Layer 1 · Proof of work · In development
Valletta is an independent blockchain secured by proof of work. A fast layer on top makes trading quick and cheap, and one ecosystem of products is built around it.
The film
Why a new network, how it works, and the ecosystem built on it.
Why Valletta
Crypto still asks people to give up one strength to get another. Valletta is designed so that they do not have to.
Security
The trade-off. Most smart-contract platforms run on proof of stake, where the right to produce blocks follows capital already on the chain.
Open proof of work. Anyone with an ordinary CPU can mine with RandomX, and Monero miners add their hashpower through merged mining.
Speed
The trade-off. Networks secured by work are slow, and most of them cannot run apps.
A fast layer on top of the chain confirms trades in about 0.2 seconds for a fraction of a cent, and records all its data on Valletta.
Trust
The trade-off. Stolen coins are gone for good, and token launchpads leave buyers exposed to rug pulls and copycat tokens.
Public theft recovery, a serial number for every coin, and safety rules on every token launched on Valletta.
Transparency
The trade-off. Many new networks launch with allocations, unlock dates and upgrade powers that are hard to verify.
A fixed, published supply, vesting enforced by contracts with no admin keys, and a public address for every company and fund wallet.
How it works
The main chain is mined with proof of work and settles every VLTA. A fast layer on top confirms trades in about 0.2 seconds and records every batch on the main chain.
SimulationExample data at the design targetsOpen the full simulation
The name
1566
In 1565 about 9,000 defenders held Malta for four months against a force of some 40,000. A year later they laid the first stone of Valletta, a new city planned from the start as a fortress.
2009
In 2008 banks failed and were rescued with public money. On 3 January 2009 the first Bitcoin block was mined, and showed that value can move on a network secured by work instead of trust.
Valletta takes its name from that city. In the Valletta mark, two chains of blocks meet at a gold gem: the genesis block, the first stone of the network.
Explore
Questions
Not yet. Valletta is in development. The next step is a proof of concept, then a public Testnet with a full security audit and a bug bounty. Mainnet opens only when every gate before it is met.
No. VLTA does not exist yet, and nothing is for sale. If anyone offers you VLTA today, the offer is not from Valletta. A first funding round is planned, and it will be announced on the Early supporters page.
Valletta uses RandomX, which runs on ordinary CPUs. Monero miners can merge-mine Valletta at the same time. Mining is open to any software, and the official miner and pool are optional.
Yes. Execution runs the EVM on reth, with 18 decimals and Ethereum transaction formats, so MetaMask, Solidity, ethers and viem work without changes. WASM contracts follow in version 1.1.
Only coins identified as stolen can be frozen, after a claim filed within 30 days, a public review with appeal and a 7-day timelock. People who received VLTA in good faith, such as exchanges, merchants and liquidity pools, are excluded, and total supply never changes.
USVT is the planned Valletta Dollar, a dollar stablecoin. It starts on Testnet, labelled as not backed and not redeemable. Production issuance waits for a licence, an issuer, a custodian, independent attestation and verified reserves.
Community
Follow weekly progress, ask the team in public, and talk mining and building with the people who will run the network.
How to stay safe
Early supporters
It is not open yet, and nothing is for sale today. Read how the round will work, and how to stay safe until it opens.
The network
The main chain is built for security and stays simple. Speed comes one layer up, on a rollup that records every batch of transactions on the main chain.
Simulation
Wallets send transactions to the fast layer. Miners compete to find proof of work, and every main-chain block they find records the latest batch of fast-layer blocks. Send your own transaction and follow it through both layers.
Your transaction
Event log
A simulation with example heights and amounts. Fast-layer blocks about every 2 seconds and main-chain blocks every 10 to 15 seconds are design targets, confirmed by measurement before Mainnet.
The film
A tap in the wallet, a confirmation in about 0.2 seconds on the fast layer, a batch written into the main chain, and a block found by miners anywhere in the world.
Two layers
| Main chain | Fast layer | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Store and settle value | Fast trading and apps |
| Blocks | About every 10 to 15 seconds | About every 2 seconds, confirmed in about 0.2 seconds |
| Fees | Base fee and tip, in VLTA | A fraction of a cent, in VLTA |
| Final | After enough proof-of-work blocks | When its batch is final on the main chain |
| Security | Proof of work | The main chain, through the bridge and proofs |
All figures are design targets for a network in development, confirmed by measurement before Mainnet.
Consensus
A Valletta node has two halves that talk through the Engine API: a proof-of-work consensus client and a reth execution client that runs the EVM.
Users send transactions to any node, and they wait in reth's transaction pool.
A mining node asks reth to assemble a block from the pool.
The consensus client looks for RandomX work that meets the target, its own or a Monero merged-mining proof.
The finished block is sent to peers across the network.
Each node checks the header and its work, then reth executes every transaction and checks the state.
Every node moves to the valid chain with the most accumulated work.
Built on
When they conflict, security comes first.
Security
Every privileged power is split, delayed and public. The rules change only when node operators choose to run a new release.
RandomX runs on ordinary CPUs, and merged mining with Monero adds existing hashpower from the first day.
While hashrate is small, checkpoints signed by 3 of 5 signers protect the chain, and exchanges follow a published confirmation policy.
Every privileged role is a 3-of-5 multisig with at least two outside signers on hardware wallets, behind a 7-day timelock.
