Layer 1 blockchain
Ergo ticker ERG
Summary
Proof-of-work chain secured by Autolykos v2, a memory-hard puzzle: miners must find 32 entries of a large table (about 2 GB at launch, growing with height until it is fixed at block 4,198,400) whose hashed sum falls below the target. Blocks target 120 seconds; since the EIP-37 hard fork (2022) difficulty is recalculated every 128 blocks, blending a predictive and a classic estimate and capping each change at 50 percent. Value sits in boxes, an extended form of unspent outputs guarded by ErgoScript. Miners also vote in block headers on network parameters and on soft forks, which need 90 percent support across a long voting window; Sigma 6.0 was adopted this way, and the first block carrying the 6.0 header version was block 1,628,160 on 6 October 2025. 138910143536
Design
- System
- Layer 1 blockchainErgo is a permissionless proof-of-work base layer with its own blocks and fork choice. It is not a sidechain of any other network, and none of its scaling work is live as a separate layer, so the standard base-layer comparisons apply.
- Settlement family
- Its own design
- Scarce resource
- Work (proof of work)
- State model
- UTXO
- Finality
- Probabilistic
- Who makes blocks
- Miners propose blocks by proof of work, usually through pools. Autolykos v1 tried to prevent pooling with non-outsourceable puzzles; the v2 hard fork at block 417,792 removed them after research showed large players could bypass them with smart contracts. The project describes Autolykos as ASIC-resistant, and its whitepaper benchmarks mining on a consumer graphics card; ASIC resistance was not independently verified.
- Fork choice
- Nodes score each header chain by its accumulated difficulty and follow the valid chain with the highest score; the whitepaper calls this the longest chain rule. Confirmations add confidence but no depth is mathematically final. The reference node keeps 200 state versions by default, which its documentation calls the maximum rollback depth; that is a node setting, not a consensus finality rule.
Qualifications
- State model · Partial. Extended unspent outputs (boxes) carry registers of typed data, up to 255 tokens and a guarding script, and can be read by other transactions without being spent. It is an extended unspent-output model, not an account model.
- Settlement family · Partial. Ergo is an independent proof-of-work network with its own code base, scripting language (ErgoScript), mining puzzle (Autolykos) and extended output model (boxes), so its settlement family is recorded as other.
- Tps · Unknown. The only published figure found is an estimate without method for an older node version; no measured transaction rate was found.
Tradeoffs
- Emphasizes
- Decentralization and Security
- Gives up
- Base-layer throughput and fast settlement: blocks target two minutes and can take several, confirmations add only probabilistic confidence, and faster inclusion feedback (input blocks) is still on a developer test network. Security also rests on the size of its GPU mining base, which the project's own FAQ says could in principle be matched by rented or purpose-built GPU capacity for a majority attack.How decentralized Ergo is in practice depends on mining-pool concentration and how many people run nodes; neither was measured for this review. ASIC resistance is a stated design goal, not a guarantee.
- Full node at home
- Practical at home 67The node guide lists about 20 GB of storage and about 8 GB of RAM for the initial sync (4 to 6 GB for the Java node process, with a fast SSD recommended) and documents a Raspberry Pi setup. Pruned and digest modes can start from a UTXO snapshot or NiPoPoW proof and need only a few GB. Another docs page describes a full archival node as needing hundreds of GB, so the 20 GB figure may be out of date.
- Throughput claims
- Unclassified: 47.5 tx/s 11Unclassified; do not compare.Stated for the version 5 reference node; no measurement window is given.The FAQ calls this an estimated minimum and gives no method, hardware, bandwidth or measurement window. It predates the current 6.x node line, and the same FAQ says transactions per second is not a useful metric. Ignores propagation, state growth and spam load; not comparable with other chains' figures.
Scaling layers
- Sigma Chains (planned sidechains sharing Ergo's contract layer) · Sidechain, research 1013
A design program for chains that reuse ErgoScript and either merge-mine with Ergo or run their own proof of work, with pegs enforced by Ergo contracts that read sidechain data or headers. The docs give a staged plan (Sigma 6.0, then node changes, then a first chain). No Sigma Chain was found on mainnet; each peg would be only as secure as that chain's own mining power.
