Roadmap: restarting the chain

Why a restart

Vivuscoin launched in 2021 with Bitcoin’s difficulty rules scaled to a 240-second block: difficulty adjusted only every 5,040 blocks, each adjustment was clamped to a factor of four, and nothing happened if blocks simply stopped arriving. Someone brought a large amount of SHA-256 hash power, mined until the difficulty had been pushed far above what anyone else could sustain, and left. The remaining miners could not find the next block, and the chain has been paused at height 24,092 since 22 September 2021.

Since then both seed nodes have been kept running, so the chain and every balance on it are intact, but nothing new has happened on it. Restarting means fixing the rule that let this happen, shipping wallets that understand the new rule, upgrading the nodes, and then mining again at a steady pace until the new rule is in force. That is what the steps below do, and they only make sense in this order.

Next, in order: what each step means

1. Wallets for Windows, macOS and Linux

   Vivuscoin Core v1.1 built from a single tagged commit: a Windows installer, a macOS disk image, and Linux binaries (vivuscoind, vivuscoin-cli and the GUI) that run on a current Ubuntu LTS without hunting for libraries. Builds are made as reproducible as practical, and the SHA-256 of every file is published with it. Today’s wallets are the 2021 v1.0.0.3 builds; see Wallets.

2. A GitHub release with checksums and the activation height

   The release notes will say what changed and state the height at which the new rules take effect, phrased as “upgrade before height N”. Wallets that are not upgraded by then will stop following the chain. The download buttons on this site switch to the new release at the same time.

3. Seed nodes upgraded, one at a time

   seed1 and seed2 move to the tested v1.1 binary one after the other, so one always keeps serving. After each: service up, correct tip, peers reconnect, reachable from outside, binary hash matches the one that was tested. Finally a fresh node is synced from scratch against the upgraded pair.

4. Controlled mining until activation

   Blocks start flowing again from the founder’s own hardware, at roughly the hash rate that gives 240-second blocks at the current difficulty (a few GH/s, about one GPU), through the stratum endpoint, paying an address whose keys stay off the servers. The old rules apply until the activation height; once it passes, difficulty follows the new per-block rule and settles. New checkpoints are added with later releases as the chain grows. Anyone else is welcome to mine at any point.

5. Airdrop payouts

   Registration is already open on the airdrop page. Payouts start only once blocks are being produced: batched daily, signed offline, with every transaction id published. The programme size, per-claim amount and schedule are published before the first payout. Why the programme exists at all is explained on Supply & transparency.

6. Listings and directories

   Coin directories and similar listings, submitted with the same honest description used on this site, and only once there is a running chain to point them at; the block explorer they need is already live. This is not an exchange listing; none is planned, and this site will never quote a price.

Later, and only if needed

• A different proof-of-work algorithm. SHA-256 means any Bitcoin ASIC or rented hash power can dominate recent blocks. v1.1’s per-block difficulty limits the damage but cannot remove it; changing the algorithm would. That is a large change and is only worth doing if the coin gains real users, so it stays optional.
• More checkpoints with each release, as the chain grows past 24,092.