Nexus A Peer-to-Peer NetworkJuly 4, 2017Abstract\You never change things by ghting the existing reality. To changesomething, build a new model that makes the existing model obsoleteR. Buckminster FullerThroughout history we have witnessed many changes in our culture,technology, and governance. These changes are fueled by a necessity forthe further evolution of mankind. Now humanity approaches anotherone of these times in history, where the way everything has been donemust be changed; this is why we built Nexus. Peer-to-Peer technologyfuels the backbone of a global blockchain-based cryptocurrency repre-sented by the ticker NXS which is traded world-wide as an alternativecurrency with the capacity to rival world economies. The framework,Nexus, utilizes new distributed database designs, mathematical trust,community governance, ground-based mesh networks, and a Low EarthOrbit Satellite Constellation. We are Nexus, a connection of people,ideas, and computers providing greater choice and therefore greaterevolution with an aim towards our freedom. Welcome to the Future.1Contents1 Introduction 51.1 What is Nexus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.2 What is a Blockchain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.3 How are Blocks Created . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61.4 Are Blockchains the Answer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71.5 Challenges of Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Nexus 82.1 Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82.1.1 Mesh Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82.1.2 Cube Satellites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82.1.3 Ground Stations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92.2 Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Speci cations 103.1 Hashing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103.1.1 SHA-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103.1.2 SHA-3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103.1.3 Skein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103.1.4 Skein-Keccak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113.1.5 Comparison of 256 bit and 1024 bit . . . . . . . . . . 113.2 Emission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123.2.1 Reserves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123.2.2 Rewards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133.2.3 Minting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133.3 Block Validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143.3.1 Dense Prime Clusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143.3.2 Hashing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153.3.3 Holdings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153.4 Di culty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163.5 Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173.5.1 Weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173.5.2 Threshold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173.5.3 Genesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183.5.4 Intervals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183.6 Clock Drift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183.7 Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183.8 Time-Locks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1923.9 Checkpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Post-Quantum Considerations 204.1 Grover’s Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204.2 Elliptic Curve Cryptography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214.3 Curve Groups and Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214.4 Private Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224.5 Public Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224.6 Shor’s Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234.7 Zalka, Proos and Kaye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234.8 Proos-Zalka Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244.9 Kaye-Zalka Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244.10 The Bene ts of Larger Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244.11 Side Channel Attacks on secp256k1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264.12 Key Accommodations in Nexus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264.13 Post-Quantum Cryptography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 Conclusion 27A Appendix Reference Summaries to Reinforce Content 28B Vision 28C Philosophy 29C.1 Nicomachean Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29C.2 Kingdom of Ends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30C.3 The Tao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31D Principles 32D.0.1 Individual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32D.0.2 Collective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32E How We Make Change 32F List of Contributors 333Written byColin CantrellBryan Gmyrek, Ph.D.Kierre Reegwith contributions byKeith SmithPreston SmithJacynda SmithEdited byMara Michael\ des in stellis, virtus in numeris4Genesis White Paper - 1.0.2 - Last Revised July 8, 2017nexus a connection or series ofconnections linking two or morethings.Oxford English Dictionary1 IntroductionPeer-to-peer networks are ing the foundations of digital industries world-wide. This ecosystem continues to evolve as innovators advance the grow-ing body of open-source protocols, including Bitcoin, BitTorrent, TOR, andIPFS. The utility of these networks has increasingly a ected people through-out the world. For the rst time in history, the transmission of value canoccur without the need for intermediaries. Now, almost ten years from therelease of Satshosi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash Sys-tem [1] debuted on a Cypher Punk e-mail list in a time of economic crisis,many bene ts have been realized including but not limited to viz. en-hanced nancial security, emancipation from centralized banking systems,and the possibilities of future applications of blockchains. However, manychallenges have also been identi ed such as scaling, consensus updates, andconsiderations for the post-quantum era that is almost upon us. By re-solving some of these identi ed issues, Nexus has enhanced the blockchainprotocol, thereby providing a solid foundation for the digital economies ofthe future.1.1 What is NexusNexus is a connection, or series of connections, of computers, businesses, andpeople with a focus on establishing new applications of nance, technology,service, and sovereignty.1.2 What is a BlockchainA blockchain is a decentralized and immutable public database of transac-tions. The database is organized by connecting a chain of blocks together.Each block contains a group of transactions. The blocks are ordered in time5and chained together using cryptographic hashes.12 Large quantities ofcomputational resources must be expended to create each block hash,3 andeach block contains the previous block’s hash this is how they are chained.The blocks are produced in intervals, ing a chain of veri able blocks thatcontain the transaction history providing data a that cannot be alteredwithout redoing the work of the previous blocks or con rmations. The endresult is a single, immutable journal of transactions grouped through time-ordered blocks distributed and veri ed by all of the