Every VLTA and every Bastion has a serial number, traced back to the block that created it.
An outside architecture review, a full security audit and a public bug bounty come before Mainnet.
Rule changes ship as signed, reproducible node releases. Node operators decide whether to run them.
The film
A claim, a freeze the same day, public review, a 7-day timelock, and one order that burns the stolen coins and mints the same amount back to the victim.
Theft recovery
Recovery works from the day Mainnet launches. It covers theft, fraud and hacks only, and it also covers VLTA held on the fast layer. Follow one case from the theft to the recovery.
Victim · old address
0x51c4…a3e7
5,000 VLTA
Thief
0x9f02…2c11
0 VLTA
Frozen 0
Exchange
0xe8a0…41d2
0 VLTA received
Victim · new address
0x7d3e…0b58
0 VLTA
Linked to the theft
0x4c7b…e190
0 VLTA
Frozen 0
Recovery role
Multisig · 3 of 5 signers
Press play, or choose a step. Amounts, addresses and days are examples.
balance · 0x51c4…a3e7 · 5,000 VLTA
An illustration with example amounts, addresses and days. The evidence standard, the good-faith test, the maximum freeze length and the appeal procedure are set in the recovery policy, with legal counsel, before Mainnet.
Exchanges, merchants and liquidity pools are protected. One recovery order burns the frozen units and mints the same amount to the victim, and the network checks that the two match.
Serial numbers
Units are numbered in the order they are created: genesis allocations first, then each block's subsidy. Anyone can rerun the count and get the same result.
100,000,000
VLTA serial numbers100,000,000,000,000
Bastion serial numbersPrivileged roles
3 of 5 signers, at least 2 of them outside Arkenvale Software, all on hardware wallets, with a 7-day timelock on every on-chain action except pause and freeze.
| Role | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Release signing | Official node releases |
| System contracts admin | USVT roles and other system contracts |
| Company treasury | The 6.5% subsidy share, the 20% base-fee share, the company allocation and revenue from the fast layer, the Launchpad and Harbour |
| Liquidity fund | The 22.5 million VLTA allocation and 20% of base fees, under a published policy and monthly cap |
| Research and development | The 2.5 million VLTA allocation, under a published budget |
| USVT pauser | Emergency pause and freeze of USVT only |
| Checkpoints | Early-period checkpoints, until their end height |
| Recovery | Freezes of stolen VLTA and recovery orders that return it to its owner |
| Fast layer and Launchpad | Upgrades and parameters of the bridge, the fast layer and the Launchpad and Harbour contracts |
Valletta is built and tested against a written threat model, and outside firms review it twice before Mainnet.
Token
VLTA pays for every transaction and rewards miners. USVT is a dollar stablecoin for payments, trading and Escrow.
Native coin
Pays for every transaction and rewards miners. A fixed supply of 100,000,000: half at genesis, half mined over 20 years.
1 VLTA = 1,000,000 Bastion
Stablecoin
Every mint needs two independent signatures, checked on chain. USVT starts on Testnet, and production waits for licensing and verified reserves.
Testnet first
Supply
Every company and fund wallet has a public address, and every vesting schedule is visible in the explorer.
Years 1 to 4 bring 51.6% of the mined supply. After year 20, miners earn fees only. Years assume blocks arrive on target; subsidy per block assumes 15-second blocks.
Miner 93.5% · Company 6.5%
Miner 60% · Liquidity fund 20% · Company 20%
Miner 100%
Base fees are shared, not burned. Arkenvale Software, the company that develops Valletta, receives 6.5% of the block subsidy: at most 3,250,000 VLTA over 20 years.
The first month mints about 739,964 VLTA, about 4.28 VLTA per block with 15-second blocks. Emission stops after month 240.
50,000,000 VLTA, all in contracts or multisigs from the first block
| Allocation | VLTA | Share of max supply | Control and release |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liquidity fund | 22,500,000 | 22.5% | Its own 3-of-5 multisig, a published usage policy and a monthly release cap |
| Founders and developers | 10,000,000 | 10% | Vesting contract: 12-month cliff, then monthly over 36 months |
| Company | 7,500,000 | 7.5% | Vesting contract: monthly over 48 months |
| Early sale | 7,500,000 | 7.5% | Under the sale agreements, set with legal counsel |
| Research and development | 2,500,000 | 2.5% | 3-of-5 multisig with a published budget |
The vesting contracts are deployed in the genesis block and have no admin keys. No one can change them, the company included.
Ecosystem
Mainnet brings what traders and builders need on day one. Phase 2 adds payments and trust services. Phase 3 holds the products that need a licence, so they never delay the launch.
At Mainnet
Phase 2
Phase 3 · after licensing
Valletta wallet
Your keys stay on your phone or hardware signer, never on our servers. Follow one payment from your balance to confirmation.
Ledger and Trezor through their Ethereum apps. iOS and Android at Mainnet; a browser extension follows in phase 2.
Concept screens · example values
Launchpad
Safety defaults on every token
Tokens created on the Launchpad are issued by third parties, not by Valletta, and can lose all their value.
Product films
Four short films on what comes after the launch. Each film plays on its own and moves to the next one when it ends.
Future products
Ten products and research directions for after the launch. Each one launches only after its own audit, and the ones that need a licence wait for it. Choose one to see how it works.
