# A brief history of Neptune **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [April 2, 2026, 10:32am UTC](https://talk.neptune.cash/t/a-brief-history-of-neptune/250 "2026-04-02T10:32:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sword-smith](https://talk.neptune.cash/user_avatar/talk.neptune.cash/sword-smith/32/20_2.png) [@sword-smith](https://talk.neptune.cash/u/sword-smith)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2026, 10:32am UTC](https://talk.neptune.cash/t/a-brief-history-of-neptune/250/1 "2026-04-02T10:32:11Z")
For the benefit of those who haven’t followed the project from its launch in February 2025 or earlier, here’s a short summary of what I consider the most important events. This list is entirely subjective, and I’ve probably overlooked many important events. - April 2021: First commits to [\* neptune-core](https://github.com/Neptune-Crypto/neptune-core) and cryptography library [\* twenty-first](https://github.com/Neptune-Crypto/twenty-first). - April 2021: [\* Whitepaper](https://neptune.cash/whitepaper) is published. - Oct 2021: Triton Software AG is founded with the purpose of launching the Neptune blockchain. - Nov 2021: Triton Software AG gets its first investments so it can pay for the development of Neptune. The investor gets premine tokens in return. - Nov 2021: First commits to ZK-STARK engine [\* Triton VM](https://triton-vm.org/) - 2021-2025: Work, work, work: cryptography, virtual machine, Triton VM programs, mutator sets, node software. - March 2024: [\* First verification program](https://neptune.cash/articles/habemus-verifier) running in Triton VM, so Triton VM can prove the verification of its own proofs. - February 11, 2025: [\* Main net launch](https://neptune.cash/articles/mainnet-launch)! With [\* pre-announcement of launch](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5529759) posted on [bitcointalk.org](http://bitcointalk.org). - March 1, 2025: Independent listing by [\* safetrade.com](https://safetrade.com/), on their own initiative. - March 23, 2025: Hardfork 1 happens. It increases the max block size from 2MB to 8MB to allow for more inputs in each block. - July 4, 2025: [\* Inflation bug discovered](https://neptune.cash/articles/inflation-bug-discovered) in consensus code. Network is paused. Bug is discovered by founders, Alan and Thor. - August 5, 2025: Network is relaunched with a fix of the bug, with a [\* redemption process](https://neptune.cash/articles/utxo-redemption) so that all funds on the old network can be transferred to the new network, protecting user balances. The redemption pool is capped to the intended supply at the time of the pause, so the total supply is guaranteed to not exceed its intended amount. All redemptions come with cryptographic proofs such that the true premine (which excludes redemptions) can still be proven to be less than the promised 1.98 %. At the time of writing 80 % of the redemption fund has been paid out. - Nov 27, 2025: [\* More than 1.5m NPT are burned](https://talk.neptune.cash/t/list-of-known-burns/187). This amounts to almost two times the premine amount, giving Neptune Cash an “effective premine” of -1.65 %. - Jan 16, 2026: OtterSec contacts developers about [\* vulnerability in Triton VM v1.0.0](https://neptune.cash/articles/critical-vulnerability-disclosure) which Neptune uses. Network is paused. - February 3, 2026: Network is [\* started again](https://neptune.cash/articles/version-0.6.0) with a fixed Triton VM. The fix is included in Triton VM v2.0.0 and neptune-core v0.6.0. When the blockchain is resumed, ~2000 blocks are rolled back, to block height 23,400. So unlike the 1st vulnerability fix, this does not restart the blockchain but only rolls it back. This avoids the situation where the founders have to manage a redemption fund. In order to provide a cryptographic guarantee that the money supply was not inflated, a future transparency gateway/lustration barrier is planned. What did I overlook? Comment below to add more points to our timeline 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![sword-smith](https://talk.neptune.cash/user_avatar/talk.neptune.cash/sword-smith/32/20_2.png) [@sword-smith](https://talk.neptune.cash/u/sword-smith)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2026, 11:08am UTC](https://talk.neptune.cash/t/a-brief-history-of-neptune/250/2 "2026-04-02T11:08:30Z")
March 31, 2026: [Official lightweight wallet](https://neptune.cash/articles/neptune-wallet) is launched. ---
**Author:** ![sword-smith](https://talk.neptune.cash/user_avatar/talk.neptune.cash/sword-smith/32/20_2.png) [@sword-smith](https://talk.neptune.cash/u/sword-smith)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 12:58pm UTC](https://talk.neptune.cash/t/a-brief-history-of-neptune/250/3 "2026-06-04T12:58:15Z")
May 12, 2026: Hardfork “beta” is activated at [block height 38,000](https://neptunefundamentals.org/block/height/38000). This removes the memory hardness of the mining algorithm, adds a lustration barrier, and makes a few other technical changes in order to pave the way for succinctness. The lustration barrier acts as a check on the total supply: That no unintentional inflation has occurred due to past soundness bugs. It is a superior alternative to the claims fund which was how we ensured that a previous soundness bug had not inflated the total supply. The Neptune Cash Community website has a nice writeup of the hardfork: > **[Hardfork beta at block height 38,000 | Neptune Cash Community](https://useneptune.org/blog/hardfork-beta)** > > Neptune Cash's next consensus upgrade is scheduled for mainnet block height 38,000, estimated around May 12, 2026. Here's what it changes and why you should update your node. ---
**Author:** ![sword-smith](https://talk.neptune.cash/user_avatar/talk.neptune.cash/sword-smith/32/20_2.png) [@sword-smith](https://talk.neptune.cash/u/sword-smith)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 1:15pm UTC](https://talk.neptune.cash/t/a-brief-history-of-neptune/250/4 "2026-06-04T13:15:04Z")
May 29, 2026: With the release of `neptune-core` v0.11.0, support for t[wo new address formats is added](https://talk.neptune.cash/t/two-new-address-formats/302): viewing address `nview1…` and EC-hybrid addresses `nech1`… . These addresses are only 115, 168 characters long, whereas the original address format “generation” addresses are 3482 characters long. ---
**Author:** ![sword-smith](https://talk.neptune.cash/user_avatar/talk.neptune.cash/sword-smith/32/20_2.png) [@sword-smith](https://talk.neptune.cash/u/sword-smith)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2026, 12:38pm UTC](https://talk.neptune.cash/t/a-brief-history-of-neptune/250/5 "2026-06-18T12:38:20Z")
June 6 2026: Soundness issues in underlying `tasm-lib` and `triton-vm` is reported to the team through a responsible white hat hacker disclosure. Neptune’s underlying cryptography is heavily scrutinized through a team effort. The identified soundness issues are fixed over the next 10 days, and the consensus rules are upgraded, leading to [Hardfork “gamma”](https://talk.neptune.cash/t/hardfork-gamma-activated/333). The chain is paused and eventually rolled back to block height 40,299. The new hardfork is activated on June 18 2026. ---
**Author:** ![sword-smith](https://talk.neptune.cash/user_avatar/talk.neptune.cash/sword-smith/32/20_2.png) [@sword-smith](https://talk.neptune.cash/u/sword-smith)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 11:16am UTC](https://talk.neptune.cash/t/a-brief-history-of-neptune/250/6 "2026-10-05T11:16:10Z")
September 24, 2026: Hardfork delta is activated: It upgrades the version of Triton VM used, from proof-version 7 to proof-version 8. And hardfork delta also allows for “transaction chaining”, that unspent UTXOs can be spent before they are included in a block. Transaction chaining is a nice-to-have for wallets but a need-to-have for smart contracts since it allows for a smart contract to be interacted with multiple times in each block. UTXO-based blockchains without transaction chaining only allow for one smart contract interaction per block.