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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 addressmoon1qw436kfcvdg70qkkl4lfnt7m9qd79mkzl0js5lnjnqyxfkckw4d5sj26lxq
Unlocks2029-10-17 07:00 CEST (Unix 1886907600)
Key that can spend after thatthe founder wallet, moon1q8sv454mnlah3smxelamzjrpk22zr84mjgnyykc (key hash 3c195a5773ff6f186cd9ff76290c36528433d772)
Witness script04d0ec7770b17576a9143c195a5773ff6f186cd9ff76290c36528433d77288ac

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.