Phase 2, after Mainnet
Payments for businesses, from a checkout page to a QR code at the counter, settled on the fast layer.
How it works
What it brings
Before it launchesPayment APIs and the custody model are decided, the product passes its own audit, and it is licensed where the law requires.
Phase 2, after Mainnet
Subscriptions with a limited authorization: the next payment is locked in advance, and you can cancel before it is due.
How it works
What it brings
Before it launchesHow payments are locked in a contract is decided, and the product passes its own audit.
Phase 2, after Mainnet
Deals between people and businesses that do not know each other: funds wait in escrow until the conditions are met.
How it works
What it brings
Before it launchesCustody and the authority to settle disputes are decided, the product passes its own audit, and it is licensed where needed.
Basic checks with Mainnet, AI signals in phase 2
Risk scores for tokens and contracts in the Launchpad, Harbour and the wallet, each one with its reason and a way to appeal.
How it works
What it brings
Before it launchesData sources, false-positive handling and the appeal process are set, and the product passes its own review.
Phase 2, growing with each product
One SDK and API for the wallet, Pay, Escrow, the Launchpad, Harbour and risk data, with a sandbox and signed webhooks.
How it works
What it brings
Before it launchesEach API ships with the product it serves and passes the same audit.
Version 1.1, in phase 2
Contracts in Rust and other languages, running in the same state as the EVM, and the Valletta wallet on desktop.
How it works
What it brings
Before it launchesThe WASM engine, metering and cross-VM rules are decided, and version 1.1 passes its own audit.
Phase 3, after licensing
A centralized exchange, separate from Harbour, with a spot order book, segregated custody, market surveillance and compliance.
How it works
What it brings
Before it launchesA licence in each market where it operates, custody security and its own audit.
Phase 3, with a licensed insurer
Cover for supported assets in the official wallet, through a licensed insurer. It is separate from theft recovery on the network.
How it works
What it brings
Before it launchesA licensed insurer and a regulated cover product.
Phase 3, after licensing
The dollar stablecoin, issued in production only with an issuer, a custodian, independent attestation and verified reserves.
How it works
What it brings
Before it launchesA licence, an issuer and a custodian, redemption terms and verified reserves.
Research for version 2
Signed finality in seconds on top of proof of work, with stronger protection against majority attacks.
How it works
What it brings
Before it launchesA founder decision of its own, after research.
Illustrations use example values. Products are planned and none is live today.
Roadmap
Twelve stages, from the design to version 2. A stage ends only when its exit criteria are met and published, and nothing launches before its own audit is complete.
The architecture, the token model and the security model are written down and decided.
GateThe design is published
Valletta is led by its founder today. This stage builds the core team of Arkenvale Software, the company that develops Valletta, and its legal structure.
GateThe core team is in place and the round’s terms are published
A local multi-node network proves the integrated core before anything else is built.
GateAn outside architecture review is complete and the core decisions are signed
Everything a public network depends on is decided and published first.
GateEvery pre-Testnet decision is published
The first public network, open to miners, wallets and developers.
GateThe main chain runs stable
The fast layer joins the Testnet once the main chain is stable.
GateThe fast-layer design is final
Outside firms review the whole system before anything goes live.
GateAudit findings are fixed and the evidence is published
The genesis block is mined and the network opens to everyone.
GateEach product passes its own audit
The first period after launch, while hashrate grows.
GateCheckpoints reach their end height
Payments, trust services and new tools for developers.
GateEach product’s audit, and a licence where a product needs one
The products that need a licence, so they never delay the network.
GateA licence for each product, verified reserves for USVT and a licensed insurer for Protect
Research that would change the security model, so it is decided on its own.
GateA founder decision of its own
Stages follow the whitepaper and the engineering specification. There are no dates: each stage opens when the one before it passes its gate.
Before Mainnet
Mainnet opens only when this evidence is in place and published.
Team
Valletta is developed by Arkenvale Software, a blockchain engineering and information-security company, and is led by its founder today. These are the roles that build it from the proof of concept to Mainnet.
Founder
Yanal
Sets the vision and the product, and signs every architecture decision.
Roles we are filling
Want to help build Valletta? Introduce yourself in the community.
The company
Arkenvale Software is a blockchain engineering and information-security company. It develops Valletta: the node, the fast layer, the wallet and the products built on the network.
Early supporters
Valletta plans a first round to fund the work between the design and a live network. Nothing is for sale today. There is no price, no payment address and no way to take part yet.
The genesis allocation reserves 7,500,000 VLTA, 7.5% of the maximum supply, for an early sale. These coins are released under the sale agreements, which legal counsel will set. The full allocation is on the token page.
Whitepaper · Version 1.0
A sovereign proof-of-work blockchain for the new era of money.
Valletta is an independent Layer-1 blockchain secured by proof of work and built for one purpose: to store and move value safely. Its native coin, VLTA, has a fixed maximum supply of 100,000,000. Half exists at genesis under published allocations, with founder and company shares locked in on-chain vesting. The other half is mined over 20 years on a smooth curve.
Valletta is developed by Arkenvale Software, a blockchain engineering and information-security company. In this paper, "the company" means Arkenvale Software.
Blocks are mined with RandomX, the CPU-oriented algorithm used by Monero. Monero miners can also merge-mine Valletta, adding their hashpower to its security at no extra cost. Execution runs on reth, an Ethereum client written in Rust, so Ethereum wallets, languages and tools carry over.
