Blockchains Built from Scratch

Available Categories (see tabs below)

Running Announced Dismissed
47 projects found so far 21 projects found so far 33 suggestions dismissed so far

Rules and Explanations

- We are looking for distributed ledger projects that were truly built from scratch (no forks, no simple patchwork of pre-existing technologies)
- Projects with running blockchains/dags/block lattices etc. go into the "Running" tab, those not yet running into "Announced"
- There must be proof for the "built from scratch" claim, ideally open source code commits that demonstrate a creation history, or multiple credible soures that confirm the fact
- Projects not built from scratch, but examined for that property go under "Dismissed"
- "Rightful successors" are acceptable, example: AntShares->NEO, Loopchain->Icon, or Crypti->Lisk (because Crypti officially merged their project into Lisk)
- The oldest running chain on a codebase goes on the list, e.g. Bytecoin is older than Monero and still running, so Bytecoin goes on the list. Other examples: BitShares goes on the list, not EOS, NXT, not Ardor.
- If the chain started with a forked client, but the client was later rebuilt from scratch, the project does NOT go on the list. Examples: Stratis, Ark V2, Rise. This is admittedly an edge case, but starting a new chain seems to be a substantially bigger challenge than building a client for a running chain.
- Unclear: does the protocol have to be new? E.g. if I reimplement Cryptonote in Scala, do I make the list? Right now, we include these projects.
- "Velocity" column: average number of commits per day (since first commit), to give a rough idea of development intensity

Keep in mind that I am not judging the overall quality of blockchain projects that I put on this list. I try to assess the simple property "built (coded) from scratch",
to get an idea of where the forked projects are coming from, who the new players are, and what changes people propose to distributed ledger technology in general.
This is a code history/forensics project, there are many promising forked projects out there.

Input Wanted
- Please DM @cryptic_monk on Twitter, Discord or Telegram if you spot any errors or would like to add a project
- If you think that you spotted a project that I missed, please check the "Dismissed" tab first and verify whether you can find it there and argue with my reasoning
Name Symbol Initial Commit Commit By Master CommitsVelocity
by May 2018 Language Genesis MainnetProof Notes
Bitcoin BTC 2009-01-08 non-github-bitcoin 17200 5,02 C++ 2009-01-09 https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/commits/master?after=6916024768ec57a00f54224640ab4e4871d2a30a+17170
Most data based on GitHub release, here's Satoshi's original drop: http://www.metzdowd.com/pipermail/cryptography/2009-January/014994.html
ByteCoin BCN ? ? ? C++ 2012-07-04 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bytecoin_(cryptocurrency)
Monero is well known, but Bytecoin is the first CryptoNote implementation, so CryptoNote needs to be attributed here, if at all. (Monero is a Bytecoin fork)
Next NXT 2013-12-30 Jean-Luc Picard ? Java 2013-11-24 https://bitbucket.org/JeanLucPicard/nxt/commits/all?page=258
NXT was launched in November 2013 (anonymously), it's generally accepted to be built from scratch in Java. Data given here based on Jean-Luc's BitBucket repo.
NEM NEM 2015-04-19 gimer 671 0,59 Java 2015-03-29 https://github.com/NemProject/nem.core/commits/master?after=26fa5b30e24a560d5168a466631c1d6af0c775e8+650
Skycoin SKY 2013-12-25 AKS 5279 3,28 Go 2015-04-02 https://github.com/skycoin/skycoin/commits/develop?after=58e6dacbd0ca4837ef02c92fd4a6a9cea79e52e0+5260
Sia SIA 2014-10-17 lukechampine 9038 6,87 Go 2015-06-01 https://github.com/NebulousLabs/Sia/commits/master?after=7b45e9554a8131fa66583ef7e902587eb8c56444+9010
Could not determine exact mainnet launch date.
Ethereum ETH 2013-12-26 obscuren 9630 5,98 Go 2015-07-30 https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/commit/5db3335dce766bd679c54ea44f6df08a7ff74762
BitShares BTS 2015-06-08 nathanhourt 2113 1,95 C++ 2015-10-13 https://github.com/bitshares/bitshares-core/commits/master?after=dc7eb354b175f0f8b8e7652e710a61c6f91a2b71+2100
We are attributing Graphene to BitShares, since the creators are the same and doesn't have a working blockchain.
Waves WAVES 2015-01-23 kushti 7814 6,42 Scala 2016-04-15 https://github.com/wavesplatform/Waves/commits/master?after=cb0fcd744fc4cd4e675c99a50cba7f1d0efd7c31+7800
Many think that Waves is a fork of something (maybe NXT), but it looks like it's been built from scratch in Scala.
