The present Whitepaper summarizes the ideas and knowledge that anyone getting interested or involved in the Riecoin Project should know. It provides an overview of technical details of the Riecoin currency and clarifies the Project's aspirations. The Whitepaper is updated about once every major Riecoin version to take in account the latest decisions and developments.

1. History and Inspiration

1.1. Worldwide Currency Attempts

In 1907, Swiss Esperantist and Mathematician René de Saussure proposed the Speso, or more commonly known as its multiple Spesmilo (1000 Spesoj), a gold backed international currency in line with the Esperanto creator Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof's aspiration of a peaceful world without barriers. The currency found use in several banks, notably the Ĉekbanko Esperantista that proposed practical and inexpensive transactions to clients over 43 countries. The promising project was unfortunately cut short by the First World War.

Decades later, as society lives yet again in dark times as the Second World War rages, a group of persecuted Esperantists gathered in 1942 and founded the Universala Ligo, whose goal was to concretize the Zamenhof's aspirations. For them, this would not only be achieved with a common language, but also a world currency, and they thus created in 1946 the Stelo, a spiritual successor to the Spesmilo. The initiative gained traction over the years, with even coins being minted by the Royal Dutch Mint in 1960 and 1965.

Unfortunately, the project did not gain further traction and stalled for decades before effectively dying when the Universala Ligo was dissoluted in 1993.

Like de Saussure and the Universala Ligo, the Riecoin Project supports the idea that society will benefit from a common and universal currency, and proposes one that has desirable properties for this purpose.

1.2. The First Cryptocurrency

In the aftermath of the historic Global Financial Crisis, pseudonymous developer Satoshi Nakamoto released Bitcoin in 2009, a groundbreaking digital currency introducing solutions allowing "online payments to be sent from one party to another without going though a financial institution", which not only provided a way to emancipate from actors responsible for the economic collapse, but also a spiritual successor to the Spesmilo and Stelo as a practical world currency candidate. In 2021, the country of El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as a legal tender currency.

Riecoin is a currency based on Bitcoin, and its development started by a developer using the nickname Gatra in 2013, an era when not more than 200 cryptocurrencies existed. It was formally announced on BitcoinTalk on February 3, 2014, and effectively launched on February 11.

The key change from Bitcoin is the improved proof of work (PoW). While Bitcoin becoming the world currency would be in accordance with the Project's aspirations, it is a shame that its PoW only consists of finding useless hashes, and Riecoin instead supports the idea that the gigantic mining power can also serve scientific research, thus be of greater value for the society and power a better world currency.

Unfortunately, the original developer ceased further Riecoin development and communication, and effectively disappeared in 2018. The Project has then been taken over to maintain its existence and further develop it, rather than creating yet another currency. Gatra did not publish any Whitepaper, and a first version of this document was instead published almost ten years after the first release.

2. Technical Details

This section summarizes notable technical specifications of the Riecoin protocol and provide rationales for key choices.

2.1. General Paramaters

• Ticker: RIC
• Blocks every 2.5 minutes (150 seconds)
• Base block reward of 50 RIC, halving every 840000 blocks (about 4 years)
• Maximum supply: less than 84 million RIC, at least half of transaction fees have to be burnt
• Smallest amount: 0.00000001 RIC, or 1 riemann
• Bech32 Address Prefixes: ric (Mainnet), tric (Testnet), rric (Regtest)
• RPC port: 28332 (38332 for Testnet, 38443 for Regtest)
• P2P port: 28333 (38333 for Testnet, 38444 for Regtest)
• Block limits:
  • 500 KB (weight 2M)
  • Block rewards can be spent only after 100 confirmations
  • A block's timestamp must be at most 15 s earlier than the previous one, and 15 s later than the current time
• Magic number (Little Endian) 0xFCBCB2DB (0x0E091105 for Testnet, 0xFABFB5DA for Regtest)
• Signed messages prefix: Riecoin Signed Message:\n

2.2. Bitcoin Basis

The original developer chose Bitcoin as the base for the Riecoin software and protocol. This notably means that Riecoin has its own blockchain rather than being a token depending on another project such as Ethereum or the Binance Smart Chain, though "Wrapped Riecoins" like 1:1 backed tokens based on such platforms may also be managed and distributed by the Riecoin Developers for convenience. Being similar to Bitcoin, a lot of literature or documentation about it also applies to Riecoin, though it is planned to write some self-contained learning material from scratch.