Fees follow EIP-1559 with one change: the base fee is shared, not burned. The miner receives 60%, a liquidity fund 20% and the company 20%. The company also receives 6.5% of each block subsidy, at most 3,250,000 VLTA in total.
Every unit of VLTA has a serial number. If coins are stolen, they can be frozen and returned to their owner through a public recovery process that never touches people who received them in good faith.
For fast, cheap trading, a second layer on top of the chain targets confirmations in about 0.2 seconds and fees of a fraction of a cent, with a Launchpad for new tokens and meme coins. It launches together with Mainnet and leaves the main chain's security unchanged.
Around the chain sit USVT, a dollar stablecoin that needs two independent signatures for every mint, and a non-custodial mobile wallet. Valletta is in development. This paper describes the version 1 design; values marked as targets are confirmed by measurement before Mainnet.
Valletta exists to give people money they control themselves: secured by work, governed by published rules, and open to the whole Ethereum toolset.
In 1565 about 9,000 defenders held Malta from May to September against a besieging force of some 40,000. In 1566 they laid the first stone of a new city, Valletta, planned from the start as a fortress. They did not patch the old walls; they built something new.
In 2008 the financial system went through a siege of its own. Banks failed, governments rescued them with public money, and the public carried much of the cost. On 3 January 2009 the first Bitcoin block was mined, carrying a newspaper headline about a second bank bailout.
Bitcoin showed that value can move on an open network secured by work instead of trust in an institution. Valletta builds on that foundation, and takes its name from the city built to never fall.
People who want to hold and use digital money on their own terms still face trade-offs:
Six principles decide every trade-off in Valletta, and security comes first whenever they conflict.
| Principle | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Security first | Proven, audited components. The smallest possible amount of new consensus code. Balances move only with their owner's signature, or by a public recovery order that returns stolen coins. |
| Determinism | A block is valid or invalid from chain data alone, never from a company server. Consensus uses integer arithmetic only. |
| Reuse before invention | RandomX, reth, the EVM, the OP Stack and published Ethereum and Bitcoin standards. New code only where Valletta truly differs. |
| Transparency | Public addresses for every company and fund wallet, vesting enforced on chain, published policies and an annual report on the use of funds. |
| Sovereignty | Users hold their own keys. Node operators choose which software release to run, so rules change only when the network adopts them. |
| Change with notice | Upgrades ship as node releases with a published activation height. Privileged actions wait behind a 7-day timelock. |
A Valletta node has two halves that talk through the Engine API: a proof-of-work consensus client that decides which chain is valid, and a reth execution client that runs the EVM. Ethereum has used the same split since the Merge, so each half can be tested and upgraded on its own.
New consensus code
Consensus client (Rust)Proof-of-work headers, difficulty, fork choice by most work, merged-mining proofs and checkpoints.From reth
Execution client (reth)EVM, state, transaction pool and JSON-RPC.Valletta node architecture: two clients joined by the Engine API. The indexer runs outside consensus.
Only the highlighted client is new consensus code. The EVM, state and RPC come from reth, and the indexer runs outside consensus.
| Component | Role |
|---|---|
| Consensus client (Rust) | Builds and checks proof-of-work headers, adjusts difficulty, chooses the chain with the most accumulated work, verifies merged-mining proofs and checkpoints, and drives reth through the Engine API. |
| Execution client (reth) | Runs the EVM, keeps state, holds the transaction pool and serves JSON-RPC. Valletta adds VLTA issuance, the subsidy and base-fee splits, the genesis vesting contracts and its own chain ID. |
| Peer-to-peer network | Full nodes share blocks and transactions directly, with no dependency on company servers. |
| Indexer | A separate service behind the explorer and public APIs. It also computes Bastion provenance, outside consensus. |
| Fast layer | A rollup on top of the chain for fast, cheap transactions, with all its data recorded on Valletta (section 12). |
reth is a modular Ethereum client written in Rust under the MIT and Apache-2.0 licences, and its SDK already powers several production networks. Building on it gives Valletta a mature EVM, state storage and JSON-RPC without writing them again. The other options studied were the Polkadot SDK, the Cosmos SDK, core-geth and a node written from scratch; each fell short on its consensus model, its path to WASM contracts or its delivery risk.
The valid Valletta chain is the one with the most accumulated RandomX work, and every node can check this from chain data alone. No company server is ever needed to judge a block.
RandomX has been Monero's proof-of-work algorithm since November 2019. It runs randomly generated programs that suit general-purpose CPUs, which keeps mining open to ordinary computers and narrows the edge of specialised hardware. Before its launch it was audited by four independent firms: Trail of Bits, Kudelski Security, X41 D-Sec and Quarkslab.
Tari launched its mainnet with Monero merged mining, and Valletta follows the same approach. The exact proof format and the handling of RandomX keys are fixed in the protocol specification before Testnet.
Proof of work gives probabilistic finality: each new block makes it harder for an attacker with a minority of the hashrate to rewrite history. Valletta publishes a confirmation policy that tells wallets and exchanges how many blocks to wait, by transaction value. The node also labels blocks safe and finalized at fixed depths, which the fast layer and exchanges use. Shorter blocks speed up the first confirmation, but finality still depends on the work added after a transaction.
