Block format¶

JSON shape¶

{
  "index": 12345,
  "timestamp": 1780002999.123,
  "transactions": [ ... ],
  "previous_hash": "0000fc99...",
  "merkle_root": "abcd...",
  "nonce": 42031,
  "hash": "0000ab12...",
  "difficulty": 4,
  "miner": "dc66f82c048f35144599737ed54ab702",
  "quantum_signature": { ... },
  "quantum_verified": true
}

Field reference¶

Header¶

The "block header" — what gets hashed for PoW + chain integrity — is:

header = {
    'index': block.index,
    'timestamp': block.timestamp,
    'previous_hash': block.previous_hash,
    'merkle_root': block.merkle_root,
    'difficulty': block.difficulty,
    'miner': block.miner,
    'nonce': block.nonce,
    'quantum_seed': block.quantum_signature['qrng_attestation']['entropy_seed'],
}
hash = sha3_512(json.dumps(header, sort_keys=True))

hash must have difficulty leading hex zeros.

Merkle root¶

The Merkle root is computed over the tx list:

def merkle_root(txs):
    leaves = [sha3_512(tx.to_dict_canonical()) for tx in txs]
    if not leaves: return sha3_512(b'')
    while len(leaves) > 1:
        if len(leaves) % 2: leaves.append(leaves[-1])
        leaves = [sha3_512(a + b) for a, b in zip(leaves[::2], leaves[1::2])]
    return leaves[0].hex()

Standard pairwise SHA3-512 reduction, with odd-leaf doubling (Bitcoin convention). Coinbase is always leaf 0.

QRNG attestation envelope¶

The quantum_signature block has this shape (from mining/attestation.py::generate_attestation):

{
  "qrng_attestation": {
    "version":       1,
    "entropy_seed":  "<32-byte hex>",
    "entropy_proof": "<32-byte hex>",
    "commitment":    "<sha3-512 of entropy_proof, hex>",
    "source":        "aggregator:drand-default",
    "device_id":     "qrng_<node-id-prefix>",
    "proof_type":    "qrng_hardware_attestation_v1",
    "health": {
      "monobit_ratio": 0.503,
      "fano_factor":   1.02,
      "pool_size":     65536,
      "timestamp":     1780002999.0
    }
  }
}

signature and public_key are not produced by the current implementation — there is no source-side signing path yet. They are reserved for a future revision (proof_type will increment when it ships) where the entropy aggregator signs its responses and the validator verifies them against a per-source registered public key.

Validation rules — enforced by mining/attestation.py::verify_attestation:

1. entropy_seed and entropy_proof are both exactly 32 bytes
2. commitment matches sha3_512(entropy_proof)
3. health.monobit_ratio is within [0.40, 0.60]
4. health.fano_factor is within [0.5, 1.5]
5. Chi-squared p-value on entropy_proof ≥ 0.001
6. Monobit ratio of entropy_proof is within [0.35, 0.65]
7. source (when present) is in the SourceRegistry trust list. Aggregator-composed IDs (aggregator:a+b+c) are allowed iff every component is itself registered.

Back-compat: v0 blocks lacking a source field still verify. Per-source signature verification under a registered public key is on the roadmap; when it ships, proof_type will increment from qrng_hardware_attestation_v1 to _v2 and the envelope will gain outer signature and public_key fields.

Genesis block¶

Genesis (index=0) is special:

• previous_hash = "0" * 64
• difficulty = 0
• nonce = 0
• quantum_signature = null (no attestation needed)
• transactions = [genesis_tx] where genesis_tx sends GENESIS_DISTRIBUTION (1M WAVE) from sentinel "genesis" to GENESIS_FOUNDATION_ADDRESS
• hash is deterministic from the above

Every node computes its own genesis block on first boot; they all agree because the inputs are deterministic constants.

Validation rules¶

A block is accepted iff:

1. previous_hash matches the current tip hash
2. Recomputed merkle root matches merkle_root
3. Recomputed header hash matches hash
4. Header hash has at least difficulty leading hex zeros
5. difficulty matches the schedule for this height
6. quantum_signature validates (rules above)
7. Coinbase tx is well-formed: sender = "mining_reward", recipient = miner, amount = subsidy(height) + sum(fees)
8. Every other tx passes mempool admission rules
9. Adding the coinbase would not exceed MAX_SUPPLY

Failed validation → block rejected, peer is not punished (could be a race), block is not added to the chain.