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MiniChain

MiniChain is a minimal fully functional blockchain implemented in Python.

Background and Motivation

• Most well-known blockchains are now several years old and have accumulated a lot of technical debt. Simply forking their codebases is not an optimal option for starting a new chain.

• MiniChain will be focused on research. Its primary purpose is not to be yet another blockchain trying to be the one blockchain to kill them all, but rather to serve as a clean codebase that can be a benchmark for research of variations of the technology. (We hope that MiniChain will be as valuable for blockchain research as, for instance, MiniSat was valuable for satisfiability and automated reasoning research. MiniSat had less than 600 lines of C++ code.)

• MiniChain will be focused on education. By having a clean and small codebase, devs will be able to understand blockchains by looking at the codebase.

• The blockchain space is again going through a phase where many new blockchains are being launched. Back in 2017 and 2018, such an expansion period led to many general frameworks for blockchains, such as Scorex and various Hyperledger frameworks. But most of these frameworks suffered from speculative generality and were bloated. They focused on extensibility and configurability. MiniChain has a different philosophy: focus on minimality and, therefore, ease of modification.

• Recent advances in networking and crypto libraries for Python make it possible to develop MiniChain in Python. Given that Python is one of the easiest languages to learn and results in usually boilerplate-minimized and easy to read code, implementing MiniChain in Python aligns with MiniChain's educational goal.

Overview of Tasks

• Develop a fully functional minimal blockchain in Python, with all the expected components: peer-to-peer networking, consensus, mempool, ledger, ...

• Bonus task: add smart contracts to the blockchain.

Candidates are expected to refine these tasks in their GSoC proposals. It is encouraged that you develop an initial prototype during the application phase.

Requirements

• Use PyNaCl library for hashing, signing transactions and verifying signatures.
• Use Py-libp2p for p2p networking.
• Implement Proof-of-Work as the consensus protocol.
• Use accounts (instead of UTxO) as the accounting model for the ledger.
• Use as few lines of code as possible without compromising readability and understandability.
• For the bonus task, make Python itself be the language used for smart contracts, but watch out for security concerns related to executing arbitrary code from untrusted sources.

Resources

• Read this book: https://www.marabu.dev/blockchain-foundations.pdf

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Project Maturity

TODO: In the checklist below, mark the items that have been completed and delete items that are not applicable to the current project:

• The project has a logo.
• The project has a favicon.
• The protocol:
  • has been described and formally specified in a paper.
  • has had its main properties mathematically proven.
  • has been formally verified.
• The smart contracts:
  • were thoroughly reviewed by at least two knights of The Stable Order.
  • were deployed to:
    • Ergo
    • Cardano
    • EVM Chains:
      • Ethereum Classic
      • Ethereum
      • Polygon
      • BSC
      • Base
• The mobile app:
  • has an About page containing the Stability Nexus's logo and pointing to the social media accounts of the Stability Nexus.
  • is available for download as a release in this repo.
  • is available in the relevant app stores.
• The web frontend:
  • has proper title and metadata.
  • has proper open graph metadata, to ensure that it is shown well when shared in social media (Discord, Telegram, Twitter, LinkedIn).
  • has a footer, containing the Stability Nexus's logo and pointing to the social media accounts of the Stability Nexus.
  • is fully static and client-side.
  • is deployed to Github Pages via a Github Workflow.
  • is accessible through the https://TODO:PROJECT-NAME.stability.nexus domain.
• the project is listed in https://stability.nexus/protocols.

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Tech Stack

TODO:

Frontend

TODO:

• Next.js 14+ (React)
• TypeScript
• TailwindCSS
• shadcn/ui

Blockchain

TODO:

• Wagmi
• Solidity Smart Contracts
• Ethers.js

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Getting Started

Prerequisites

TODO

• Node.js 18+
• npm/yarn/pnpm
• MetaMask or any other web3 wallet browser extension

Installation

TODO

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/StabilityNexus/TODO.git
cd TODO

2. Install Dependencies

Using your preferred package manager:

npm install
# or
yarn install
# or
pnpm install

3. Run the Development Server

Start the app locally:

npm run dev
# or
yarn dev
# or
pnpm dev

4. Open your Browser

Navigate to http://localhost:3000 to see the application.

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Contributing

We welcome contributions of all kinds! To contribute:

1. Fork the repository and create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature).
2. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature').
3. Run the development workflow commands to ensure code quality:
   • npm run format:write
   • npm run lint:fix
   • npm run typecheck
4. Push your branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature).
5. Open a Pull Request for review.

If you encounter bugs, need help, or have feature requests:

• Please open an issue in this repository providing detailed information.
• Describe the problem clearly and include any relevant logs or screenshots.

We appreciate your feedback and contributions!

© 2025 The Stable Order.