A new proof-of-work network is weakest at its start, when its hashrate is small and can be rented. Valletta adds four layers of defence for that period:
| Defence | How it protects the chain |
|---|---|
| Merged mining with Monero | Existing Monero hashpower can secure Valletta at no extra cost to miners. |
| Signed checkpoints, early period only | Nodes reject any reorganization below the latest checkpoint. Checkpoints are public, signed by a 3-of-5 multisig, and stop at a set block height. |
| Confirmation policy | Exchanges, Valletta Exchange included, wait many blocks before crediting large deposits. |
| Monitoring | Hashrate, pool shares and deep reorganizations are tracked, with public alerts. |
Checkpoints add a trusted element while the network is young. That is why they are temporary, published and limited to rejecting deep reorganizations.
Valletta runs the Ethereum Virtual Machine with Ethereum-style accounts and transactions, so contracts, wallets and tools built for Ethereum work on Valletta with little or no change.
Every transaction pays a base fee set by the protocol, which rises and falls with demand as in EIP-1559, plus an optional priority tip. Valletta changes one thing: the base fee is shared, not burned.
| Who receives each block's VLTA | Miner of the block | Liquidity fund | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Block subsidy (new VLTA) | 93.5% | – | 6.5% |
| Base fee | 60% | 20% | 20% |
| Priority tip | 100% | – | – |
The split cannot be avoided. The base fee is mandatory, and paying a miner directly only replaces the tip. A minimum base fee is set from test-network data, and integer remainders go to the miner.
After 20 years no new VLTA is mined, and miners live on fees alone. Sharing the base fee keeps that income in place from the first block, while the liquidity fund deepens markets for VLTA and the company funds development in public view. Zcash and Decred also funded development from block rewards, through Zcash's Founders' Reward and Decred's treasury.
VLTA has a hard cap of 100,000,000. Half is created at genesis under published allocations, with founder and company shares in on-chain vesting. The other half is mined over 240 months on a smooth curve.
| Unit | Value |
|---|---|
| Base unit | 10^-18 VLTA, the smallest integer unit |
| Bastion | 10^-6 VLTA = 10^12 base units, a display unit |
| VLTA | 10^18 base units = 1,000,000 Bastion |
| Maximum supply | 100,000,000 VLTA = 10^26 base units |
Eighteen decimals keep MetaMask, ethers, Solidity and existing DeFi code working without changes. Wallets and the explorer can show amounts in VLTA or in Bastion, named after the bastions of Valletta's walls. Every unit also has a serial number (section 10.3).
New VLTA is created only as block subsidies, and each subsidy depends only on the block's height. Monthly emission falls smoothly, halving every four years, instead of dropping in sudden steps:
E(m) = E0 · 2−m/48, m = 0, 1, …, 239, Σm=0…239 E(m) = 50,000,000 VLTA
Computed from the emission formula, 20 years, blocks on target. Years 1 to 4 in aqua.
Emission halves every four years. After month 240 it stops, and miners earn fees only.
An emission month is a fixed number of blocks, so the calendar years above assume blocks arrive on target. Per-block rounding is defined so that the 240 months add up to exactly 50,000,000 VLTA.
| Allocation | VLTA | Share of maximum supply | Control and release |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liquidity fund | 22,500,000 | 22.5% | Its own 3-of-5 multisig, a published usage policy and a monthly release cap |
| Founders and developers | 10,000,000 | 10% | Vesting contract: 12-month cliff, then monthly over 36 months |
| Company | 7,500,000 | 7.5% | Vesting contract: monthly over 48 months |
| Early sale | 7,500,000 | 7.5% | Under the sale agreements, set with legal counsel |
| Research and development | 2,500,000 | 2.5% | 3-of-5 multisig with a published budget |
| Genesis total | 50,000,000 | 50% | |
| Mined over 20 years | 50,000,000 | 50% | 93.5% (46,750,000 VLTA) to miners, 6.5% (3,250,000 VLTA) to the company |
The vesting contracts are deployed in the genesis block, have no admin keys and cannot be changed by anyone, the company included. Every schedule is visible in the explorer.
Anyone can mine Valletta with any software that produces valid RandomX work. There is no device to buy, no licence, no registration and no tier.
The miner of each accepted block receives 93.5% of its subsidy, 60% of its base fees and all of its tips. Over time every miner earns in proportion to its share of the total hashrate. The protocol keeps no pool accounts and gives no one a preferred position.
Valletta will offer official mining software with a dev fee of 1–2% of mining time, an official pool with a fee of 1–3% that supports merged mining, and a premium subscription for fleet management, monitoring and support. These products sit outside consensus. Free open-source miners will exist, and the protocol never favours the official ones.
USVT is a dollar stablecoin on Valletta that starts on Testnet only. It reaches Mainnet only when reserves, an issuer, a custodian, independent attestation and the required licences are in place.
No single key can create USVT. Every mint needs the management wallet as proposer and an independent approver, and both sign EIP-712 typed data that binds the chain, contract, amount, recipient, nonce, expiry and reserve reference.
USVT mint flow: two signatures, one on-chain check.
On Testnet no real dollars move and every token is labelled TEST, but the same two-signature check applies.
The contract checks both signatures on chain and rejects any replayed or expired approval. No upgrade, admin or emergency path can skip the external approver. On Testnet the approver is a person outside the company using a hardware wallet; in production it is a reserve-verifying institution.