nodes on the network.1.3 How are Blocks CreatedBlocks are created by a distributed network of miners users operating specialhardware to solve the proof of work puzzles in a process called mining. Asan analogy for mining, imagine many people are sitting in a room out ofmotivation to win a prize if they solve their Rubik’s Cube rst. The tiles ofthe Rubik’s Cube can be thought of as the transactions, with one of thesetiles representing the prize mint the winner is allowed to claim if theysolve the cube. However, they are only allowed to make one random changeper iteration and they are limited by the speed of their hands some may befaster than others. Eventually one player will end up with a solved cube.When one nds the solution, they show it to the other players in the room.If the other players independently verify that the cube is solved properly,the winner is rewarded with the prize and a new round begins.1A cryptographic hash function is a hash function which takes an or ’message’and returns a xed-size alphanumeric string. The string is called the ’hash value’... [10]2The concept of a cryptographic chain of blocks dates back to Ehrsam, Meyer, Smithand Tuchman’s invention of Cipher Block Chaining CBC in 1976 [3]. NB this is distinctfrom blockchain as discussed here in many ways, notably because it does not include aproof-of-work.3This is generically called Proof-of-Work but also includes Sunny King’s innovationProof-of-Stake [11].61.4 Are Blockchains the AnswerBlockchains have become more necessary as we become aware of the chal-lenges we are facing in our current progression as a society. By maintainingopen minds to recognize the challenges we face, we become aware of thelimitations that legacy monetary systems cannot solve. As is seen thatblockchains do solve many monetary challenges, such as uncontrolled in a-tion, central banking, and many others, they are only a part of the solutionto our current economic circumstances.quantitative easingunconventional monetary policyin which a central bankpurchases government securitiesor other securities from themarket in order to lower interestrates and increase the moneysupplyInvestopediaThe term blockchain should not be confused with any encrypted database.The dollar is essentially an online virtual currency encrypted between banksthat is redeemable for federal reserve notes Paper Money. This does notmake the dollar a blockchain. What makes a blockchain is a decentralizedpublic journal with no central authority. By owning a particular portion ofa cryptocurrency, you prove partial ownership in the nancial system.1.5 Challenges of MoneyThe application and implementation of the world’s monetary systems hasbecome the source of one of the biggest challenges we face today. This is dueto the many global policies designed for empowering central banks to createcurrencies as debt with interest associated. Central Banks have the abilityto in uence world economies by changing interest rates, printing massivesums of money otherwise known as in ation / hyperin ation, quantita-tive easing, or through various other s of credit creation. There aremany historical examples of central authorities who have misused this enor-mous power, knowingly or unknowingly, to the detriment of the people thatthese institutions exist to serve. These include post-World War I Germanywith a hyperin ation of up to 30,000 per month, Zimbabwe during theGreat Recession of the last decade with nearly 79 billion percent per month7in ation, and post-World War II Hungary, with in ation rates of nearly13,000,000,000,000 per year. 4.2 NexusMultiple components need to be considered when providing the fundamentalbasis for change and freedom. The following is a brief outline of the corecomponents that comprise the foundation of Nexus.2.1 HardwareNexus is researching and developing three types of networks that will worktogether to a new telecommunications system. These are outlined inthe sections below.2.1.1 Mesh NetworksA mesh network is a network topologyin which each node relays data for thenetwork. All mesh nodes cooperate inthe distribution of data in the network[4].This allows for the growth of ground-based networks to handle data exchangein localized areas.Ground-based mesh networks will solvemany telecommunication issues. Spe-cialized antennas can be produced forpeople to purchase and operate, therebying networks owned by the individuals who built it.2.1.2 Cube SatellitesAs mesh networks grow, they will need to overcome the problem with lineof sight and transcontinental communication. This issue can be solved withthe deployment of a satellite constellation designed to focus towards orbital4The estimated 200 per day in ation equates to about thirteen quadrillion percentper year [2]8cache layers and mesh network relays. This will provide caching of data andrelaying of data between ground-based mesh networks.2.1.3 Ground StationsGround stations will provide the satellite uplink/downlink operations. Thesestations will be responsible for ground-based caching, the running of a nexusdaemon, and the de ning of a route to relay data to the addressed endpoint.2.2 SoftwareThere are many types of software applications that are integral parts of thefunctionality and e ciency of Nexus. The software systems are constantlybeing developed and improved upon as Nexus continues to mature.DaemonNexus operates on a lower-level software application called the NexusDaemon. Instances of this software application communicate withone another, ing a peer-to-peer network. They exchange data inthe of transactions and secure them into a distributed databasecalled a blockchain.WalletA command line and graphical Qt version of the Nexus wallet is cur-rently available for download [5] [9]. A new version of the Nexuswallet will be a higher-level graphical application written in the Elec-tron Framework. This will allow access to the functions of the \NexusDaemon through a HTML/JS interface with native Windows, Linux,and Mac OS X installers.5LibraryThe lower-level library includes three parts, namely Crypto, Database,and Protocol. They a lower-level set of programming base tem-plates that can be used to create more complex class structures on topof them.5This is under active development at the time of this writing.93 Speci cationsThis section provides details on the speci cations of the main software com-ponent of Nexus, the Nexus Daemon. This software component is thefoundation of the Nexus Network and takes into account Precise Emission,Mining, Trust, and other components of security and e ciency.3.1 HashingHashing is a critical part of any cryptocurrency. The recent SHA-1 collisioncomputation by Google underscores the need for more secure hashes [19].One of the innovations of Nexus is the use of newer hashing functions withthe goal of enhanced security.3.1.1 SHA-2SHA-256 is a member of the SHA-2 set of cryptographic hash functions.6It was designed by the National Security Agency NSA and published in2001 [15]. SHA-256 is used in Bitcoin mining and in the creation of Bitcoinaddresses [53].3.1.2 SHA-3Nexus uses a newer, more secure hashing algorithm than that of Bitcoin.The SHA-3 [54] standard was the result of a competition [20] with the goalof producing an alternative to SHA-2. This competition was organized bythe National Institute of Standards and Technology NIST. The winner ofthis competition was selected in 2012. The