Building Armaxcoin: An Open-Source Proof-of-Work Blockchain Written in Go

Armaxcoin dev — Thu, 12 Nov 2026 09:44:04 +0000

Building a blockchain from scratch is a challenging engineering exercise. It involves much more than implementing a Proof-of-Work algorithm. Consensus rules, peer-to-peer networking, cryptographic security, difficulty adjustment, and network reliability must all work together.

Armaxcoin is an independent, open-source experimental Layer-1 Proof-of-Work blockchain written in Go.

The project is currently operating a public Testnet and exploring custom consensus engineering, post-quantum transaction signatures, and decentralized infrastructure designed to run across commodity computers and ARM-based devices.

With the release of v1.0.10, Armaxcoin introduces an important Testnet consensus upgrade: Armax-ASERT-AW.

GitHub: https://github.com/acxxcxx/armax-coin

1. Project Overview

Armaxcoin is designed as an independent blockchain implementation with an emphasis on:

Custom Proof-of-Work engineering.
Decentralized peer-to-peer networking.
Adaptive difficulty adjustment.
Post-quantum transaction signatures.
Cross-platform node and mining support.
Transparent open-source development.

The project is written in Go and provides separate binaries for node operation, mining, wallet management, and transaction submission.

2. Consensus Engineering: Armax-ASERT-AW

One of the major developments in v1.0.10 is the introduction of Armax-ASERT-AW as the active Testnet difficulty adjustment mechanism.

The upgrade activates at block #13,335.

Its design incorporates:

ASERT Difficulty Adjustment

The canonical integer aserti3-2d algorithm is used with a one-hour half-life parameter (τ = 3600 seconds).

Four-Hour Surge Cap

A 14,400-second surge cap is implemented to constrain rapid difficulty increases.

TEDR Boost

A 7,200-second TEDR Boost mechanism supports recovery following substantial hashrate declines.

Anti-Poisoning Fallback

The implementation includes a fallback mechanism designed to protect the difficulty adjustment anchor against abnormal historical data.

The Testnet also introduced an earlier Anti-Stall TEDR mechanism at block #13,293, providing an emergency difficulty adjustment when block production stalls.

These mechanisms are being evaluated under actual Testnet operating conditions.

3. Proof-of-Work: ArmaxHash v2

Armaxcoin explores a custom Proof-of-Work algorithm called ArmaxHash.

The active Testnet implementation uses ArmaxHash v2, based on a BLAKE2b Stream-Fast design.

The Testnet has also preserved historical algorithm transitions:

SHA-256d during the initial period.
ArmaxHash v1 during an intermediate period.
ArmaxHash v2 in the current mining era.

The target block interval is 120 seconds.

An important part of this engineering effort is evaluating mining behavior across different hardware configurations, including conventional PCs and ARM-based devices.

4. Post-Quantum Transaction Signatures

Another important technical direction is post-quantum cryptography.

Armaxcoin uses ML-DSA-65, standardized under NIST FIPS 204, for transaction signatures.

The objective is to explore transaction authentication using a signature scheme designed to resist attacks from cryptographically relevant quantum computers.

However, it is important to distinguish signature security from Proof-of-Work security.

The project's hashing algorithms have different quantum security considerations. Post-quantum signatures do not automatically make every component of a blockchain quantum-proof.

Independent cryptographic and implementation audits remain necessary.

5. Network Architecture and Infrastructure

Armaxcoin includes several components:

armcoind — Full node daemon.
armminer — Standalone CPU miner.
armwallet — Wallet and keystore management.
armsend — Transaction submission.
armgui — Graphical wallet interface.

The network uses peer-to-peer communication protected by TLS 1.3, with a Trust On First Use (TOFU) certificate-pinning approach.

The node RPC interface is restricted to loopback by default.

The project also supports Linux, Windows, and ARM-based environments.

6. Public Testnet: Real-World Testing

Armaxcoin currently operates its public Testnet under the network identifier:

ARMX-TESTNET-1

The Testnet is intended for evaluating:

Block synchronization.
Peer discovery and networking.
Mining stability.
Difficulty adjustment behavior.
Transaction propagation.
Network interoperability.
Performance across different hardware.

The latest release, v1.0.10, introduces additional consensus and network improvements.

Important: All Testnet coins (tARMX) have no monetary value, no market liquidity, and no guaranteed conversion into future Mainnet coins.

7. Mainnet Status and Development Roadmap

Armaxcoin is currently operating on a public Testnet. Mainnet has not been launched.

The Mainnet configuration (ARMX-MAINNET-1) remains explicitly locked in the source code through core.MainnetLaunched = false.

The project preserves the following proposed monetary parameters:

Maximum supply: 126,000,000 ARMX.

Initial block subsidy: 60 ARMX.

Halving interval: 1,050,000 blocks.

Target block interval: 120 seconds.

Mainnet launch remains subject to further network stabilization, technical validation, security assessment, and completion of the project's readiness requirements.

Detailed tokenomics, mining allocation plans, and Mainnet preparation policies are documented in the official GitHub repository.

We believe that transparency, independent review, and careful testing are essential before launching a public blockchain network.

8. Security and Known Limitations

We believe transparency about limitations is essential for an experimental blockchain project.

Current considerations include:

The Testnet has relatively modest hashrate and may experience temporary chain reorganizations.
TOFU certificate pinning does not fully prevent man-in-the-middle attacks during initial peer contact.
ML-DSA-65 verification introduces computational overhead, particularly on low-power ARM hardware.
Consensus and cryptographic implementations still require independent external security assessment.

We welcome technical criticism and responsible security reviews.

9. Explore and Run Armaxcoin

The project is open source under the MIT License.

Official Repository:

https://github.com/acxxcxx/armax-coin

Latest Release:

https://github.com/acxxcxx/armax-coin/releases/tag/v1.0.10

Documentation:

Testnet Guide: docs/TESTNET.md
Consensus Specification: docs/CONSENSUS_AND_NETWORK.md
Mining Guide: docs/MINING_GUIDE.md
Node Operations: docs/NODE_OPERATIONS.md
Security Policy: SECURITY.md
Contribution Guidelines: CONTRIBUTING.md

For Linux users, the latest release provides precompiled binaries. Developers can also build from source using Go 1.27 or higher.

Please follow the official release verification instructions before running binaries.

10. We Welcome Independent Technical Feedback

Armaxcoin is an ongoing engineering project, and we believe independent feedback is essential to improving its design.

We welcome participation from:

Go developers.
Blockchain engineers.
Distributed systems researchers.
Cryptography researchers.
Proof-of-Work and mining enthusiasts.
Open-source contributors.

We are particularly interested in independent reviews of:

Armax-ASERT-AW difficulty adjustment.
ArmaxHash v2 implementation.
P2P networking and synchronization.
ML-DSA-65 integration.
Overall consensus security and reorganization behavior.

Our goal is not simply to launch another cryptocurrency. It is to build, test, document, and improve an independent open-source blockchain implementation through transparent engineering and community review.

If you are interested in exploring the project, reviewing the source code, or participating in Testnet development, we welcome your feedback.