Lisk LSK 2016-02-01 karmacoma 7760 9,21 JavaScript 2016-05-24 https://github.com/LiskHQ/lisk/commits/development?after=8ccbfa79eb2b970a3d44a104ea5c462a04539f0e+7740
Lisk is orignially based on Crypti (2014), but Crypti merged into Lisk in 2016.
LBRY LBC 2015-08-20 jimmykiselak 3523 3,50 Python 2016-06-23 https://github.com/lbryio/lbry/commits/master?after=bc6fd892a28245e895a3ecc5798151aeadaa8a8c+3500
PascalCoin PASC 2016-07-12 PascalCoin 502 0,74 Pascal 2016-08-11 https://github.com/PascalCoin/PascalCoin/commits/master?after=9833434b1c267d2902b2488f8233cee96ffc4d1e+480
Initial version of PascalCoin was delivered in one big commit, but the language alone proves that this is a from-scratch project.
NEO Smart Economy
NEO 2015-05-31 Erik Zhang 395 0,36 C# 2016-10-16 https://github.com/neo-project/neo/commits/master?after=b0b0646fb86b350e57f9010ca88ca373144d1353+385
NEO started out as AntShares
Byteball GBYTE 2016-09-05 tonyofbyteball 1119 1,79 JavaScript 2016-12-25 https://github.com/byteball/byteball/commits/master?after=2acaf409a46c3f0c240e299646d42c17bae42dd0+1100
Bismuth BIS 2015-07-23 hclivess 2809 2,71 Python 2017-05-01 https://github.com/hclivess/Bismuth/commits/master?after=59bbea23b55fc853876618d34f32fcf1d8ea5833+2780
Cardano ADA 2016-09-27 neongreen 14143 23,42 Haskell 2017-09-29 https://github.com/input-output-hk/cardano-sl/commits/develop?after=34900db6bc10725f0b8b66dc147884f5300ff9e0+14120
Dero DERO 2018-01-18 Captain Dero 17 0,13 Go 2017-12-04 https://github.com/deroproject/derosuite/commit/a390b5e235553dd742ecd7b368c2398339e35143
DERO combines a Go port of the cryptonote protocol, a blockchain, and a DAG, all built from scratch.
Dagger XDAG 2017-12-08 Daniel Cheatoshin 791 3,94 C 2018-01-05 https://github.com/iblockchain/cheatcoin/commit/62423dcfda4d5f21de0cc8e0d7773598bb0a3e57
XDAG seems to be the rightful successor of Cheatcoin, Cheatcoin is built from scratch.
Aronium ARO 2017-12-10 aronium 79 0,48 PHP 2018-01-07 https://github.com/arionum/node/commits/master?after=e1d52c0e31863d34df2302a6bd89aebc4f99443d+69
Semux SEM 2017-08-01 semuxdev 1920 6,49 Java 2018-01-20 https://github.com/semuxproject/semux/commits/master?after=56500b8cf92924979a4629f1210690f36b1b5559+1900
First version delivered as a "lump" commit, but quite obviously written from scratch.
Icon ICX 2017-07-11 BK-winDy-theloop 57 0,18 Python 2018-01-24 https://github.com/icon-project/loopchain/commits/master?after=c4d63e3fac18880a227281ae333d64d4157109dc+34
Icon is the successor of loopchain
Amoveo VEO 2016-11-30 zack-bitcoin 2245 4,16 Erlang 2018-03-01 https://github.com/zack-bitcoin/amoveo/commits/master?after=aeef8045eab9e4441378a3e9d44d44c9b9374543+2220
We atribute Zack's original Aeternity code to Amoveo, Aeternity is being built on a new codebase now.
Nebulas NAS 2017-09-13 nebulashub 2063 8,15 JavaScript/Go 2018-03-29 https://github.com/nebulasio/go-nebulas/commits/master?after=a7aaa0aaef2677038562356e1bbdccfb848d2fb4+2040
Universa U 2017-08-15 sergeych 1526 5,41 Java 2018-04-12 https://github.com/UniversaBlockchain/universa/commits/master?after=e800f4da89931790a96c82c7bcef3c75aabb39f6+1500
Nimiq NIM 2017-03-25 Your Name 1690 3,98 JavaScript 2018-04-14 https://github.com/nimiq-network/core/commits/master?after=e8606bf1ebeb4a82e2c6ab012903b447d0008763+1670
AION AION 2018-01-22 aion-jin 1554 12,74 Java 2018-04-25 https://github.com/aionnetwork/aion/commits/master?after=708dfee890d05f484de082c8fb6a5115d8c5ba38+1540
Snowblossom SNOW 2018-04-25 fireduck64 285 4,52 Java 2018-05-22 https://github.com/snowblossomcoin/snowblossom/commits/master?after=96f9841a42b6611487d64234154afc27822541ea+260
Hycon HYC 2018-06-01 Team-Hycon 16 0,22 TypeScript 2018-06-01 https://github.com/Team-Hycon/hycon-core/commit/a06d38107bfcb439e48eb89c7087f04ff6737df5
Delivered in a lump commit, but seems to be built from scratch.