Production issuance waits for five things, settled with legal counsel: reserve arrangements, the issuer and custodian, independent attestation, redemption terms and licensing. Wallets and the explorer will show the issuer, network, contract address, mint and burn history, supply and a risk disclosure, and will never imply a guaranteed value from the name alone.
The official Valletta wallet is non-custodial: keys stay on the user's phone or hardware signer and never touch Valletta servers. Your money. Your keys. Your sovereignty.
One BIP-39 recovery phrase derives every account through the standard path of each network, so the phrase can be restored in other standard wallets.
| Network | Derivation path | Standard |
|---|---|---|
| Valletta and Ethereum | m/44'/60'/0'/0/i | BIP-44 |
| Bitcoin | m/84'/0'/0' | BIP-84, native SegWit |
| Solana | m/44'/501'/i'/0' | SLIP-0010, ed25519 |
| TRON | m/44'/195'/0'/0/i | BIP-44 |
Because Valletta uses Ethereum transaction formats with its own chain ID, Ledger and Trezor devices can sign through their Ethereum apps, and the wallet will support them.
Valletta's rules change only when node operators choose to run a new release. The company cannot change consensus rules on its own, the supply cap included.
Every privileged power sits with a separate multisig: 3 of 5 signers, at least 2 of them outside the company, all on hardware wallets, with a 7-day timelock on every on-chain action except pause and freeze.
| Role | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Release signing | Official node releases |
| System contracts admin | USVT roles and other system contracts |
| Company treasury | The 6.5% subsidy share, the 20% base-fee share, the company allocation and revenue from the fast layer, the Launchpad and Harbour |
| Liquidity fund | The 22.5 million VLTA allocation and 20% of base fees, under a published policy and monthly cap |
| Research and development | The 2.5 million VLTA allocation, under a published budget |
| USVT pauser | Emergency pause and freeze of USVT only |
| Checkpoints | Early-period checkpoints, until their end height |
| Recovery | Freezes of stolen VLTA and recovery orders that return it to its owner |
| Fast layer and Launchpad | Upgrades and parameters of the bridge, the fast layer and the Launchpad and Harbour contracts, behind the 7-day timelock |
Emergency powers cover pause and freeze, never rule changes, and each use is explained in public within 24 hours. Balances change only through recovery orders, after the 7-day timelock. A root-of-trust register publishes every role's public keys, custodians, quorum, hardware, rotation plan and compromise response.
Every unit of VLTA has a serial number, so stolen coins can be found, frozen and returned to their owner through a public process with strict limits.
Serial numbers. Every base unit is numbered in the order it is created: genesis allocations first, then each block's subsidy. VLTA and Bastion serial numbers follow from it, giving exactly 100,000,000 VLTA numbers and 100,000,000,000,000 Bastion numbers. An indexer outside consensus tracks each number from address to address, and anyone can rerun it and get identical results.
Recovery. A victim reports the theft within 30 days. The recovery role freezes the stolen amount where it sits, and after public review and a 7-day timelock, one recovery order burns the frozen units and mints the same amount to the victim's new address.
The victim files a claim with evidence.
The stolen amount is frozen where it sits and explained in public within 24 hours.
A public review, with a right of appeal.
The recovery order waits behind a 7-day timelock.
The frozen units are burned and the same amount is minted to the victim's new address.
Recovery never takes coins from people who received them in good faith, such as exchanges, merchants and liquidity pools, and total supply never changes. The recovery role is a 3-of-5 multisig with at least 2 signers outside the company, and recovery works from the day Mainnet launches. It also covers VLTA held on the fast layer.
Valletta is built and tested against a written threat model. Outside security firms review it twice before Mainnet, and a public bug bounty follows.
| Area | Threats tested |
|---|---|
| Consensus | 51% attacks with rented hashrate, selfish mining, eclipse and time-warp attacks, difficulty manipulation, long reorganizations, forged merged-mining proofs, RandomX key manipulation, checkpoint key compromise |
| Supply | Inflation, overflow, rounding, emission and split errors, genesis mismatch, vesting bypass |
| EVM | Nondeterminism, gas and denial-of-service attacks, precompile bugs, RPC conformance |
| USVT | Mint without approval, a compromised wallet or approver, replay, pause bypass, supply mismatch |
| Wallet | Seed theft, malicious tokens, network spoofing, wrong derivation, reorganizations |
| Governance | Timelock bypass, signer compromise, a malicious release |
| Indexer and APIs | Inconsistency after reorganizations, nondeterministic provenance, data exposure, RPC abuse |
| Mining products | Pool centralization, a malicious software update, botnets |
| Recovery | Compromise of the recovery keys, false claims, freezing the wrong holder, evasion through contracts, legal pressure |
| Fast layer | Sequencer failure or censorship, invalid state roots, bridge exploits, main-chain reorganizations, withdrawal delays |
| Launchpad and Harbour | Rug pulls, sniping bots, impersonating tokens, price-curve and pool errors, price manipulation |
The node, SDK, contracts, explorer and wallet are open source at launch, so anyone can review them. The official mining software and pool are commercial products and stay closed.