Riecoin will certainly remain based on Bitcoin in the foreseeable future for practical reasons, such as avoiding a complicated transition or being able to implement useful features such as the Lightning Network in a more straightforward way. The idea of rewriting the software from scratch may eventually be considered, but would involve a high risk as highlighted by one project (Pandanite, PDN) that went this way but ended up being hacked with unlimited coins produced out of thin air. Having Bitcoin as reference also acts as a safety belt.

Hard forks can be designed by the Riecoin Developers in order to introduce useful or necessary updates that require to break blockchain compatibility, and this has been done twice so far. Being based on Bitcoin or even Blockchain is also not set in stone. Using or building another technology as base is not excluded if it is practical and can still support the Project's aspirations or even do it better.

2.3. Proof of Work (PoW)

One of the fundamental Bitcoin features is the Proof of Work mechanism, which consists of having transactions validated by a network of machines continuously solving a specific problem in a process called mining. In the Bitcoin and other PoW altcoins cases, the problem is to find an hash that meets an arbitrary criteria, so miners are continuously generating random hashes until they find one meeting the criteria. This does work to make a cryptocurrency functional, but the whole process consumes a lot of energy and is regularly criticized in times of climate crisis.

Meanwhile, scientists all over the world make use of powerful machines in order to simulate various phenomenons in domains ranging from biology to mathematics, via physics, weather forecasting, and many others, which naturally also consumes a lot of energy, but is necessary in order to advance research and serve the society.

Riecoin proposes to make mining to not only power a secure and practical world currency, but also to be at disposal of useful scientific computations. Over the years, the Project proved that it is achievable, as miners broke and hold several number theory world records. By putting in common the energy use, it effectively solves the Bitcoin's power consumption issue without resorting to ideas like PoS that makes value out of thin air.

Since miners will want to optimize their earnings, developers will be incentivized to improve the algorithms used by miner software, possibly finding groundbreaking ideas to solve the PoW problem in the process, which further increases the utility of an useful PoW. Riecoin would also be a practical way to implement universal basic income, value would not come out of thin air but reward everyone contributing to research by mining and maintaining their infrastructure.

Moreover, PoW can have very practical applications in gatekeeping and discouraging all kind of automated spams such as unsollicited messages or "AI" crawlers. It is also a goal to implement them as part or extension of the Riecoin ecosystem.

Prime Constellations

The current Riecoin PoW problem is based on prime constellations, or prime k-tuplets. In simple words, these consist of tuples of k prime numbers, that are as close as possible. Since the second hard fork, $k=7$, so Riecoin miners are currently looking for septuplets of large prime numbers. In the same fashion as one says that Bitcoin's PoW is SHA256, the Riecoin's PoW is called Stella.

It is a common misconception that specifically looking for interesting prime numbers is the Riecoin's finality, while it just happened to be a choice of the original developer, and Riecoin aims to support broad ranges of research domains. And even if Riecoin were to stick to the narrow scope of prime constellations, there will always be hobbyists competing with each other to find large interesting prime numbers and beat world records, and Riecoin makes possible for anyone to join this competition and earn money in return.

Difficulty Adjustment Algorithm

Initially, Riecoin used a difficulty adjustment algorithm that was similar as Bitcoin's, adapted to the Riecoin's PoW and with a shorter retarget period of 288 blocks. Some tweaks were added when the first hard fork introduced "superblocks". The second hard fork in 2021 removed them and replaced the algorithm with another based on ASERT and updating the difficulty at every block.

2.4. Block Time

The choice of the block time target of 2.5 minutes was justified by the original developer using the fact that Litecoin, a successful cryptocurrency that was already established for years at the time Riecoin was being developed, also used such block time without issues. A faster block time is more convenient than Bitcoin's relatively long 10 minutes, but too frequent blocks would significantly increase disk space and bandwidth requirements for node operators. For instant transactions, Layer 2 solutions such as a port of the Lightning Network could be implemented and used, or centralized services considered with appropriate precautions.

2.5. Block Size/Weight

The block limit of 2 MB (or weight of 8M) were presumably also taken from Litecoin by the original developer. The current Riecoin developers consider that it was a mistake as this can aggravate transaction spam attacks (see for example some dust spam in Blocks 1944799 or 2010121) while not providing practical benefits for Riecoin users. Bitcoin enforcing a size limit twice smaller and having blocks appearing four times less frequently shows that more block space is not needed, though its history of getting congested also indicates that a higher capacity would still be beneficial. In Riecoin 2404, the limit was decreased to 500 kB (weight 2M) or half of Bitcoin's, so that the block capacity is effectively twice as Bitcoin's rather than eightfold.

