Layer 1 blockchain
XDC Network ticker XDC
Summary
XDC Network runs XinFin Delegated Proof of Stake 2.0 (XDPoS 2.0, branded XDC 2.0), a HotStuff-derived BFT protocol live on mainnet since block 80,370,000, which the client code dates to a 2 October 2024 target. Candidate owners who registered KYC lock at least 10 million XDC per candidate in a validator contract, and other holders can add stake by voting. At each epoch of 900 rounds the 108 candidates with the most stake, minus penalised ones, become masternodes. They take turns proposing blocks about every 2 seconds; each block carries a quorum certificate for its parent signed by at least two-thirds of masternodes, counted per node, and a block is committed once blocks from the next two consecutive rounds build on it. Each epoch mints 5,000 XDC, paid 90% to owners of signing masternodes and 10% to a foundation wallet; fees go to the producing candidate's owner. 410141819202127
Design
- System
- Layer 1 blockchainXDC Network (chain ID 50, genesis 31 May 2019) is an independent chain run by up to 108 masternodes and does not settle to another chain. Its reference client, XDPoSChain, is a go-ethereum fork that runs the EVM. A validator candidate needs a 10 million XDC deposit and an owner who uploaded a KYC document hash, so block production is identity-gated while use, full nodes and reads are open. No vote, foundation approval or invitation admits a candidate, and the 108 seats go to the highest-staked candidates without penalties, so the layer-1 class is kept rather than the permissioned class.
- Settlement family
- Ethereum / EVM
- Scarce resource
- Stake (proof of stake)
- State model
- Accounts
- Finality
- Other
- Who makes blocks
- The round leader is the masternode at position (round modulo epoch length) modulo committee size in the epoch's list, a fixed rotation. A masternode that produced no block in an epoch is left out of later committees and earns no reward until it resumes signing, but keeps its stake. An owner's candidates and stake are forfeited only if at least 75% of candidate owners vote its KYC invalid. The operators behind the current 108 were not verified; XDC's subnet page lists organizations in its ecosystem without saying which run masternodes.
- Fork choice
- No open weight-based chain selection. Every block adds difficulty 1, a proposer must build on the highest quorum certificate it holds, and nodes refuse to reorganize the chain below the highest committed block. If a round stalls, masternodes sign timeouts and a certificate from two-thirds of them moves the chain to the next round. XDC says finalized blocks cannot fork while adversarial masternodes stay under one-third of an epoch's committee; a forensic monitor records conflicting certificates as evidence, with no automatic stake penalty found.
Qualifications
- System class · Contested. Classed here as a base-layer blockchain because anyone can use the chain and any owner who deposits 10 million XDC and uploads a KYC document hash can propose a candidate without an approving vote, invitation or sign-off; the 108 seats then go to the highest-staked candidates. Block production is still identity-gated, and owners holding at least 75% can vote a KYC invalid and remove that owner's candidates, so a reviewer could reasonably class it as permissioned.
- Finality · Partial. Recorded as other. XDC Network's own terms: XDC 2.0 (XDPoS 2.0) finality. A block is committed once blocks from the next two consecutive rounds carry quorum certificates signed by at least two-thirds of the epoch's masternodes; XDC's tech-spec page says transactions are final about six seconds after inclusion. Conflicting certificates are recorded as forensic evidence, and the reviewed code penalises masternodes only for missed block production, without taking stake.
- Fee burn · Contested. XDPoSChain v2.6.8 switched on the EIP-1559 transaction format at block 98,800,200 (30 January 2026). The mainnet client (v2.7.1 and main branch) sets a constant 12.5 gwei base fee and credits the whole fee, base fee included, to the owner of the producing masternode; Nethermind's separate XDC implementation describes the same rule. A January 2026 post on XDC's developer forum says the base fee adjusts automatically and is burned, and XDCScan's block pages show a burnt-fees figure computed from the base fee; no burn was found in the reviewed code, which credits that amount to the owner.
- Slashing · Partial. XDC's docs call their penalty slashing: a masternode that signs no block in an epoch is excluded from block production for later epochs (XDC's slashing page says four; the reviewed code lets it return once it signs again) and earns no reward while excluded, but keeps its stake. The only path in the reviewed code that takes stake is the vote by at least 75% of candidate owners that an owner's KYC is invalid, which forfeits all of that owner's candidates.
- Validator admission · Partial. Proposing a candidate needs a KYC entry for the owner in the validator contract. The contract stores a document hash that the owner uploads; it does not check identity itself, no approver signs off in the contract, and enforcement rests on other owners voting a KYC invalid. Holding XDC, sending transactions and running a non-staking node need no KYC.
