Glossary
Words you'll see here
Short, plain definitions of the terms in our stories. If a word is missing or unclear, write to us and we'll add it.
- Activation height
- The block number where new network rules start. Everyone running the network updates their software before that block arrives. Fork Notice Log
- AI lane
- One of the two ways to win a Nockchain block. AI miners do large matrix multiplications, the same kind of math that AI models run. It went live in August 2026. How the AI lane launched
- Aletheia
- The May 2026 upgrade that set today’s reward schedule and sends 20% of each block’s new NOCK to the protocol fund.
- Anthropos
- The September 2026 upgrade that gave AI miners about 70% of blocks and ZK miners about 30%.
- ASERT
- The rule that adjusts mining difficulty after every block, so blocks keep arriving about every two and a half minutes. Each lane has its own.
- Base
- A network that runs on top of Ethereum. You can move NOCK there through the bridge.
- Block
- A batch of transactions added to the chain. A new block arrives about every two and a half minutes.
- Block height
- The number of a block, counted from the very first one. The home page shows it live.
- Block reward
- The new NOCK created with each block. It steps down over time, and the next step comes at block 170,501. The cut at block 170,501
- Bridge
- The service that moves NOCK from Nockchain to Base. You lock NOCK on Nockchain and receive wrapped NOCK on Base. Bridge report
- Coinbase
- The part of each block that creates new NOCK and pays the miner and the protocol fund. It has nothing to do with the exchange of the same name.
- Commit, pull request, merge
- A commit is a saved change to the code. A pull request asks others to review a change before it joins the main code. A merge adds it.
- Dispatch
- Our weekly roundup of what changed in Nockchain, with the numbers behind it.
- EMAC/s
- How much AI math the network does each second. One EMAC/s is a billion billion multiply-and-add steps every second.
- Emission era
- A stretch of blocks that all pay the same reward. A new era starts at block 170,501.
- FDV (fully diluted value)
- The price of one coin times the total number of coins that will ever exist.
- FLOP
- A planned network from Flop Labs that pays miners to run AI models for customers. Its launch is set for early 2027.
- Fork
- An upgrade to the network’s rules. Everyone follows the new rules from a set block onward.
- Lambda Collective, NockBox, Southwest Pool Supply Co.
- Companies that help run the bridge and the protocol fund together with NCC. Lambda Collective also runs Nockscan.
- Lane
- Each of the two ways to mine a block: the ZK lane and the AI lane.
- Lock address
- The address on Nockchain that holds the NOCK sent through the bridge.
- Lockstep
- A paper and code release from September 2026 about making an AI model give exactly the same answer on different machines.
- Logos
- The August 2026 upgrade that added AI mining to Nockchain.
- Market cap
- The price of one coin times the number of coins already in circulation.
- Merge-mining
- Doing one piece of work that counts on two chains at once. Nockchain’s AI miners can mine Pearl with the same work.
- Miner, prover
- A computer, or the person running it, that competes to add the next block. In the ZK lane we often say prover.
- Multisignature wallet
- A wallet that needs several keys to approve a payment, so no single person can move the money alone.
- National Compute
- Logan Allen’s company, announced in July 2026. Logan Allen signed the Logos upgrade specification in its name.
- NCC (Nock Community Co.)
- The non-stock corporation that holds Nockchain’s brand, code and domains, and looks after the protocol fund. Governance report
- Nicks
- The smallest unit of NOCK. One NOCK is 65,536 nicks.
- NOCK
- Nockchain’s coin.
- Nockchain
- A proof-of-work blockchain with two ways to mine: zero-knowledge proofs and AI math. Field guide
- Nockscan
- The block explorer where most of our chain numbers come from. You can use its public API to check them yourself.
- Node
- A computer that keeps a copy of the chain and checks that every block follows the rules.
- Note
- How Nockchain stores coins. Each note is an unspent amount of NOCK, a bit like a banknote in your wallet.
- Notice
- The time between the first public mention of an upgrade’s block and the moment that block arrives. More notice gives people time to update. Notice for each upgrade
- Pearl
- Another proof-of-work chain whose miners do the same kind of AI math. Many miners work on both chains at once. Pearl and Nockchain
- Proof-of-work
- A way to keep a blockchain secure. Miners compete by doing hard work, and the winner adds the next block and earns the reward.
- Protocol fund
- A shared wallet that receives 20% of every block’s new NOCK to pay for development. Payments need approval from a group of signers. Fund Watch
- Quorum
- The smallest number of approvals needed before a decision, or a payment, can go ahead.
- Reference rate
- The amount of mining work per second that a lane’s difficulty rule is set around after a reset.
- Roadmap
- The list of planned features and target dates on nockchain.org. Our tracker follows each date. Roadmap tracker
- Tip5
- The hash function that ZK miners compute. A hash is a short fingerprint of data, and miners try huge numbers of them.
- Wrapped NOCK
- The token on Base that stands for NOCK locked in the bridge.
- ZK lane, ZK proof
- A zero-knowledge proof is a short piece of math that shows work was done correctly, without anyone redoing it. ZK miners produce these proofs to win blocks.
- Zoe
- The August 2026 emergency upgrade that fixed a flaw in ZK mining, which let miners reuse proof work.
- Zorp
- The company that first built Nockchain. It handed the brand and code to NCC and is winding down.