Capabilities
| Capability | How it is provided | Notes and sources |
|---|---|---|
| Account abstraction | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Atomic swaps | Built into the protocolLimited scope | Protocol, limited to the same chain: one Ergo transaction can spend boxes from several parties so that both legs settle together or not at all, and consensus enforces both ERG and the tokens boxes carry; the ErgoScript paper gives a single-chain exchange example. Across chains, ErgoScript can require a hash preimage and a height deadline and the paper gives a cross-chain swap example, but no widely used cross-chain swap service was reviewed. 215 |
| Authenticated data publication | Not present | None under the current definition's question: the nearest features do not qualify. Authenticated AVL-tree digests that contracts can verify, used by the Plasma library, are building blocks rather than a way for publishers to make data retrievable against a chain-recorded commitment, and on-chain oracle feeds are data held in chain state, which does not count. No other publication mechanism was found. 17 |
| Light clients | Built into the protocolLimited scope | Protocol, limited: blocks carry NiPoPoW links, so the reference node can bootstrap from a succinct proof of the chain, and a digest mode keeps only an authenticated state root while still validating blocks with the proofs they carry. The limit: no finished NiPoPoW-based light wallet was found. 56 |
| Native staking or delegation | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| On-chain governance | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Parallel execution | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Payment or state channels | Unknown | The earlier note said absence was not verified, so the rule that absence needs a source makes this unknown. Earlier finding: the official layer-2 page lists payment channels and state channels as possible or emerging, and no deployed channel network on Ergo was found. 12 |
| Programmable spending | Native (protocol or core-team software) Earlier definition | Every box is guarded by an ErgoScript contract that can combine signature proofs (including threshold and ring signatures) with conditions on height, inputs, outputs and registers, and can read other boxes as data inputs. Sigma 6.0 added new types, serialization and header proof-of-work checks. It remains an output model, not an account virtual machine. 2410 |
| Protocol-verified messaging | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Reversible transfers or recovery | Unknown | Not yet assessed under the current definitions; Ergo's docs describe a reversible address, a contract pattern in which withdrawals from a hot wallet land in boxes that a trusted offline key can divert during a delay window, after which only the recipient can spend. It is a documented pattern, not an audited wallet product, and no cited source shows an implementation live on mainnet. Storage rent, a fee miners may charge on boxes left unspent for four years, does not reverse payments. 116 |
| Rollups | Unknown | The earlier note said absence was not verified, so the rule that absence needs a source makes this unknown. Earlier finding: the official layer-2 page says optimistic and zero-knowledge rollups are being explored, and no rollup anchored to Ergo was found. 12 |
| Shielded transfers | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Signed partial offers | Unknown | Not yet assessed under this row's current definition. |
Reading these values
- How this feature is provided
- Built into the protocol, core-team software or independent software says where a feature lives and who can change it. These are implementation layers, not quality: core-team software is not closer to the protocol than independent software.
- Structured assessment pending
- The shared review has not assessed this feature for any chain yet (Account abstraction, Native staking or delegation, On-chain governance, Parallel execution, Protocol-verified messaging and Shielded transfers). That does not mean it is absent, and a chain’s profile may already describe it.
- Unknown
- The review has not established this for this chain under the current definition; the note beside it says why. Unknown is not absent and not a low score. A feature reads “Not present” only when a source shows it is absent.
- Earlier definition
- Payment or state channels, Programmable spending and Rollups keep the earlier definition until the next fact-check. There, “Native” does not separate the protocol from core-team software, “Ecosystem software” does not say who publishes it, and “Partial” does not say which layer.
- Reading across rows
- The list of capabilities is incomplete. Do not read these rows as a chain leading or lagging overall.