- Address denylist · Applies. Since block 38,383,838 the reference client treats a block as invalid if it contains a transaction sent from or to one of 61 addresses in a list compiled into the node software; Nethermind's XDC module enforces a configured list the same way. Changing the list needs a client release. The reasons for the listed addresses were not reviewed.
- Address format · Applies. An XDC address is a 20-byte value derived from a secp256k1 public key. XDC's glossary shows it in two interchangeable display forms, with a 0x prefix or with an xdc prefix; wallets, explorers and APIs may show either, and both refer to the same account.
Tradeoffs
- Emphasizes
- Scalability
- Gives up
- Open block production and protocol-level censorship resistance. At most 108 masternodes, each backed by a 10 million XDC deposit and an owner who registered KYC, produce and certify every block, and XDC's own consensus page lists centralization risk if masternodes collude. Since block 38,383,838 the client also rejects any block holding a transaction from or to one of 61 addresses hard-coded in the node software. Masternodes holding more than one-third of committee seats can stall finality by not voting.XDC presents speed, low fees and certificate-based finality with forensic evidence as its aims. Readers who count that finality as a security emphasis may reasonably add it; this profile does not, because equivocation is recorded as evidence but not penalised by stake loss in the reviewed code, and validator admission depends on KYC and a large deposit.
- Full node at home
- Demanding 14XDC's masternode guide recommends a 6-core CPU, at least 16 GB of RAM, a 1 TB SSD or NVMe drive and a 1 Gbps connection up and down on Ubuntu, with a public IP address and no NAT; its architecture page gives lower figures (500 GB SSD, 100 Mbps). A node that only serves reads needs no stake, but no separate hardware figures are published for it. The guide offers full and archive snapshots from rpc.xdc.network, refreshed about every 20 days, which a new node trusts in place of replaying history.
- Throughput claims
- Theoretical peak: 2,000 tx/s 1Theoretical peak; not comparable across chains or with observed load.Stated as '2,000+ TPS' in XDC's documentation.XDC's documentation states 2,000 or more transactions per second with no published method, workload, measurement window or hardware. The same page lists a 420,000,000 block gas limit and roughly 2-second blocks; no measured sustained rate at the stated level was found. XDCScan's homepage shows a live transactions-per-second figure without stating its averaging window or whether masternode signing transactions are counted, so it was not classified here. A design claim, not observed load, and not comparable across chains.
Scaling layers
- XDC Subnets (permissioned chains with optional mainnet checkpoints) · Sidechain, status unknown 110111213
Each subnet runs the XDC 2.0 engine with its own permissioned validators. When a subnet uses the optional checkpointing, a relayer submits its headers to a mainnet checkpoint contract that checks two-thirds of the subnet's own validators signed them; mainnet does not re-execute subnet transactions, and subnet data stays private. XDC's docs call subnets a layer 2; they are recorded as sidechains because subnet validators secure them. Subswap moves tokens by lock-and-mint and back by burn-and-unlock, over XDC Zero relayers and oracles. Which subnets checkpoint to mainnet was not verified.
Capabilities
| Capability | How it is provided | Notes and sources |
|---|---|---|
| Account abstraction | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Atomic swaps | Unknown | No hash-time-locked or other trust-minimized swap mechanism deployed on XDC mainnet was reviewed. The EVM could host one, but none was assessed. |
| Authenticated data publication | Unknown | Not assessed. XDC Subnets checkpoint their block headers to a mainnet contract that checks subnet validator signatures, so a header commitment is recorded, but subnet data is private to its operators by design and retrieval by others was not assessed. No public data-publication service with discoverable updates was reviewed. 1011 |
| Light clients | Built into the protocolLimited scope | Quorum certificates: consensus produces what a light client checks, since each block carries a certificate signed by at least two-thirds of the epoch's masternodes, and XDC's checkpoint contract verifies subnet headers on mainnet against such certificates. Limited: no light client that verifies XDC mainnet for wallets was found; the v2.6.8 reference client removed its light-mode flag, and new nodes start from full or archive snapshots. 411192527 |
| 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 | No payment or state channel layer anchored to XDC was reviewed. |
