Protocol

How It Works

Seven steps from wallet connection to token mint. Every step is verifiable on-chain.

Connect Wallet

Sign a message (KOAN:{timestamp}) with your Solana wallet using Ed25519. This proves wallet ownership without exposing your private key.

Solve Proof of Work

Compute a SHA-256 nonce that produces a hash with 20 leading zero bits. This prevents spam while remaining GPU-free.

Request a Koan

Submit your PoW solution and auth headers to GET /api/captcha. The server validates everything, checks rate limits, and generates a puzzle.

Solve the Koan

You receive a logic, math, sequence, pattern, or wordplay puzzle with 4 multiple-choice options. Solve it within the time limit.

Submit Answer

POST to /api/captcha/solve with your session ID and answer. Case-insensitive comparison. You get 3 attempts per session.

Mint $KOAN

On correct answer, the server mints 30–200 $KOAN tokens directly to your wallet's associated token account on Solana.

Cooldown & Repeat

A 5-minute cooldown begins. After it expires, you can mine again. 3 wrong answers triggers a 1-hour lockout instead.

15s

Time Limit

(dynamic via Cognitive Halving)

Attempts

per session

Cooldown

after successful mine

Lockout

after 3 failed attempts

20 bits

PoW Difficulty

SHA-256 leading zeros

30s

Replay Window

timestamp tolerance

Authentication

Signing Process

// 1. Create the message
const timestamp = Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000);
const message = `KOAN:${timestamp}`;

// 2. Sign with wallet (Ed25519)
const encoded = new TextEncoder().encode(message);
const signature = await wallet.signMessage(encoded);

// 3. Send with headers
headers: {
  "X-Wallet-Address": wallet.publicKey,
  "X-Signature": btoa(signature),
  "X-Timestamp": timestamp.toString()
}

Proof of Work

SHA-256 Challenge

// Verify: SHA256(challenge + nonce) has ≥ 20 leading zero bits

function solvePoW(challenge: string, difficulty: number) {
  let nonce = 0;
  while (true) {
    const hash = SHA256(challenge + nonce.toString());
    if (leadingZeroBits(hash) >= difficulty) {
      return nonce.toString();
    }
    nonce++;
  }
}

At 20-bit difficulty, expect ~1M hash attempts. This takes 1–3 seconds on modern hardware. The challenge is fetched from GET /api/pow/challenge and is valid for 120 seconds.