Ecosystem & custody
| Product type | Status | Notes and sources |
|---|---|---|
| Automated market makers | ThinMew Finance DEX | Ergo's docs list Mew Finance for swaps and liquidity provision. Spectrum Finance, historically the main Ergo AMM, is winding down: Spectrum Labs announced on 7 August 2025 that it is closing the project and stopping all work, although Ergo's DEX page still lists it as live. The Dexy stablecoins also run their own liquidity pools against ERG. Liquidity depth was not measured. 182037 |
| Issuer-native stablecoins | None found | Circle's USDC address list and Tether's supported-protocols page do not list Ergo, so no issuer-backed fiat stablecoin is issued natively. Ergo's own stablecoins are reserve-backed contract protocols and are recorded in the algorithmic row. Stablecoins bridged in through Rosen were not reviewed. 2324 |
| Algorithmic stablecoins | ThinSigmaUSD (SigUSD), USE, DexyGold | Ergo's own reserve-backed contract stablecoins. SigmaUSD follows the AgeUSD design: ERG in a contract backs SigUSD within a 4:1 to 8:1 reserve band priced by an ERG/USD oracle pool, and actions lock instead of liquidating. USE (dollar) and DexyGold (gold) use the Dexy design: a bank contract mints against ERG at the oracle price and a pool supports the peg; USE starts under a 3-of-5 multisig. DefiLlama counted about 0.16 million SigUSD and 0.14 million USE in circulation on 27 September 2026; DexyGold is not tracked there and reserves were not checked. 1920212238 |
| Bridges | Established in the ecosystemRosen Bridge | Rosen connects Ergo with Cardano, Bitcoin (including Runes tokens), Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain and Dogecoin according to Ergo's docs and news. Firo announced on 15 September 2026 that FIRO is live on Rosen as rsFIRO, reaching Ergo, Ethereum and BNB Chain; Ergo's own docs had not yet been updated to list that route. Bridged assets appear on Ergo as wrapped tokens, and ERG appears on other chains as rsERG. Risk: Rosen is a federated bridge: a fixed guard set (ten members per Firo's announcement) of named ecosystem projects and Rosen core operators controls multisig or threshold wallets on the other chains, so enough colluding or compromised guards could move locked funds; watchers hold no keys and only report events. Rosen's own docs say it is not trustless like a peg checked by light clients, and large transfers can wait hours to days for manual cold-wallet moves. 222526272839 |
| Block explorers | Established in the ecosystemErgo Explorer (explorer.ergoplatform.com), ergexplorer.com, sigmaspace.io, ErgoScan (beta) | Ergo's docs list these public explorers; the official explorer's backend code is public on GitHub and an indexed node can serve similar data. Explorer views are provider data, not independent validation, and the docs record a November 2025 incident that moved explorer traffic to a fallback pool. 2940 |
| Hardware wallets | ThinLedger (through Nautilus) | See the custody section: Ledger devices sign Ergo transactions through the Ergo project's own device app and the Nautilus wallet, while Trezor says it does not support Ergo. 303134 |
Hardware-wallet custody
| Device maker | Status | What users can and cannot do |
|---|---|---|
| Ledger | Through an intermediaryNautilus Wallet (third-party browser wallet) with the Ergo project's device appSame as native: No | Can: Install the Ergo app on a Ledger Nano S Plus, Nano X, Stax or Flex; Ergo Platform's April 2025 announcement says it can be installed from the Ledger Live app catalog without developer mode after a third-party audit Can: Review and sign ERG and token transactions on the device while using Nautilus for accounts and dApps Cannot: Rely on a Ledger-published Ergo page: none was found on ledger.com (the expected coin page returned not found) Cannot: Manage ERG accounts inside Ledger's own app: no reviewed source says Ledger Live shows ERG balances or builds Ergo transactions Cannot: Put many distinct tokens in one transaction: the app's developers report device memory keeps the per-transaction token limit near its current levelThe device app is maintained in the Ergo project's repository rather than as an account integration inside Ledger Live. One Ergo docs page still describes Nautilus Ledger use as developer mode, which conflicts with the April 2025 announcement. 30313233 |
| Trezor | None foundSame as native: No | Cannot: Use a Trezor device for ERG: Trezor states it does not currently support Ergo 34 |
Public data
iKnow Blockchain has no public-data lookups for Ergo yet. This is a limit of the service, not a statement about the network.
| Lookup | Status | What it covers and its limits |
|---|---|---|
| Address or account | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
| Tokens and assets | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
| NFTs | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
| Transactions | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
Sourced developments
Developments: Review overdue Reviewed Sep 27, 2026; next review was due Oct 7, 2026, 12:00 UTC.