| Programmable spending | Native (protocol or core-team software) Earlier definition | XDC's reference client is a go-ethereum fork that runs the EVM, so spend conditions are written as smart contracts; the mainnet client configuration switches on the Cancun instruction set at block 98,802,000 (30 January 2026), 1,800 blocks after EIP-1559 transactions began, although the v2.6.8 release notes name block 98,800,200 for both. 1161825 |
| Protocol-verified messaging | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Reversible transfers or recovery | Unknown | Not yet assessed under this row's current definition. |
| Rollups | Unknown | No rollup anchored to XDC mainnet was found. The v2.6.8 release adds blob-hash and KZG groundwork that XDC's developer forum links to future layer-2 work, and XDC Subnets are recorded as sidechains. 102530 |
| 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 | ThinXSwap (V2 and V3), Fathom AMM, Globiance DEX | XSwap describes itself as an automated market maker and launchpad built on XDC and lists CertiK and Techrate audits. DeFiLlama lists XSwap V2 and V3, Fathom AMM and Globiance on XDC, plus XDC deployments of several multichain exchanges. DeFiLlama's reading showed small pool balances; operators, audits and liquidity depth were not independently reviewed. 3536 |
| Issuer-native stablecoins | Established in the ecosystemUSDC (Circle) | Circle's USDC contract list includes XDC mainnet (0xfA2958CB79b0491CC627c1557F441eF849Ca8eb1), and the XDC Foundation announced USDC and CCTP V2 live on mainnet on 17 September 2025; here native means issued by Circle on XDC, not a protocol asset. Tether's supported-protocol list does not include XDC. 153133 |
| Algorithmic stablecoins | Unknown | Algorithmic or hybrid stablecoins on XDC were not reviewed. DeFiLlama lists Fathom CDP, a collateralized debt protocol on XDC; its stablecoin was not assessed. 35 |
| Bridges | Established in the ecosystemCircle CCTP V2 (USDC), LayerZero V2 endpoint, Wanchain bridge, Enosys bridge, Subswap over XDC Zero (subnets only) | Circle lists XDC as a CCTP source and destination for burn-and-mint USDC transfers. LayerZero's deployment metadata lists an active XDC mainnet endpoint, and DeFiLlama lists Wanchain's bridge and the Enosys bridge on XDC. XDC's own Subswap contracts move tokens only between mainnet and subnets. No XDC-run bridge to other public chains was verified. Risk: Each route has its own trust model: CCTP depends on Circle's attestation service, LayerZero on the verifiers an application configures, and lock-and-mint bridges on their signers or relayers. Subswap relies on XDC Zero relayers and oracles and on the subnet's validators. None of these routes was audited in this review; a wrapped asset is only as sound as the bridge that minted it. 13323435 |
| Block explorers | First-partyXDCScan, BlocksScan (xdc.blocksscan.io) | XDC's docs list XDCScan and BlocksScan. XDCScan's footer reads "Powered by XDC Network" and says it is built by Team Etherscan, so it is recorded as the network's own explorer built by a contractor; BlocksScan renders in the browser, and neither its operator nor its data was checked. Explorer data is provider-indexed, not canonical consensus. 128 |
| Hardware wallets | ThinLedger (through third-party wallets), Trezor (through MetaMask or Rabby) | See custody rows: both vendors' own XDC pages route XDC through third-party wallet apps, and Ledger's published Ledger Wallet currency list has no XDC entry. 373840 |
Hardware-wallet custody
| Device maker | Status | What users can and cannot do |
|---|---|---|
| Ledger | Through an intermediaryThird-party wallets named by Ledger (MyEtherWallet, MyCrypto, Guarda, Math Wallet)Same as native: Unknown | Can: Sign XDC transactions with a Ledger device through a compatible third-party wallet, per Ledger's XDC Network page Can: Log in to XDC's masternode staking site with a Ledger, which XDC's masternode guide lists among its login options Cannot: Find XDC in Ledger's published Ledger Wallet currency list (@ledgerhq/cryptoassets 13.56.0)Ledger's Ethereum app source includes a build configuration for a device app named XDC Network (chain ID 50, derivation coin type 550). Ledger's XDC page was last modified in December 2023 and sits at an address ending in xdce-crowd-sale; whether the XDC Network app is offered for every current device was not verified. 4373839 |
| Trezor | Through an intermediaryMetaMask or Rabby (named on Trezor's XDC Network page)Same as native: Unknown | Can: Connect a Trezor to MetaMask or Rabby and confirm XDC transactions on the device, per Trezor's XDC Network page Can: Log in to XDC's masternode staking site with a Trezor, which XDC's masternode guide lists Cannot: Use Trezor Suite for XDC: Trezor's XDC Network page labels its wallet screenshot as not supported in the Trezor Suite app and names only MetaMask and RabbyTrezor's XDC page lists the Safe 3, Safe 5 and Safe 7 and has no readable modification date. Older Trezor models and contract signing through MetaMask or Rabby were not tested. 440 |
Public data
iKnow Blockchain has no public-data lookups for XDC Network 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: Reviewed Sep 29, 2026 Next review due Oct 9, 2026, 12:00 UTC.