Valletta keeps its main chain built for security and adds speed one layer up. A rollup on top of the chain, the fast layer, targets confirmations in about 0.2 seconds and fees of a fraction of a cent, and records all its data on Valletta. It launches together with Mainnet, with a Launchpad for new tokens and meme coins and the first Harbour pools.
| Aspect | Main chain | Fast layer |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Store and settle value | Fast trading and apps |
| Blocks | About every 10 to 15 seconds (target) | About every 2 seconds, with preconfirmations in about 0.2 seconds |
| Fees | Base fee and tip, in VLTA | A fraction of a cent, in VLTA (target) |
| Final | After enough proof-of-work blocks | When its batch is final on the main chain |
| Security | Proof of work | The main chain, through the bridge and proofs |
Version 1 already includes what the fast layer needs: room in each block for fast-layer data, priced apart from normal gas; labels that mark blocks safe and finalized at fixed depths; and the bridge contracts that hold fast-layer funds. Fast-layer data pays base fees on the main chain like any other transaction, split 60/20/20.
The main chain's rules, supply and recovery do not change. Funds on the fast layer are held by the bridge contract on the main chain, and recovery also covers VLTA held on the fast layer.
A deep reorganization of the main chain can undo fast-layer blocks that are not yet final, so exchanges wait for main-chain finality before crediting deposits. Withdrawals to the main chain can take several days, depending on the proof system, unless a liquidity provider pays out sooner. The bridge, the fast layer and the Launchpad and Harbour contracts are audited separately before launch.
Products arrive in three steps. Mainnet brings the chain, the wallet, the explorer, developer tools, the fast layer, the Launchpad and Harbour. Phase 2 adds payments, recurring payments, Escrow, AI risk signals and the browser wallet. Phase 3 brings the products that need a licence: Valletta Exchange, Protect and USVT in production.
| Product | What it does | When |
|---|---|---|
| Explorer | Blocks, transactions, addresses, tokens and contracts, plus supply, emission, the company share, vesting schedules, the merged-mining share and USVT mints and burns | Version 1 |
| SDKs | TypeScript (works with ethers and viem) and Rust: transaction building, signing, fees, contract deployment and token issuance | Version 1 |
| Valletta wallet | Non-custodial multi-chain wallet for iOS and Android, and the entry point to Pay, Recurring, Escrow and Protect | Version 1 |
| Fast layer | Confirmations in about 0.2 seconds and fees of a fraction of a cent, on top of the main chain (section 12) | With Mainnet |
| Launchpad | Token and meme-coin launches on the fast layer, with a price curve, safety defaults and verified metadata | With Mainnet |
| Harbour | A decentralized exchange named after Valletta's Grand Harbour. Its first pools run on the fast layer and receive tokens from the Launchpad | With Mainnet, on the fast layer |
| WASM contracts | Contracts in Rust and other languages, in the same state as the EVM | Version 1.1, in phase 2 |
| Browser-extension wallet | The Valletta wallet on desktop | Version 1.1, in phase 2 |
| Valletta Exchange | A centralized exchange, separate from Harbour, with a spot order book, segregated custody, market surveillance and compliance | Phase 3, after licensing |
| Valletta Pay | Payments for businesses: checkout, payment links, QR codes, invoices, refunds and an API, with USVT once it is live | Phase 2, after Mainnet |
| Recurring and Escrow | Recurring: subscriptions whose next payment is locked in advance and can be cancelled before it is due. Escrow: deals between parties who do not trust each other, with deposit, release conditions, disputes and an API | Phase 2, after Mainnet |
| Protect | Cover for supported assets in the official wallet through a licensed insurer, separate from theft recovery | Phase 3, with a licensed insurer |
| AI risk signals | Risk scores for tokens and contracts in the Launchpad, Harbour and the wallet: rule-based checks plus AI signals, each with its reason and a way to appeal. A warning, never a promise | Basic checks with Mainnet, AI signals in phase 2 |
| Developer platform | One SDK and API for the wallet, Pay, Escrow, the Launchpad, Harbour and risk data, with a sandbox and signed webhooks | Phase 2, growing with each product |
The liquidity fund exists to deepen markets for VLTA and for tokens that move from the Launchpad to Harbour. It spends only under a published policy, with a monthly release cap set before Testnet.
Valletta moves through gated phases, and each gate opens on evidence rather than on a date. A phase ends only when its exit criteria are met and published.
Gate: outside architecture review
Gate: audit findings fixed
Gate: each product's own audit
Gate: a licence for each product
Licensed products
The fast layer, the Launchpad and Harbour launch together with Mainnet, and nothing launches before its own audit is complete.
USVT in production, Valletta Exchange and Protect each pass one more gate of their own: the required licence, verified reserves for USVT and a licensed insurer for Protect.
Valletta is an early-stage project. Anyone who holds VLTA, mines it or builds on it should weigh these risks.