Publication date · newest first
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Ergo reference node 6.0.6 released
The Ergo reference client 6.0.6 fixes NiPoPoW and UTXO-snapshot bootstrapping, digest-state recovery and retries of cached block sections, requires wallet-owned change addresses, and refines mempool and mining-candidate handling. A RocksDB build, 6.1.6, was published as a prerelease the same day.
- Implementation:Released
- Release:6.0.6 published 2026-09-21; the RocksDB build 6.1.6 was published as a prerelease the same day
- Activation:not a consensus change
Sources: Ergo Platform (GitHub) — Ergo protocol reference client 6.0.6 (external site) · Ergo Platform (GitHub) — Ergo protocol reference client 6.1.6 (external site) · ErgoDocs (Ergo Platform) — The Ergo Reference Client (Node) (external site)
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Firo announces FIRO live on Rosen Bridge as rsFIRO
Firo announced that FIRO is live on Rosen Bridge. Bridged FIRO appears as rsFIRO on Ergo, Ethereum and BNB Chain, with trading pools on Mew Finance (Ergo), Uniswap and PancakeSwap. Rosen coordinates the transfers through Ergo, and Firo gives the current guard set as ten.
- Implementation:Firo support in released Rosen watcher and guard software
- Release:announced live 2026-09-15
- Activation:reported by Firo; not independently tested
Sources: Firo — FIRO goes multichain: rsFIRO is live on Rosen Bridge (external site) · ErgoDocs (Ergo Platform) — Rosen Bridge (external site) · ErgoDocs (Ergo Platform) — Rosen Bridge security model (external site)
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Ergo reference node 6.0.5 released, with a RocksDB prerelease 6.1.5
The Ergo reference client 6.0.5 checks NiPoPoW proof parameters and the proof of work in proof headers, rejects invalid NiPoPoW parameters from inbound peers, caps outbound buffering per peer and closes all live connections from blacklisted IP addresses. It also fixes fee-estimation bounds and a wallet case where a burn request placed before a token issuance made transaction building fail, and lets the extra indexer resume catch-up without a full reindex. 6.1.5, published as a prerelease the same day, is the same code on a RocksDB database backend.
- Implementation:Released
- Release:6.0.5 published 2026-09-01; the RocksDB build 6.1.5 was published as a prerelease the same day; superseded by 6.0.6 on 2026-09-21
- Activation:not a consensus change; applies to each node once installed
Sources: Ergo Platform (GitHub) — Ergo protocol reference client 6.0.5 (external site) · Ergo Platform (GitHub) — Ergo protocol reference client 6.1.5 (external site) · ErgoDocs (Ergo Platform) — Non-interactive Proof-of-Proof-of-Work (NIPoPoWs) (external site)
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Block reward reaches the 3 ERG floor
Ergo's miner reward fell from 6 to 3 ERG per block at block 1,756,800 on 4 April 2026, the last scheduled quarterly step. Under the EIP-27 soft fork, the reward is designed to stay at 3 ERG per block until the re-emission contract runs out, which the docs estimate at roughly 2045.
- Proposal:part of the original schedule as amended by EIP-27
- Implementation:built into consensus rules
- Release:no release needed
- Activation:active from block 1,756,800 (4 April 2026) per explorer data
Sources: Ergo Platform (explorer API) — Ergo Explorer API: blocks 1,756,799 to 1,756,801 (external site) · Ergo Platform — Ergo Platform news (external site) · ErgoDocs (Ergo Platform) — Ergo Emission Schedule (external site) · ErgoDocs (Ergo Platform) — EIP27: Emission Retargeting Soft-Fork (external site)
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Scheduled block reward step to 6 ERG
Ergo Platform announced that the block reward fell from 9 to 6 ERG per block on 3 January 2026, part of the scheduled quarterly 3 ERG steps; explorer data shows the change at block 1,692,000. The announcement said a final step to a 3 ERG floor would follow in April 2026, and that step is recorded separately.