2.6. Monetary Policy

RIC are distributed to Riecoin miners to reward them. The base block reward is 50 RIC, and is halved every 840000 blocks or about 4 years. Historically, the following particularities also affected the currency emission, though the effects are negligible in the long run:

• Riecoin had a "Fair Launch" policy in order to not favor very early miners:
  • The first 576 blocks do not yield any reward.
  • The next 576 blocks yield a linearily increased reward, from 0 to 50 RIC.
• The first hard fork introduced "superblocks", consisting of weekly blocks much harder to solve than usual in order to find larger prime numbers, but also yielding many more coins. Due to the added complexity of the concept, the superblocks weekly halting the whole network for hours, and the fact that 7-tuplets introduced in the second fork can also be part of longer constellations, the feature was removed.

Limited Supply

The total supply of RIC is by construction capped at about 84 millions coins. Two millions of coins were also notably burnt at some point, making the upper bound rather 82 millions, and decreasing over time with the burn policies.

A capped or decreasing amount of coins is a key for a more responsible society that favors stability and frugalism over consumerism and waste of resources, and thus a fundamental principle that shall always hold in future Riecoin updates. In the far future, as the block rewards are becoming negligible, it is expected that transaction fees will be appreciable and incentivizing rewards for miners.

Transaction Fees and Burn Policy

The transaction fee system is pretty much the same as Bitcoin's, essentially freely determined by Riecoin users themselves, and no burn policy was initially implemented in Riecoin.

Since Riecoin 2404, in order to both support RIC holders and deter transaction spam, it is mandatory for miners to burn at least half of the miner's fee. The enforcing of a minimum fee at consensus level (not only relay) was also implemented, though the rate is currently negligible and the idea is more to have some code ready so it can temporarily be raised in case the circumstances require it as legitimate users should not have to pay higher fees than necessary.

Coins associated with outdated technologies (such as obsolete address types or broken outdated cryptography) that are no longer used by any current reference implementation may eventually be discarded and effectively burnt in order to not carry legacy burdens, and forks that require an active transfer of coins may also cause the loss of untransferred coins. RIC holders are expected to follow at least once a while the Riecoin news and take action if needed, though the Developers will always allow a reasonably long deadline for such events.

3. Getting Involved

3.1. Philosophy

Seeding a Thriving Future

Inspired by initiatives made by Esperantists, the Riecoin Project aspires for a World of reason, harmony and free from arbitrary barriers. We deplore the fact that despite the amazing technological progress that could since long provide more than enough resources for everyone's well being, suffering and pressure is still the standard for a great part of the population, and is driven and enslaved by a system favoring greed, competition and division, over altruism, cooperation, and unity.

Tremendous work has to be done on the foundations of society itself to even hope for a thriving future. The Riecoin Developers focus on the fundamentals and build thinking first about the long term and future generations.

Concretely, users are expected to follow the Project's developments at least once a while and ensure to be up to date. In accordance with our philosophy, the Riecoin Developers will rather avoid accumulating a legacy burden and unnecessary complexity in Riecoin software, and make future developments smoother, than support those who do not bother to make minimal efforts to update the software and stop using obsolete features.

A Community of Volunteers

To paraphrase Immanuel Kant,

If you reward someone for being good, this person will do right merely for the sake of the reward.
Do the right thing because it is right.

We do not hire anyone nor incentivize people to join Riecoin, we do not have any interest in running marketing campaigns or making partnerships with entities offering such services. Anyone seriously getting involved with Riecoin is a volunteer who has well understood our philosophy and aspirations, and commits to go along with them and our developments because the person believes that it is the right thing to do, and not for personal gain.

If people would rather support joke and attention seeking projects merely for personal benefits from "airdrop" campaings or others, then we will rather be alone than in bad company. Efforts to spread awareness of Riecoin and consolidate its presence in strategic places such as exchanges remain crucial, but are not end goals.

Balancing Centralization and Decentralization

Centralization is per se not an issue, and it is only when it gives power to bad actors or fragilizes the ecosystem. Decentralization is a way to emancipate in case things go wrong, and can help making the ecosystem more resillient, but shall not be an end goal. A strongly decentralized project implies slow decisions and improvements that will unnecessarily slow down the Project's progress, and naturally favors division and generally unwarranted distrust with concrete impractical consequences, such as waste of resources to verify again and again things that have properly been validated countless times already.