Quantum Resistant
QRLLedger 2016-10-16 surg0r 2875 4,91 Python 2018-06-26 https://github.com/theQRL/QRL/commits/master?after=acd0837082000137f6b0252d72ca246a3fd92a2c+2860
Updated: mainnet launched successfully.
Mochimo MCM ? ? ? ? C 2018-06-26 https://github.com/mochimodev/mochimo/blob/master/mochimo-main-net-v1.6.tgz
The Mochimo project does not properly document their coding activity on GitHub (and their code is copyright protected), but the chain is obviously built from scratch.
Tezos XTZ 2016-09-08 tezos 1455 2,34 OCaml 2018-06-30 https://github.com/tezos/tezos/commits/master?after=dcf27f48d999a1d7e1aada98ee6ae2e854bd87b9+1440
Tezos is based on an older technology by the same authors. Currently in "Betanet", which is supposed to transfer properties/transactions to mainnet.
Zen Protocol ZENP 2017-08-23 somdoron 864 3,15 F# 2018-06-30 https://github.com/zenprotocol/zenprotocol/commits/master?after=7d5d67900a45e0a7ec01e47cd49d2c4b69526772+840
Updated: mainnet launched successfully.
VeChain VET/VTHO 2017-11-27 quianbian 2385 9,21 Go 2018-06-30 https://github.com/vechain/thor/commits/master?after=58acadd80765c55e54cd53c3c490ea810787442b+2370
VeChain's blockchain platform is built called Thor.
IOTA MIOTA 2016-10-25 domschiener 1517 2,63 Java ? https://github.com/iotaledger/iri/commits/dev?after=8f999f7c9b5a36c5d7d8a9912145d1fae1605bc6+1500
Nano NANO 2014-05-01 clemahieu 2771 1,87 C++ ? https://github.com/nanocurrency/raiblocks/commits/master?after=5ceacb949a2f71a8934ca9cf6b4dc2db355d9fea+2760
Nano started out as RaiBlocks
Aeternity AE 2017-08-09 emtq 1929 6,70 Erlang https://github.com/aeternity/epoch/commits/master?after=58f844d4d2239d67fd2b9c3b7057cd5e2e114f49+1900
Testnet only. Aeternity and Amoveo have a complex combined history. Here, we attribute the "epoch" code to Aeternity and Zack's original version to Amoveo.
Grin ? 2016-10-21 ignopeverell 881 1,52 Rust https://github.com/mimblewimble/grin/commits/master?after=7281dc947374c31b4518208eb1a08d99b6ec95f8+860
Testnet only
Lamden TAU 2017-12-12 StuartFarmer 650 3,99 Python https://github.com/Lamden/cilantro/commits/master?after=c3ee8455f19a6aa6b5aea976e0a272efa8647f72+620
Testnet only, Mainnet announced for Q4 2018.
Nuls NULS 2017-09-28 zhouwei1985 3277 13,77 Java https://github.com/nuls-io/nuls/commits/master?after=a3100b86ba46e6a25319bc54489672bc2f3799ae+3260
NULS is in testnet mode still
Ontology ONT 2016-11-25 dreamfly281 1546 2,84 Go https://github.com/ontio/ontology/commits/master?after=8dd3e5184300e85c7e22a5ac9f4ed6bc032c6a05+1530
Testnet only. Ontology is supposed to be "compatible" with AntShares/NEO, but it's been written from scratch in Go.
Tron TRX 2017-12-19 lucien-tronlab 4340 27,82 Java https://github.com/tronprotocol/java-tron/commits/develop?after=c4f3611bf1dbc81c4a4d0b6b25322d0b21dde2a7+4335
Testnet only. Mainnet announced for May 2018.
Hyperledger ? 2016-03-31 vaporos 6409 8,17 Python/C++/Rust https://github.com/hyperledger/sawtooth-core/commits/master?after=4168310451ecfa21812bf88165a0d136a23e0008+6390
Hyperledger Sawtooth does not fit our criteria strictly, because it's a blockchain framework, rather than the foundation of one clearly identifiable blockchain. Still, it's a massive development effort and merits a spot here. It's been developed by Intel's incubation group initially and opensourced in March 2016.
