Post-quantum privacy blockchain
Plonky3 STARKs • ML-DSA-65 • Poseidon2 • Shielded Transactions
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Trust Stack Network is a Layer 1 blockchain designed from the ground up for privacy and post-quantum security. Every transaction is shielded by default using zero-knowledge proofs, and all cryptographic primitives are quantum-resistant — protecting funds against both classical and future quantum adversaries.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Plonky3 STARKs | Next-gen AIR-based zero-knowledge proofs — no trusted setup, truly post-quantum |
| ML-DSA-65 (FIPS 204) | NIST post-quantum digital signatures for all transactions and blocks |
| SLH-DSA (FIPS 205) | Stateless hash-based signatures as secondary post-quantum layer |
| Poseidon2 | ZK-friendly hash function over the Goldilocks field, 3x faster than Poseidon |
| Shielded Transactions | Amounts and addresses hidden by default via ZK commitments and nullifiers |
| UTXO Model | Bitcoin-inspired unspent transaction outputs with privacy |
| MIK Consensus | Mining Identity Key — Proof of Work with anti-Sybil protection |
| Kademlia DHT | Decentralized peer discovery with gossip-based block propagation |
TSN is designed to be fully quantum-safe — not just signatures, but the entire transaction privacy stack:
| Attack Vector | Protection |
|---|---|
| Forge signatures | ML-DSA-65 (NIST PQ standard) |
| Break ZK proofs | Plonky3 STARKs (hash-based, no elliptic curves) |
| Crack commitments | Poseidon over Goldilocks field |
| Brute force hashes | Poseidon2 (256-bit security) |
| Sybil mining | MIK identity bound to blockchain |
Every miner must register a Mining Identity Key before mining:
- Derived from their ML-DSA-65 public key:
MIK_ID = SHA-256("TSN_MIK_ID_v1" || pubkey || block_height) - One active MIK per public key — prevents Sybil attacks
- Lifecycle: registration → activation delay (10 blocks) → active → optional expiry/revocation
- Block signatures verified against the miner's registered MIK
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ TSN Node v0.4.0 │
├──────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────┬─────────────────────────┤
│ Core │ Crypto │ Consensus │ Network │
│ Block │ Poseidon2 │ PoW Mining │ P2P Protocol │
│ Transaction │ ML-DSA-65 │ MIK Anti- │ Kademlia DHT │
│ UTXO State │ Plonky3 ZK │ Sybil │ Gossip & Sync │
│ Validation │ SLH-DSA │ Difficulty │ Rate Limiting │
│ │ Nullifiers │ Adjust │ Anti-Eclipse │
├──────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────┴─────────────────────────┤
│ Storage (SledDB) │ Wallet (Shielded ZK) │ RPC (REST + JSON-RPC) │
├────────────────────┼────────────────────────┼────────────────────────┤
│ Explorer │ Faucet (Testnet) │ Metrics & Health │
└────────────────────┴────────────────────────┴────────────────────────┘
| Layer | Primitive | Standard | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signatures | ML-DSA-65 | FIPS 204 | Transaction & block signing |
| Backup Signatures | SLH-DSA (SPHINCS+) | FIPS 205 | Stateless hash-based fallback |
| ZK Proofs | Plonky3 STARKs (AIR) | — | Shielded transaction validity |
| Hash Function | Poseidon2 | — | PoW mining, Merkle trees, commitments |
| Field | Goldilocks | p = 2⁶⁴ - 2³² + 1 | ZK-friendly arithmetic |
| Encryption | ChaCha20-Poly1305 | RFC 8439 | Note payload encryption |
| Parameter | ML-DSA-65 |
|---|---|
| Public Key | 1,952 bytes |
| Secret Key | 4,032 bytes |
| Signature | 3,309 bytes |
Note Commitment = Poseidon(domain=1, value, pk_hash, randomness)
Nullifier = Poseidon(domain=3, nullifier_key, commitment, position)
Merkle Node = Poseidon(domain=5, left, right)
TSN supports 4 distinct node roles, selectable via --role at startup:
Full node that validates, stores the entire blockchain, relays transactions/blocks, and mines new blocks. Miners must register a Mining Identity Key (MIK) before participating. They earn 85% of the block reward (42.5 TSN per block). This is the default role.
Full node that stores the complete chain and relays blocks/transactions to peers, but does not mine. Relays are the backbone of the network — they ensure fast block propagation via gossip protocol and serve snapshots to new nodes joining via fast-sync. They earn from the 8% relay reward pool distributed proportionally to uptime and bandwidth contributed.
Specialized node that generates Plonky3 zero-knowledge proofs on demand for wallets and light clients that lack the computational power to prove transactions locally. Provers expose a /prover/prove endpoint and earn proving fees paid by users per transaction. Ideal for GPU-equipped servers.