Important decisions may be taken and implemented by the Riecoin Developers without a formal and long consensus process, but always with their best judgment of the current context and careful consideration for the Riecoin Community. The Developers shall always be open to meaningful feedback.

Independence

The Riecoin Project aims to be as self-contained and independent as possible. Cryptocurrency exchange platforms that have listed Riecoin over time are great examples justifying this philosophy.

We shall invest and rely as little as possible on third party services we have no control over, that may break or go rogue at any time and cause significantly losses and harm to the Riecoin ecosystem. Works and services powered by our own Community are thus privileged.

3.2. Roadmap

This lists some general project ideas that the Riecoin Developers are working on or planning to work on eventually. Given our currently limited resources, there are no ETA and progress will be very slow. We will aim to check at least a few points for 2025-2026, after which more precise dates might be given depending on the situation.

• ✅ Riecoin Currency Launched and Actively Maintained
• ⏳ Riecoin Learning Material and Tools for Developers
• ⏳ Riecoin Payment Processors, practical to integrate
• ⏳ Riecoin Based Authentication Software (for the Web, practical Browser Plugins, etc.)
• ⏳ Riecoin Market Place/P2P Service
• ⏳ Riecoin New Forum
• ⏳ Riecoin PoW Based Antispam/Captcha (see StellaPool and the Riecoin Faucet for one idea of implementation)
• ⏳ Reference OS for Riecoin to make development self contained and provide a solid base for the Riecoin Ecosystem
• ⏳ Brainstorm ways to support other kind of number crunching and implement them in the Riecoin Ecosystem
• ⏳ Lightning Network for Riecoin
• (Listing on high tier, reliable exchanges, accepting Cash Deposits)

Riecoin adoption is also essential, and the Riecoin Developers counts on the Community to actively spread the word about Riecoin, convince merchants and services to accept RIC for payments, etc.

3.3. The Riecoin Developers (Team)

Taking inspiration from "The Bitcoin Developers" copyright found in reference Bitcoin software, notable and current contributors to the Riecoin Project are collectively designed with the expression "The Riecoin Developers".

Right now, the Project is run by a single person, who also cannot work full time on it yet still manages everything related to the Project.

• Pttn

Interested in joining the Team? Becoming a Riecoin Developer requires adequate skills, accepting every idea explained in the Whitepaper, readiness to challenge well anchored preconceptions, enduring hardships, and strong long term commitment. If you satisfy all these criteria, then you can reach out via official discussion channels. If a single criteria is not met, then your application will be dismissed.

Alternatively, donations are welcomed, though to be truly impactful, they should make it possible for the Developers to work full time for the long term on the Project. But we will still be glad even if the donation simply serves to renew a domain name for a year...

4. Miscellaneous

4.1. Domain Names

Riecoin.xyz and Riecoin.dev are the only domain names currently managed by the Riecoin Project. Others that might refer to Riecoin in some way or another are not affiliated with the Project.

Riecoin.org was the original domain name for the Riecoin Project, but Gatra refused to transfer the domain to the developers who took over the project as he abandoned it, though he did accept to point it to Riecoin.dev. Riecoin.org eventually expired but was squatted by the registrar who asked a high price that the Developers could not afford. It has then been bought by an unknown entity that is presumably using it for SEO.

Riecoin.xyz is now the current domain name and was a change from the .dev one as .xyz was deemed more appropriate for a general website not particularly focusing on development.

4.2. Social Accounts and Discussion Channels

The Riecoin Developers manage several accounts on some major social media, solely to spread awareness about the Project or as required by important entities such as exchanges, as doing so does not align with the Project's aspirations. It is a very low priority so profiles may appear inactive even though the Riecoin Developers are in fact fully dedicated and continuously check the status of the Riecoin ecosystem and maintain the software. Current social accounts or places are listed on the home page. Any other place or account is not affiliated with the Project and may be a scam.

The @Riecoin X account was the former Riecoin account, and in a similar fashion as the Riecoin.org domain name, Gatra never handed it over to the Developers, though he still gave them partial access via the TweetDeck interface, allowing limited features that include the ability to post from it. Now that TweetDeck is a paid service, @Riecoin can be considered as abandoned.

4.3. Mascot

Stella is also the name of our Official Mascot, which is inspired by Japanese Moe Mascots and the Vreneli Girl. The purpose of having a Mascot is to help spreading awareness about Riecoin and make the Project friendler and more recongnizable. Official merchandise featuring Stella such as Physical Coins are planned to be released, we are looking for Artists supporting the Riecoin Project to concretize such projects and to help spreading the word.