Publication date · newest first
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Testnet-only client builds carry reward, penalty and gas-price changes not yet scheduled on mainnet
XinFinOrg published v2.8.2-testnet on 2 July 2026 and v2.9.1-testnet on 29 September 2026, both marked not for mainnet. From block 83,600,000 on the Apothem testnet they switch on Reward 2.0 (fixed rewards per node), a revised consensus penalty (Consensus Penalty V2) and a dynamic gas limit, and v2.9.1-testnet adds a gas tier that its code prices at 2,500 times the original 0.25 gwei floor. v2.9.1-testnet says the Prague and Osaka changes it implements are not scheduled. A community guide on XDC's forum says mainnet rollout is planned for October after an audit.
- Proposal:reward upgrade proposed on XDC's developer forum in April 2025
- Implementation:implemented in testnet-only builds v2.8.2-testnet and v2.9.1-testnet
- Release:testnet only; release notes say not to deploy to mainnet
- Activation:active on Apothem after block 83,600,000; no mainnet activation block at review
Sources: XinFinOrg (GitHub) — XDPoSChain v2.8.2-testnet release notes (external site) · XinFinOrg (GitHub) — XDPoSChain v2.9.1-testnet release notes (external site) · Developers Forum for XinFin XDC Network — Proposal: XDC Network Reward Mechanism Upgrade (external site) · Developers Forum for XinFin XDC Network — XDC Masternode, Protector & Observer Nodes Explained (external site) · XinFinOrg (GitHub) — params/config_networks.go (external site) · XinFinOrg (GitHub) — params/gas.go at v2.9.1-testnet (external site)
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XDC Innovation Labs published a draft post-quantum signature standard for trade documents (XDSS-PQ)
XDC Innovation Labs, a contributor that builds node infrastructure for XDC, published XDSS-PQ Draft v1.0, a proposed standard that signs long-lived trade-finance documents with two post-quantum schemes, ML-DSA and Falcon (FN-DSA), and treats a document as valid only if both signatures verify. The page calls the work forward-looking and in development. The XDC Foundation says the protocol team began a post-quantum initiative in March 2026 with a Falcon prototype in a development codebase.
- Proposal:Draft v1.0 specification published
- Implementation:a Falcon prototype in a development codebase, per the XDC Foundation; not verified
- Release:not released
- Activation:not active on mainnet
Sources: XDC Innovation Labs — XDSS-PQ Specification (Draft v1.0) (external site) · XDC Innovation Labs — About - XDC Innovation Labs (external site) · XDC Foundation — Seven Years of XDC Mainnet: Welcoming the Future of Finance (external site)
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XDPoSChain v2.6.8 activated EIP-1559 transactions at block 98,800,200 and the Cancun instruction set 1,800 blocks later
XinFinOrg released node version 2.6.8, a consensus-breaking upgrade that enabled EIP-1559 transactions and the Cancun EVM instruction set, added blob-hash and KZG support, and applied CertiK audit fixes. Its notes told operators to upgrade before block 98,800,200, which XDCScan dates to 30 January 2026 at 12:45 UTC with a 12.5 gwei base fee. The notes name that block for Cancun too, but the release's mainnet configuration switches Cancun on at block 98,802,000, about an hour later.
- Proposal:EIP-1559 support was announced for the Apothem testnet in February 2025
- Implementation:shipped in XDPoSChain v2.6.8
- Release:mandatory mainnet upgrade
- Activation:EIP-1559 active on mainnet since block 98,800,200 and Cancun since block 98,802,000, both on 30 January 2026
Sources: XinFinOrg (GitHub) — XDPoSChain v2.6.8 release notes (external site) · XinFinOrg (GitHub) — common/constants.mainnet.go at v2.6.8 (external site) · Developers Forum for XinFin XDC Network — XDC Network v2.6.8: The Cancun Upgrade Goes Live on Mainnet (external site) · XDCScan (Etherscan) — XDCScan block 98800200 (external site) · XinFinOrg (GitHub) — common/gas.go at v2.7.1 (external site) · XDC Network Documentation — Announcement (external site)
Topics your AI can explain
Your AI can explain these topics for XDC Network through the connection, with sources.
Known gaps
What this profile's review did not establish:
- The operators behind the current 108 masternodes and the standby candidates, and how stake is spread among them, were not verified; XDCScan's masternode list was not read.
- The candidate and voter withdrawal delays set in the mainnet validator contract were not read from chain state.
- XDC's total supply and yearly issuance were not verified from a primary source; the reviewed client mints a fixed reward each epoch, and a testnet reward upgrade would change that rule.