Solana ? 2018-02-14 garious 808 8,16 Rust https://github.com/solana-labs/solana/commits/master?after=0d980e89bcb92e41fa6851cb88c8abfc8ec4497f+790
Testnet only
Arweave ? 2017-08-02 samcamwilliams 474 1,61 Erlang https://github.com/ArweaveTeam/arweave/commits/master?after=ba9c0e5ae1dc85dcb3041f3d22a5e22200542ecf+460
Testnet only. Born as Archain, but can be considered a "rightful successor"
Factom FCT 2014-06-02 PaulSnow 10495 7,23 Go https://github.com/FactomProject/factomd/commits/master?before=3871e26d562c3ed920a1a8fc0e61e50d49f1cf9b+9175
Factom is an edge case that is difficult to classify. Factom anchors itself in the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains, but operates its own data chains too. The anchoring part (and the start of the project) is based on the bitcoin "wire" level protocol library. Here, I am using the initial commit by Paul Snow (current CEO of Factom) as the start of the Factom project itself (the project was still calle
Polkadot DOT 2017-11-07 rphmeier 493 2,49 Rust https://github.com/paritytech/polkadot/commits/master?after=6ba747c0e9e485da6ad23d7d04c1f6a235c1b563+480
Testnet only. Polkadot is a "heterogenous multi-chain technology", but it's definitely built from scratch and has one central "relay" chain.
Aelf ELF 2017-11-25 loning 942 5,23 C# https://github.com/AElfProject/AElf/commits/dev?after=030c04deb5de123b7b6b9ecf6818eddd8c477ec6+920
Testnet only, scalable (multichain) cloud computing platform.
Cypherium ? 2018-03-13 zhuangsc 10 0,14 Go/C https://github.com/cypherium/blockchain/commit/6e2cc2df45bd92a270f1cf8bebb617bf63fafcdf
Testnet only. Delivered as a lump commit, but looks like it's been built from scratch.
Zilliqua ZIL 2017-12-27 xinshudong 1380 9,32 C++ https://github.com/Zilliqa/Zilliqa/commits/master?after=41b4e81c822108bf7e3b84842b2dbd193d9f7439+1370
Testnet only. Edge case. ZIL relies heavily on a number of 3rd party libraries (quite uncommon in the blockchain space), but one could argue that the blockchain part has been built from scratch.
Name Symbol Initial Commit Commit By Master CommitsVelocity
by May 2018 Language Proof Notes
0Chain Not a lot to be seen yet, http://0chain.net/
Ark Core V2 ARK Ark announced a "rewritten from scratch" version of their core (V1 is a Lisk fork). Classification of this poses a similar problem like the classification of Stratis: what if the blockchain has started with a forked client (Bitocoin in the case of Stratis, Lisk in the case of Ark), but later switched to a "from scratch" client?
Beam A mimblewimble implementation. Not enough to be seen yet, but supposed to get interesting.
BlockCollider Emblem(?) Blockchain made of blockchains, requires further exploration.
Blue Protocol BLUE Not much to be seen yet.
Chia ? Proof of space/proof of time blockchain by Bram Cohen of BitTorrent fame, not much to be seen yet.
Coda Constant-sized blockchain project, not much to be seen yet. https://codaprotocol.com/
Constellation Announced DAG-based distributed ledger project, no code visible yet, testnet announced for June 2018. https://constellationlabs.io/
Cosmos 2175 Go Testnet only. Cosmos is based on Tendermint, but will be its first working implementation. Difficult to judge.
DFINITY ? Only individual components released so far, requires further exploration when public testnet becomes available.
Enigma ENG Testnet announced for Q2 2018
Ergo New blockchain, not much to be seen yet.
Fantom ? DAG based smart contract platform, not much to be seen yet. https://www.fantom.foundation/
Heat Ledger HEAT I do not fully understand what HEAT does, requires further exploration.
Holochain HOT 2016-12-23 artbrock 1410 Go https://github.com/holochain/holochain-proto/commits/develop?after=68fd2f8fd205fc868452906ea3d016d94be8342a+1390
Testnet Q3 2018.
Kadena/Chainweb Kadena is focusing on improving smart contract development/technology, but also announced its own blockchain tech, ChainWeb. http://kadena.io/
MaidSafe MAID Current MAID coin is based on Omnilayer, it's unclear what the project will eventually release
Perlin Announced high-performance DAG project. Some code, but no testnet yet.
