's ZK-Proof-of-Work to be secure, it must be amortization-resistant. The upgrade ensures that there is exactly one way to fill in the proof tables for any given computation, eliminating shortcuts that could undermine the puzzle's difficulty.
Notably, these constraints were already specified in the original Nock ZKVM whitepaper—their absence from the implementation was an oversight discovered by community contributor h33p through a GitHub pull request.
All miners and node operators should update to the latest commit in the nockchain repo prior to the activation block.
NockBlocks: Nockchain's First Block Explorer
The Nockchain ecosystem gained an essential piece of infrastructure this week with the launch of NockBlocks, the network's first comprehensive block explorer, developed by Austin-based Southwestern Pool Supply Co. (SWPS).
- Real-time Block & Transaction Search: Complete visibility into Nockchain's block production and transaction flow
- Address Lookup & Analytics: Track wallet addresses and transaction histories
- Network Statistics: Comprehensive metrics including difficulty, hash rate, and economic data
- Message Decoding: Translates Nockchain's Nock combinator calculus messages into human-readable format
SWPS is emerging as a key ecosystem builder, also developing AEROE (Nockchain wallet solution) and NockPool (Mining pool infrastructure).
Follow SWPS on X: @SWPSCO.
Emerging OTC Market: $1.5M+ in Claimed Trades
We're inspired to see the organic emergence of an over-the-counter (OTC) trading market for $NOCK—which has recently emerged among independent market participants—with over $1.5M passing hands, on-chain. It started through a community member’s Telegram group, then it was moved into the main Nockchain Telegram group.
Recent trades posted by community members in the Telegram include:
- 20M $NOCK @ $0.025 = $500,000
- 15M $NOCK @ $0.029 = $435,000
- 6M $NOCK @ $0.030 = $180,000
- 5M $NOCK @ $0.033 = $165,000
- 5M $NOCK @ $0.025 = $125,000
- 3M $NOCK @ $0.033 = $100,000
We've verified several of these transactions, though not all.
It seems that at least 54M $NOCK has been traded, at a total value of at least $1.5M. Significantly, many if not all of these trades are being settled on Nockchain. This OTC market has developed organically through community coordination, without any official facilitation or encouragement from Zorp Corp. We will note:
- Trading comes with substantial risks, please be careful and conduct your own research.
- Zorp does not provide any financial advice or escrow services.
- Nockchain is an experimental system, in a very early stage, so we make no guarantees about its capabilities or functioning.
First Halving Approaches: Block 13,149 Target
Nockchain's first issuance halving is imminent, scheduled to occur at block height 13,149—approximately 5 days from now based on current block production rates.
- Current Block Reward: 65,536 $NOCK (2^16)
- Blocks Remaining: ~1,527 blocks
Post-Halving:
- New Block Reward: 32,768 $NOCK (2^15)
- Reduction: 50% decrease in mining rewards
Nockchain follows a structured emission schedule with clearly defined "eons" (halving periods).
The schedule continues through Eon 16, after which the reward stabilizes at 1 $NOCK per block permanently until the hard cap is met.
Open Source Mining Client Improvements
The open source Nockchain mining client has recently achieved significant performance improvements through community contributions, bringing it closer to competitive mining capability.
Over the past six weeks since mainnet launch, the open source community has implemented crucial optimizations:
- Jets: Optimized code implementations for core algorithmic functions
- Polynomial Substitute Optimization: Major performance enhancement to a critical computation pathway
- Multiple Algorithm Refinements: Various community-contributed efficiency improvements
The cumulative effect of these optimizations has brought the open source miner to the threshold of competitive mining. From what we can tell, the community will soon have a public client that can realistically mine blocks.
Do with this information what you will.
The NockStrategy: Zorp's Three-Phase Roadmap
Zorp published a strategy document this week, outlining the company's three-phase plan. The post answers some important questions about Zorp as a business, $NOCK as an asset, and token distributions.
The Three Phases
Phase 1: Research & Prototyping (2022-2024)
- Raised $2.5M pre-seed funding via SAFEs
- Raised $5M seed funding (equity + Token Forward instruments)
- Developed Zero-Knowledge Virtual Machine (ZKVM)
Phase 2: Mainnet Launch (2025)
- Successfully launched Nockchain on May 21, 2025
- No pre-mine, hard-capped supply, immutable PoW issuance
- Achieved more geographically distributed mining than Bitcoin did in the same time period
- Open-source mining client development accelerated community participation
Phase 3: Treasury Strategy & Revenue Growth (2025-onwards)
- Zorp accumulates $NOCK through corporate mining operations
- Maintains sustainable premium on Net Asset Value through revenue-generating products
- First product: Native decentralized exchange
Corporate Structure & Token Economics
Zorp builds profitable products and operates as a "treasury company" centered around $NOCK accumulation.
- Seed Investors: Receive 35% of total $NOCK acquired by Zorp through mining and licensing
- Token Forward: Provides quarterly disbursements with no guaranteed total exposure
- Zorp Team: Receives 20% of early $NOCK mining capture with 1-year lock + 2-year linear vesting
Vision
We believe $NOCK is scalable, programmable, digital gold. It combines Bitcoin's sound money principles with modern advances in zero-knowledge proofs, data availability, and application rollups.
Zorp's approach represents a new model for blockchain companies: Rather than launching with massive pre-mines and guaranteed VC token allocations, we've chosen to bootstrap through fair mining and build sustainable businesses around the resulting ecosystem.
Read: "What is Zorp, and what is the NockStrategy?"
The Nockchain ecosystem is showing tremendous momentum just six weeks after launch.
The incentives are working: Proof rates are increasing, mining competition is decentralizing, and the chain has maintained security while generating an active community.
The mining landscape is rapidly evolving as pool infrastructure develops and open-source client optimizations increase access.
With the first halving approaching, and OTC markets providing some early price discovery, we believe we're seeing the emergence of a novel, fair, and quickly decentralizing digital asset ecosystem.
Happy 4th of July!
Get Involved
- Follow Nockchain on X: @nockchain
- Start a Technical Conversation: Technical Forum
- Community Chat: Telegram
- Block Explorer: NockBlocks.com
