Chipcoin: A Bitcoin-Inspired Blockchain Pioneering Post-Quantum Security

Chipcoin is an open-source, Bitcoin-inspired blockchain focused on researching and deploying native post-quantum cryptography. Running on a public testnet, it provides developers and researchers with a real environment to explore the transition from classical ECDSA signatures to ML-DSA while preserving the familiar UTXO architecture. Rather than creating a completely new blockchain model, Chipcoin investigates how Bitcoin-like networks can evolve toward quantum-resistant security through practical experimentation and open-source development.

Key Components

Chipcoin consists of several integrated components:

• Node: Validates transactions, maintains the blockchain, participates in peer-to-peer networking, and supports both legacy and post-quantum transaction formats.
• Miner: Produces new blocks using a designated wallet while contributing hash power to the public testnet.
• Browser Wallet: Available as Chrome and Firefox extensions, enabling local key generation, wallet management, and transaction signing.
• Explorer & API: Public services for monitoring the blockchain, querying network status, and integrating external applications.

Public Testnet Environment

The current release targets a public testnet with production-like infrastructure already available by default.

Built-in services include:

• Wallet-safe API: https://testnet-api.chipcoinprotocol.com
• Bootstrap service: https://bootstrap.chipcoinprotocol.com
• Blockchain Explorer: https://explorer.chipcoinprotocol.com
• Public P2P port: 28444/tcp
• Local node HTTP API: 127.0.0.1:28081

These defaults allow developers to deploy a complete node with minimal configuration while remaining fully configurable for custom environments.

Current Features

Chipcoin currently provides:

• Native support for Bitcoin-inspired UTXO transactions.
• ML-DSA post-quantum signature infrastructure.
• CHCQ post-quantum address format.
• Explorer support for post-quantum transactions and addresses.
• Peer-to-peer block and transaction propagation.
• Persistent peer discovery and peer reputation management.
• Reward Node infrastructure with epoch-based validation.
• Browser wallet for secure local transaction signing.
• Docker-based deployment for nodes and miners.
• Public faucet, explorer and bootstrap services.

Post-Quantum Roadmap

One of Chipcoin's primary objectives is demonstrating a practical migration path toward post-quantum blockchain security.

Current milestones include:

• Native ML-DSA transaction support.
• CHCQ address recognition.
• Explorer visualization of post-quantum activity.
• Browser wallet integration.
• Consensus activation of post-quantum outputs scheduled on the public testnet.

The project serves as a research platform for evaluating how Bitcoin-inspired blockchains can progressively adopt quantum-resistant cryptography without abandoning their existing architecture.

Economic Model

Chipcoin's deterministic monetary policy includes:

• Maximum Supply: 11,000,000 CHC
• Block Time: 300 seconds
• Initial Miner Subsidy: 50 CHC
• Epoch Length: 100 blocks
• Reward Node incentives for decentralized network participation.

The protocol uses integer-only accounting to ensure deterministic consensus while encouraging decentralized participation during network growth.

System Requirements

Running Chipcoin requires:

• Linux (x86_64 recommended)
• Docker with Docker Compose
• Python 3.11+
• Node.js 20+
• Minimum 4 GB RAM
• Approximately 5 GB free disk space

Getting Started

Getting started is straightforward by cloning the repository and following the setup documentation.

Developers can launch a complete public testnet node, connect to the existing network, mine blocks, experiment with reward nodes, and interact using the browser wallet in just a few steps.

Documentation and Community

Comprehensive documentation covers:

• Node installation and configuration
• Mining setup
• Browser wallet installation
• Reward Node operation
• Explorer and API usage
• Post-quantum architecture
• Security best practices

Chipcoin welcomes developers, researchers, and blockchain enthusiasts interested in Bitcoin architecture, distributed systems, and the transition toward post-quantum cryptography. The project is fully open source and actively evolving through public development and experimentation.