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RISCy Docs

Welcome to RISCy

RISCy is a low-fee, Turing-complete UTXO network for Bitcoin builders, designed for instant finality and high-throughput applications.

Built on a Nexa-derived architecture capable of over 60,000 transactions per second, RISCy gives developers the programmable environment they’ve been waiting for: a UTXO-native network with a general-purpose RISC-V virtual machine. Instead of waiting for new Bitcoin opcodes that may never arrive, builders can create expressive smart contracts today in Rust, C, Zig, or anything that compiles to RISC-V.

RISCy is designed for Bitcoin-aligned applications that need more than Bitcoin Script can offer, while preserving the advantages of the UTXO model: parallel validation, native assets, low fees, instant finality, and proof-of-work security.

How RISCy relates to Nexa

RISCy inherits its base-layer design from Nexa, whose consensus protocol is itself a modification of Bitcoin Cash (and, in turn, Bitcoin). From Nexa, RISCy inherits:

  • A UTXO ledger with parallel transaction validation (no global-state bottleneck).
  • Proof-of-Work consensus using a hash that combines elliptic-curve multiplication with SHA-256.
  • Schnorr signatures over the secp256k1 curve.
  • Pay-to-Script-Template addresses and a native token / group system.
  • Near-instant confirmations and sub-cent fees.

On top of this, RISCy adds:

  • A RISC-V virtual machine for general-purpose smart contracts.
  • eCash-style pre-consensus for instant transaction finality.
  • Drivechain (BIP-300/301) security via eCash / Bitcoin hashrate.
  • Builder fee-sharing — up to 70% of contract-generated fees routed to builders.

Key properties

Values marked TBD are RISCy-specific and not finalized yet. Values labeled (Nexa) are inherited and may be tuned before mainnet.

PropertyValueNotes
Ledger modelUTXO (parallel validation)Inherited (Nexa)
ConsensusProof-of-Work + pre-consensusSee finality doc
PoW hashElliptic-curve multiplication + SHA-256Nexa spec
FinalityInstant (seconds) via pre-consensusRISCy addition
SignaturesSchnorr on secp256k1Nexa spec
Target block time2 minutesNexa spec / TBD
Address formatPay to Script TemplateInherited (Nexa)
Native tokensYes (group / token system)Inherited (Nexa)
Smart-contract VMRISC-VRISCy addition
Contract languagesRust, C, Zig → RISC-VRISCy addition
Security modelDrivechain (BIP-300 / BIP-301)RISCy addition
Network magicTBD (Nexa main net is 0x72271221)TBD for RISCy
TickerRISCYNative coin

Quick start

Tooling is under active development — these sections will be filled in as binaries and SDKs are released.

Run a node

Terminal window
# Coming soon

Deploy a contract

Terminal window
# Coming soon

Next steps