Quarkchain Not enough to be seen yet. https://www.quarkchain.io/
R-Chain RHOC 2017-01-25 desaperados 2733 Scala https://github.com/rchain/rchain/commits/master?after=c897c31104ccdc04b2ced1f33f89aa9d34c185fc+2720
Testnet announced for July 2018, see: https://rchain.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CORE/pages/105709609/The+Flight+to+Mercury
Radix New kind of DLT, not much to be seen yet.
Spectre/Phantom? Announced DAG based dlt by DagLabs.
Storecoin Announced a new consensus mechanism, probably a new blockchain, but not enough to be seen yet.
TERA TERA Coin built from scratch, project still very young.
Thunder Token Testnet announced for June 2018. New blockchain built from scratch, code doesn't seem to be public yet.
Tolar TOL Announced high-throughput DAG project. Couldn't find public GitHub yet.
Urbit ? This project has a completely unique architecture, it's unlike any other distributed ledger project, needs further analysis. http://media.urbit.org/whitepaper.pdf
Name Symbol Reasoning
Aerium Based on Bitcoin
ARK ARK ARK is a Lisk fork
Bitmark BTM Bitmark claims to be from scratch, but imports a lot of code from other projects. https://github.com/project-bitmark/bitmark/commit/989c848f89f1708fe8c596eb986076808f7d9016
BosCoin BOS BOS is a Stellar fork.
Celer Network This is not a blockchain, but a scaling solution for multiple blockchains.
CHBT CHBT CHBT is based on Bitcoin/PPCoin/Novacoin
Decred DCR Decred is a bitcoin fork with many additions and changes
Elastic Project XEL XEL is a Bitcoin fork
EOS EOS Eos is based on BitShares (in turn based on Graphene) and cannot be considered its successor since BitShares is still an active project
Foam Foam is a dApp on Ethereum
Handshake Based on Bcoin/Bitcoin, very unique project that tries to replace the DNS root zone file and the root servers with a public commons.
Hidecoin ? This project is clearly written from scratch in NodeJS, but it is currently not functional, unfortunately. Code see https://github.com/cryptocurs/hidecoin/commits/master?after=7edea5dd742b8b3cea279b89cb75262530913243+180
IOCoin IOC Based on Bitcoin
Komodo KMD Komodo is a zCash fork
Lux LUX Based on Novacoin
Maxcoin MAX Maxcoin is a bitcore/bitcoin fork
Metaverse ETP Metaverse is originally based on libbitcoin, see https://github.com/mvs-org/metaverse/commit/a5efc33008678dfa12eba10d958eb588b7387216
Multichain Multichain is (partially) based on Bitcoin
Neblio NEBL Neblio is based on Novacoin (which is in turn based on Bitcoin), see: https://github.com/NeblioTeam/neblio/commit/9fe7478f9adb27bbde140c514c97748fbb739d25
Nexus NXS NXS is a fork of PPCoin (which is a fork of Bitcoin), see: https://github.com/Nexusoft/Nexus/commit/682227eeff811b72c284b4326b981e94c0beb00a
NuCypher This is an interesting project with a unique proposal (trustless storage and access management for private data), but can it be considered a distributed ledger project in our sense? Furthermore, the core DL technology is based on the Kademlia library.
Oyster Pearls? Based on IOTA
PIVX PIVX PIVX is a Dash fork
Qora QORA Quora is a blockchain built from scratch. The project is, unfortunately, partially defunct (block explorer + parts of website not working, delisted from Polo, trading volume on only remaining exchange a few $/day)
Raven RVN Raven is a Bitcoin fork
Rise RISE Similar situation as with Stratis: Rise have rewritten their node from scratch, but the original node is of Crypti/Lisk decent.
Shift SHIFT Shift is based on Lisk/Crypti
Smartmesh Based on Ethereum
Sneak Sneak (?) Interesting project, but it's a patchwork of existing code. The DAG, for example, is based on hyperlog.
Spectre XSPEC Spectre is a BlackCoin fork (which goes back to BTC via Novacoin and PPCoin)
Stratis STRAT The Stratis blockchain is based on a fork of the Bitcoin code, the Stratis full node was built from scratch as a Bitoin full node, then ported to the Stratis blockchain
Trustnote Trustnote is initially based on Byteball, see: https://github.com/trustnote/trustnote-common/commit/b46a07df2537d95d168a9d102b711a7cace9fbc3
Twist TWIST Twist is a Stratis fork
Wanchain WAN Wanchain is an Ethereum fork, see: https://github.com/wanchain/go-wanchain/commit/f69b70fb7bbf9c22e3df75e75affd16168bbae21
XTraBytes XBY Based on Bitcoin