- Proposal:part of the original schedule as amended by EIP-27
- Implementation:built into consensus rules
- Release:no release needed
- Activation:active from block 1,692,000 per explorer data; superseded at block 1,756,800
Sources: Ergo Platform — Ergo Platform news (external site) · Ergo Platform (explorer API) — Ergo Explorer API: blocks 1,691,999 to 1,692,001 (external site) · ErgoDocs (Ergo Platform) — Ergo Emission Schedule (external site) · ErgoDocs (Ergo Platform) — EIP27: Emission Retargeting Soft-Fork (external site)
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Rosen Bridge support for Bitcoin Runes announced live
Ergo Platform announced that Rosen Bridge launched Bitcoin Runes support on mainnet, letting Runes tokens issued on Bitcoin move to Ergo and on to other chains Rosen connects, such as Cardano.
- Implementation:Runes support included in Rosen service releases
- Release:announced live on mainnet 2025-11-26
- Activation:reported by Ergo Platform; not independently tested
Sources: Ergo Platform — Ergo Platform news (external site) · ErgoDocs (Ergo Platform) — Rosen Bridge (external site)
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USE dollar stablecoin launch event announced
Ergo Platform announced a community liquidity event starting 25 November 2025 for USE, a dollar stablecoin built on the Dexy design. Contributors' ERG was to seed a USE/ERG pool whose LP tokens are locked for two years, and parameters start under a 3-of-5 multisig committee.
- Proposal:design documented in Ergo's docs
- Implementation:contracts deployed per later docs notes (not independently checked)
- Release:liquidity event scheduled 2025-11-25 to 2025-12-01
- Activation:later docs record minting activity; launch date not confirmed
Sources: Ergo Platform — Ecosystem Spotlight: USE, a Universal Stablecoin for Ergo (external site) · ErgoDocs (Ergo Platform) — USE (USD stablecoin) (external site) · ErgoDocs (Ergo Platform) — Dexy: A Seigniorage-Based Stablecoin (external site)
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Sigma 6.0 scripting upgrade activates on mainnet
Sigma 6.0 (EIP-50), a soft fork that extends ErgoScript, activated after miner voting. The first block carrying the 6.0 header version was block 1,628,160 on 6 October 2025. It adds an unsigned 256-bit integer type, serialization for all types, more numeric and collection methods, and methods for checking proof of work for custom Autolykos variants.
- Proposal:EIP-50
- Implementation:shipped in the 6.0 line of the reference node
- Release:6.0 node releases; 6.0.6 is the current stable release
- Activation:active from block 1,628,160 (6 October 2025) per explorer data and node source
Sources: ErgoDocs (Ergo Platform) — Sigma 6.0 Documentation Summary (external site) · Ergo Platform (GitHub) — Ergo reference node Header.scala (block header versions) (external site) · Ergo Platform (explorer API) — Ergo Explorer API: blocks 1,628,159 to 1,628,161 (external site) · ErgoDocs (Ergo Platform) — Ergo Explorer (external site) · ErgoDocs (Ergo Platform) — Sigma Chains (external site)
Topics your AI can explain
Your AI can explain these topics for Ergo through the connection, with sources.
Known gaps
What this profile's review did not establish:
- Mining-pool concentration and current hashrate were not reviewed, so the practical cost of a majority attack is not estimated here.
- Whether specialised mining hardware now exists for Autolykos v2 was not verified; ASIC resistance is the project's stated aim.
- The Sigma 6.0 activation height (block 1,628,160, 6 October 2025) rests on the first block with the 6.0 header version in explorer data; no official announcement naming that block was found.
