# ADR-014 — Founder rewards locked for 3 years

- **Status:** Accepted
- **Date:** 2026-10-16, published before the 2026-10-17 07:00 CEST launch
- **Related:** ADR-006 (fair launch and founder mining), ADR-011 (fixed cap)

Times in this document are Central European time (CET/CEST).

## Decision

Every block the founder mines pays a time-locked vault. Nobody can spend from
it, the founder included, before **2029-10-17 07:00 CEST**, three years after
launch. This is enforced by every MoonBite node, not by a promise: the coins
are locked by the script they sit in.

The founder chose this over any kind of founder allocation. There is no
premine, no reserve, and no coin the founder holds that was not mined in public
under the same rules as everyone else; for the first three years those coins
cannot move at all.

## The vault

| | |
|---|---|
| Vault address | `moon1qw436kfcvdg70qkkl4lfnt7m9qd79mkzl0js5lnjnqyxfkckw4d5sj26lxq` |
| Unlocks | 2029-10-17 07:00 CEST (Unix 1886907600) |
| Key that can spend after that | the founder wallet, `moon1q8sv454mnlah3smxelamzjrpk22zr84mjgnyykc` (key hash `3c195a5773ff6f186cd9ff76290c36528433d772`) |
| Witness script | `04d0ec7770b17576a9143c195a5773ff6f186cd9ff76290c36528433d77288ac` |

The witness script reads:

```
1886907600 OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY OP_DROP
OP_DUP OP_HASH160 3c195a5773ff6f186cd9ff76290c36528433d772 OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG
```

A spend must carry a lock time of at least 1886907600, and nodes only accept
it once the chain's median block time has passed that moment. After that,
only a signature from the founder wallet's key can spend. There is no second
key, recovery path or early-exit clause.

## Check it yourself

With any MoonBite node:

```
moonbite-cli decodescript 04d0ec7770b17576a9143c195a5773ff6f186cd9ff76290c36528433d77288ac
```

prints the script above and, under `segwit.addresses`, the vault address.
The vault's balance is public on moonbite.org/balance and the explorer. The
same calculation is in `tools/vault/moonbite-vault.mjs` and
`tools/vault/founder-vault.json`.

## How it was tested

On a private regtest MoonBite network, with the same script shape:

- block rewards mined straight into a vault arrive there;
- before the unlock time, a correctly signed spend is refused as "non-final";
- a spend claiming an earlier lock time is refused by the script
  ("Locktime requirement not satisfied");
- the wrong recovery phrase cannot produce a valid spend;
- after the unlock time, the owner's spend is accepted, confirmed, and the
  vault is left empty;
- a wallet with an extra password (BIP39 passphrase) works the same way.

## Unlocking in 2029

`node tools/vault/unlock.mjs --to <address>` asks for the founder wallet's 12
words (and extra password, if set) without showing them, signs on the local
machine and prints the transaction; `--broadcast` sends it. Before the unlock
time every node refuses it, whoever signs.

If the founder's recovery phrase is lost, the coins in the vault are lost with
it: nobody can recover them, and that is intended.

## Commitments

- All founder mining pays this vault until a new ADR, published first, says
  otherwise.
- Coins in the vault cannot move before 2029-10-17 07:00 CEST. After that,
  any movement of them is announced in a new ADR before it happens.