- XDC's rewards page describes fixed yearly rates for masternodes and standby nodes that match the testnet reward upgrade, not the reward rule in the reviewed mainnet client; which rule applies after the planned mainnet upgrade was not confirmed.
- The claim on XDC's developer forum that the base fee is burned conflicts with the reviewed client code; no statement from the core team resolving it was found.
- XDC's gas-fee page still quotes a 0.25 gwei gas price, while the client code and XDCScan block pages read on 2026-09-29 show a fixed 12.5 gwei base fee.
- A 2026 community guide on XDC's developer forum says node rewards are currently paid from an ecosystem wallet; the reviewed mainnet client mints the epoch reward, and the difference was not resolved.
- XDC Innovation Labs, one contributor, reports four clients in three languages syncing mainnet; only Nethermind's XDC module was checked, and which clients masternodes run was not verified.
- Which XDC Subnets checkpoint to mainnet today, and their validators and assets, were not verified.
- No wallet light client for XDC mainnet, trust-minimized swap, payment or state channel, rollup, or reversible-transfer or recovery feature was found; absence was not exhaustively verified.
- Who reviews masternode KYC documents off chain, and on what standard, was not verified; the contract stores only a hash.
- The reasons for the 61 denylisted addresses were not reviewed.
- Ledger's XDC support article renders in the browser only and could not be read; whether the XDC Network device app is available on every current Ledger device was not verified.
- The trust models and current status of CCTP, LayerZero, Wanchain, Enosys and Subswap routes on XDC were not reviewed.
- AMM operators, audits and liquidity were not independently reviewed, and deployments of multichain exchanges on XDC were not confirmed from those exchanges' own pages.
- No observed throughput figure with a stated method was classified; XDCScan's homepage figure does not state its averaging window.
- Public RPC availability was uneven on 2026-09-29: rpc.xdc.org returned HTTP 502 at two separate checks and rpc.xinfin.network did not respond, while erpc.xinfin.network and earpc.xinfin.network answered reads; availability over time was not measured.
Sources
Oldest dated source check: Source checked Sep 29, 2026 Next check due Oct 29, 2026.
- XDC Network Architecture (external site)
- XDPoS 2.0 overview (external site)
- XDPoS - XDC's Consensus Mechanism (external site)
- Run a Node: Masternodes and Standby Masternodes (external site)
- XDC Network - Slashing Mechanism (external site)
- Rewards Mechanism (external site)
- XDC Network - RPC (external site)
- Glossary (external site)
- Gas & Fees on XDC Network (external site)
- XDC Subnet (external site)
- Checkpoint Smart Contract (external site)
- Relayer (external site)
- Subswap (external site)
- XDC Technical Specification (external site)
- LIVE on XDC Mainnet: USDC and CCTP V2 (17 September 2025) (external site)
- XinFinOrg/XDPoSChain (forked from ethereum/go-ethereum) (external site)
- XDPoSChain README: 108 masternodes and KYC for masternodes (external site)
- params/config_networks.go: mainnet chain config and XDPoS 2.0 parameters (external site)
- consensus/XDPoS/engines/engine_v2/engine.go: commit rule and proposal preparation (external site)
- XDCValidator.sol: candidate proposal, voting, KYC upload and KYC-invalidation vote (external site)
- common/constants.go: reward split and minimum gas price constants (external site)
- common/constants.shared.go: shared address denylist (external site)
- core/state_transition.go at v2.7.1: fee credited to the block producer's owner (external site)
- common/gas.go at v2.7.1: fixed base fee and gas price tier (external site)
- XDPoSChain v2.6.8 release notes (EIP-1559 activation and Cancun instruction set) (external site)
- XDPoSChain v2.9.1-testnet release notes (external site)
- Nethermind.Xdc module README (XDPoS 2.0 implementation) (external site)
- XDCScan: XDC Blockchain Explorer (read 2026-09-29) (external site)
- XDCScan block 98800200 (external site)
- XDC Network v2.6.8: The Cancun Upgrade Goes Live on Mainnet (external site)
- USDC contract addresses (external site)
- CCTP supported blockchains (external site)
- Supported protocols (external site)
- LayerZero deployment metadata (xdc-mainnet entry) (external site)
- DeFiLlama protocols API (XDC entries) (external site)
- XSwap Protocol (external site)
- XDC Network Wallet (external site)
- @ledgerhq/cryptoassets 13.56.0 currency list (external site)
- app-ethereum makefile_conf/chain/xdcnetwork.mk (XDC Network device app configuration) (external site)
- XDC Network wallet (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