- One docs page gives about 20 GB for the blockchain and another says an archival node needs hundreds of GB; the current archival size is unknown.
- How a node behaves when a competing chain forks deeper than its default 200-version rollback window was not verified.
- Input blocks (sub-blocks) are being tested on a developer network; no mainnet activation plan or date was found.
- No deployed payment channel, state channel or rollup on Ergo was found; the official layer-2 page describes these as possible or being explored. Absence was not exhaustively verified.
- Stablecoin supply figures come from DefiLlama's tracker, which omits DexyGold; reserve ratios and liquidity were not measured, and USE's exact mainnet launch date was not confirmed.
- Stablecoins bridged to Ergo through Rosen, and Rosen's per-route token list, were not reviewed.
- The Firo route on Rosen rests on Firo's 15 September 2026 announcement and was not tested; Handshake and Base routes appear only as in-progress work in Ergo's docs.
- Ledger's own site has no Ergo page; the Ledger Live app-catalog listing rests on Ergo Platform's April 2025 announcement.
- sigmaspace.io refused automated access, so it is named from Ergo's docs only.
- The only throughput figure found is an estimate without method for an older node version.
- Spectrum Labs' sunset notice does not say whether its Ergo pools and interface keep working after closure, and Ergo's DEX page still lists Spectrum as live; which Ergo AMM pools remain usable was not tested.
Sources
Oldest dated source check: Source checked Sep 27, 2026 Next check due Oct 27, 2026.
- Ergo: A Resilient Platform For Contractual Money (whitepaper) (external site)
- ErgoScript: A Cryptocurrency Scripting Language Supporting Noninteractive Zero-Knowledge Proofs (external site)
- Autolykos (external site)
- Extending the Power of the UTXO Model (external site)
- Non-interactive Proof-of-Proof-of-Work (NIPoPoWs) (external site)
- Node Modes of Operation (external site)
- The Ergo Reference Client (Node) (external site)
- Node configuration: node settings (external site)
- Ergo reference node HeadersProcessor.scala (header chain scoring) (external site)
- Sigma 6.0 Documentation Summary (external site)
- Ergo FAQ (external site)
- Layer 2: Off-Chain (external site)
- Sigma Chains (external site)
- EIP-37: Tweaking Difficulty Adjustment Algorithm (external site)
- Atomic Swaps (external site)
- Reversible address (external site)
- Plasma (GetBlok Plasma library for AVL trees) (external site)
- Decentralised exchanges on Ergo (external site)
- SigmaUSD (external site)
- Dexy: A Seigniorage-Based Stablecoin (external site)
- USE (USD stablecoin) (external site)
- Ecosystem Spotlight: USE, a Universal Stablecoin for Ergo (external site)
- USDC contract addresses (external site)
- Supported protocols (external site)
- Rosen Bridge (external site)
- Rosen Bridge security model (external site)
- Rosen Bridge (external site)
- Ergo Platform news (external site)
- Ergo Explorer (external site)
- Ergo Wallet Update: Ergo Fully Integrated with Ledger (external site)
- Ledger Ergo Application (external site)
- Ledger (wallet developer notes) (external site)
- Nautilus Wallet (external site)
- Ergo on Trezor (external site)
- Ergo reference node Header.scala (block versions; version 4 is the 6.0 soft fork) (external site)
- Ergo Explorer API: blocks 1,628,159 to 1,628,161 (header version changes from 3 to 4) (external site)
- Spectrum Finance Sunset Notice (7 August 2025) (external site)
- DefiLlama stablecoins API (per-chain circulating supply) (external site)
- FIRO goes multichain: rsFIRO is live on Rosen Bridge (15 September 2026) (external site)
- Ergo Blockchain Explorer backend (external site)
Report an error
Found something wrong or out of date? Reporting is free, and every chain goes through the same process. Published corrections appear in the public log.
Funding disclosure
Funding disclosures appear here when an upkeep arrangement exists, in the form “Upkeep funded by [name]; verdicts unaffected.” The funder ledger has not been published yet. Neutrality & funding