Minimal node that does not store the full chain — it syncs only block headers and verifies transactions using ZK proofs. Designed for mobile wallets and resource-constrained devices. Light clients connect to relay/miner nodes to submit transactions and fetch Merkle witnesses.
| Type | Stores Full Chain | Mines | Relays | Proves | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miner | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | 85% block reward |
| Relay | ✅ | — | ✅ | — | 8% relay pool |
| Prover | ✅ | — | ✅ | ✅ | Proving fees |
| Light Client | — | — | — | — | — |
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Default Port | 8333 |
| Block Reward | 50 TSN |
| Target Block Time | 10 seconds |
| Difficulty Adjustment | Every 10 blocks |
| Coin Decimals | 9 (1 TSN = 10⁹ base units) |
| Max Spends per Tx | 10 |
| Max Outputs per Tx | 4 |
| Peer Discovery | Kademlia DHT |
| Block Propagation | Gossip protocol |
The private testnet is live with 5 nodes across Europe:
| Node | Address |
|---|---|
| seed-1 | seed1.tsnchain.com:9333 |
| seed-2 | seed2.tsnchain.com:9333 |
| seed-3 | seed3.tsnchain.com:9333 |
| seed-4 | seed4.tsnchain.com:9333 |
TSN implements a robust synchronization protocol designed for fast onboarding of new nodes and resilience against chain forks:
New nodes can join the network in minutes instead of hours by downloading a compressed state snapshot from any peer:
┌─────────────┐ GET /snapshot/info ┌─────────────┐
│ New Node │ ──────────────────────────> │ Seed Node │
│ │ GET /snapshot/download │ │
│ --fast-sync│ <────────────────────────── │ (gzip) │
│ │ │ │
│ Load state │ GET /blocks?from=N │ │
│ Sync rest │ ──────────────────────────> │ │
└─────────────┘ └─────────────┘
- New node requests a gzip-compressed state snapshot from a peer
- Loads the snapshot directly into memory (V2 Goldilocks Merkle tree)
- Syncs only the missing blocks since the snapshot height
- Ready to mine in under 5 minutes (vs. 2+ hours full replay)
TSN uses cumulative proof-of-work (sum of all block difficulties) to select the canonical chain — not simply the longest chain. This prevents low-difficulty spam attacks and mirrors Bitcoin Core's proven approach.
| Protection | Description |
|---|---|
| Heaviest chain rule | Fork choice based on cumulative work, not height |
| MAX_REORG_DEPTH = 100 | Hard limit — no reorg deeper than 100 blocks regardless of work |
| Checkpoint finality | Every 100 blocks, a checkpoint is created — no reorg beyond it |
| Anti-Fork Sync Gate | Miners must be within 2 blocks of network tip to submit blocks |
| Genesis hash verification | All nodes verify the genesis block hash at startup |
| Dual Merkle trees | V1 (BN254) + V2 (Goldilocks) trees for state integrity |
Each TSN node exposes a REST API:
| Endpoint | Description |
|---|---|
GET /chain/info |
Blockchain height, latest hash |
GET /block/:hash |
Get block by hash |
GET /block/height/:n |
Get block by height |
POST /tx/v2 |
Submit shielded V2 transaction |
GET /mempool |
View pending transactions |
GET /peers |
List connected peers |
POST /nullifiers/check |
Verify spent nullifiers |
GET /witness/v2/position/:n |
Get Merkle witness for ZK proof |
POST /faucet/claim |
Claim testnet tokens |
GET /sync/status |
Node sync progress |
GET /explorer |
Built-in block explorer |
GET /wallet |
Built-in web wallet |
- 81,000+ lines of Rust
- 766 unit tests across 99 test executables
- 270+ source files across 20+ modules
- 694 commits of active development
- 5 nodes running on private testnet
- Written in Rust 2021 edition
Core blockchain engine: blocks, transactions, UTXO, Poseidon2 hashing, ML-DSA-65 signatures, Proof of Work consensus with MIK anti-Sybil, P2P networking with Kademlia DHT, SledDB storage, shielded wallet, JSON-RPC API, block explorer, and testnet faucet.
Multi-role nodes ✅ (Miner, Relay, Prover, Light Client with --role CLI flag), Plonky3 STARK migration ✅ (Halo2 removed, AIR-based proofs via p3-uni-stark), browser-based WASM prover ✅ (plonky3-wasm crate), enhanced shielded wallet with viewing keys ✅ (export/import viewing keys, watch-only wallets), and hardened fast-sync with multi-peer snapshot verification.
zkVM (zero-knowledge virtual machine) for executing smart contracts inside ZK proofs. Multi-asset UTXO support, TSN-20 token standard, and Ethereum bridge via light client verification.
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ APRIL 2026 MAY — JULY 2026 Q3 2026 │
│ ─────────── ────────────────── ──────── │
│ │
│ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐ ┌────────────┐ │
│ │ PRIVATE │───────>│ INCENTIVIZED │──────>│ MAINNET │ │
│ │ TESTNET │ │ PUBLIC TESTNET │ │ LAUNCH │ │
│ └──────────┘ └──────────────────┘ └────────────┘ │
│ │
│ • 5 internal nodes • Open to everyone • Genesis block │
│ • Stress testing • Bug bounty program • Fair launch │
│ • Bug hunting • Node operator rewards • No premine │
│ • Core validation • Smart contract testing • Full privacy │
│ • ZK proof testing • Security audit • zkVM live │
│ • 2-3 months duration │
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Gold-backed stablecoin ZST (1 ZST = 1g gold) as an independent Layer 2, with decentralized oracle price feeds and 150% over-collateralization in TSN.
- Website: tsnchain.com
- Whitepaper: tsnchain.com/whitepaper.html
- Whitepaper PDF: Download v0.4
- Documentation: tsnchain.com/docs.html
- Blog: tsnchain.com/blog.html
- Explorer: explorer.tsnchain.com
- Network Simulation: tsnchain.com/network-simulation.html
Proprietary — source code is not yet public. Open-source release planned for mainnet.