| Risk | What could happen |
|---|---|
| Technical | New consensus code and changes to reth may contain bugs that tests and audits miss. Fixes from upstream reth must be tracked and applied. |
| A young network | While hashrate is small, a majority attack is cheaper. Merged mining helps only as far as Monero pools adopt it, and early checkpoints add temporary trust. |
| Mining concentration | A few pools or botnets could control a large share of the hashrate. |
| Supply and price | Half the supply exists at genesis. Mining adds about 16% to the supply in the first year, falling every year after. VLTA may lose some or all of its value. |
| Long-term security | After 20 years miners earn fees only, so the network will need enough real activity to pay for its security. |
| Stablecoin | USVT production depends on licences, banking partners and reserves, and a stablecoin can lose its peg. |
| Regulation | Rules on crypto-assets, stablecoins and exchanges differ by country and keep changing. Products may be delayed, restricted or unavailable in some places. |
| Delivery | Valletta depends on a small core team and outside partners. Delays or the loss of key people could slow the roadmap. |
| Recovery | The recovery role can freeze addresses it links to a theft. A wrong decision could freeze an innocent holder until an appeal succeeds, the recovery keys are a high-value target, and courts or governments may demand freezes. |
| Fast layer and meme coins | At launch the fast layer depends on one operator, and its bridge holds all of its funds. Withdrawals to the main chain can take several days. Meme coins are highly speculative and can lose all their value quickly, and launchpads attract scams and regulators. |
Valletta brings together three things that rarely meet: open proof-of-work security, the Ethereum developer ecosystem and a monetary policy published down to the last unit. Every allocation, vesting schedule and fee share is visible on chain, and no one can change the rules without the network's consent.
The defenders of 1565 did not patch the old walls; they built a new city designed never to fall. Valletta takes the same approach to money: build carefully, prove each step, and open the gates to everyone.
One world on chain. The new era of money.
| Parameter | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Consensus | Proof of work, RandomX | Fixed |
| Merged mining | With Monero | Fixed; proof format set before Testnet |
| Target block time | 10–15 seconds, as short as measured safe | Confirmed by measurement before Testnet |
| Difficulty adjustment | Every block, weighted moving average | Algorithm confirmed in the proof of concept |
| Uncle rewards | Yes, paid out of the block subsidy | Share set in ADR-003 |
| Execution | EVM on reth | Fixed |
| Accounts | Ethereum-style, 20-byte addresses, secp256k1 | Fixed |
| Decimals | 18 | Fixed |
| Display unit | Bastion = 10^-6 VLTA | Fixed |
| Maximum supply | 100,000,000 VLTA | Fixed |
| Genesis supply | 50,000,000 VLTA | Fixed |
| Mining emission | 50,000,000 VLTA over 240 months | Fixed |
| Emission curve | Smooth monthly decay, 48-month half-life | Fixed; blocks per month set before Testnet |
| Block subsidy split | 93.5% miner, 6.5% company | Fixed |
| Base fee split | 60% miner, 20% liquidity fund, 20% company | Fixed |
| Priority tip | 100% miner | Fixed |
| Minimum base fee | Set from test-network data | Before Mainnet |
| Chain ID | Set in the genesis file | Before Testnet |
| USVT decimals | 6 | Fixed |
| Privileged roles | 3-of-5 multisig, at least 2 outside signers, 7-day timelock | Fixed |
| Serial numbers | Every base unit numbered in creation order; VLTA and Bastion numbers derived | Fixed |
| Theft recovery | Claims within 30 days, immediate freeze, burn and reissue after a 7-day timelock, good-faith holders excluded | Active from Mainnet |
| Fast layer | Rollup on the main chain (OP Stack), gas in VLTA | Approved; launches with Mainnet |
| Fast-layer speed | Preconfirmation about 200 ms, block about 2 seconds | Target; confirmed on the fast-layer Testnet |
The first month's emission follows from the sum of a geometric series over 240 months:
E0 = 50,000,000 · (1 − 2−1/48) / (1 − 2−5) ≈ 739,964 VLTA
The emission of year y, for y = 1 to 20, is:
Y(y) = E0 · 2−(y−1)/4 · (1 − 2−1/4) / (1 − 2−1/48)
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Base fee | The part of every transaction fee set by the protocol. On Valletta it is split 60/20/20, not burned. |
| Bastion | Display unit of VLTA: one millionth of a coin. |
| Bonding curve | A price formula in a contract: a new token's price rises as people buy it and falls as they sell. |
| Checkpoint | A signed block hash below which nodes refuse to reorganize. Used only in the early period. |
| Engine API | The interface through which the consensus client drives the execution client. |
| EVM | Ethereum Virtual Machine, which runs smart contracts. |
| Fast layer | Valletta's rollup on top of the main chain, for fast and cheap transactions. |
| Hashrate | The total RandomX work that miners contribute per second. |
| Merged mining | Using one proof of work to secure two chains at once, here Monero and Valletta. |
| Multisig | An account that needs several independent signatures, such as 3 of 5, to act. |
| Preconfirmation | The sequencer's commitment that a transaction is included, given in about 0.2 seconds, before it is final on the main chain. |
| Priority tip | An optional extra fee that goes entirely to the miner. |
| RandomX | The CPU-oriented proof-of-work algorithm of Monero, also used by Valletta. |
| Recovery order | A public on-chain order that burns frozen stolen VLTA and mints the same amount to the victim. |
| Reorganization | A switch to a competing chain that has more accumulated work. |
| reth | An Ethereum execution client written in Rust, the base of Valletta's execution layer. |
| Rollup | A chain that runs transactions on its own and posts their data and results to a main chain, which secures it. |
| Sequencer | The operator that orders fast-layer transactions and gives preconfirmations. |
| Serial number | The number of a unit of VLTA or Bastion, assigned in the order the unit was created. |
| Timelock | A mandatory delay between approving a privileged action and carrying it out. |
| Uncle block | A valid block that lost a race to another block. A later block can reference it, so its miner still earns a share. |
| Vesting | The gradual release of an allocation under a schedule enforced by a contract. |
This whitepaper describes a technology in development and is provided for information only.