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Nockchain

NOCK · Field entry
Storage & computePayments & moneyInfrastructurePrivacyCaution flag

A young proof-of-work chain where miners produce zero-knowledge proofs and AI compute

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$0.02065.83%Snapshot · October 20, 2026 · updates live
Market cap
$48.70M
24h volume
$837,267
Rank
#471
Circulating
2.36B NOCK
Max supply
4.29B NOCK
All-time high
$0.2102 October 17, 2025

NOCK price chart

7-day snapshot. Chart data from CoinGecko.

Read this first — caution flag. Nockchain is under 18 months old, its original developer Zorp has wound down and a newly formed board at Nock Community Co. now controls the protocol fund that receives 20% of new issuance, and its Base bridge cannot yet send NOCK back to the native chain. How to evaluate a project.

What is Nockchain?

Nockchain is a proof-of-work blockchain that went live in May 2025, originally built by the startup Zorp. Zorp wound down in 2026 and passed the project's trademark, web domains and GitHub code to Nock Community Co., which is organized as a non-stock corporation without equity holders. Instead of hashing, miners produce zero-knowledge proofs, and since August 2026 they can also earn blocks with AI inference work. Despite the zero-knowledge branding, its own documentation says NOCK transactions are not private today; a privacy app is only on the roadmap.

Utility Lens

What Nockchain actually does

Pays miners to do verifiable computation, zero-knowledge proving and AI inference, in exchange for a capped native coin.

Real-world usage
earlyMining and trading dominate; the AI compute network launched in August 2026 and general ZK jobs are still in development.
Token necessity
essentialNOCK pays transaction fees and is the only reward for miners securing the chain.
Decentralization
moderateMining is open to anyone with no pre-mine, but 20% of new issuance goes to a protocol fund governed by a small board at Nock Community Co., which took over Nockchain's trademark and code repositories from Zorp in 2026.
Track record
developingMainnet launched in May 2025, so the chain is about 17 months old; it has had several consensus upgrades but we found no major hacks.

How we rate

What it’s used for

Most activity is mining with ZK-proving or AI-inference hardware, and trading. A one-way bridge lets NOCK move to Base, where most trading happens on Aerodrome and Uniswap, and Kraken listed NOCK in June 2026. Apps built with the NockApp toolkit are early.

Role of the NOCK token:

gaspayments

Evidence of real use

Privacy: what’s hidden, what isn’t

Privacy model
app-level
What it hides
Nothing about transactions today. The zero-knowledge proofs used in mining prove that computation ran correctly; they do not hide senders, receivers or amounts.
What stays visible
Transaction values, notes and public chain state on Nockchain, plus everything about wrapped NOCK on Base.
Reality check
Nockchain's own docs list transaction privacy from mining proofs as 'Not provided.' A privacy pool app built to the ShieldedCSV specification is planned for the second quarter of 2027, so for now treat NOCK as a public, traceable coin.

Privacy coins, explained

How Nockchain works

Nockchain uses proof of work, but miners don't just hash. For each block attempt, a miner runs a fixed computation written in Nock, a tiny programming language, and produces a STARK, a compact zero-knowledge proof, that it did the work correctly. Nodes check the short proof instead of redoing the work. Difficulty is recalculated after every block.

Since the Logos upgrade in August 2026, there is a second way to mine. AI miners run Pearl-compatible matrix work for inference and prove it with a recursive STARK certificate. The ZK and AI lanes each have their own difficulty target but feed one chain and earn from the same emission schedule. Together they aim for a block roughly every 150 seconds, with about 70% of blocks coming from ZK miners and 30% from AI miners. Nockchain says the aim is for useful work, such as AI jobs, to secure the network.

The 'zero-knowledge' in Nockchain's mining is about proving computation, not about hiding transactions. Its documentation is explicit that the mining proof leaves transaction values and chain state in the open, and private NOCK transfers are not live. The roadmap plans a privacy pool app built to the ShieldedCSV specification for the second quarter of 2027, after a forced data availability feature it depends on.

Key moments

  1. 2024Delphi Ventures leads a $5 million seed investment in Zorp, the company building Nockchain.
  2. 2025The client is open-sourced under the MIT license, and mainnet launches on May 21 with no pre-mine.
  3. 2025A bridge to Base goes live in December, with wrapped NOCK; withdrawals back to Nockchain are planned for 2027.
  4. 2026Kraken lists NOCK in June, and the Logos upgrade launches the AI Compute Network in August.
  5. 2026Zorp, the original developer, winds down after transferring Nockchain's trademark, domains and GitHub repositories to Nock Community Co. in June.

Supply

Consensus caps NOCK at 2^32, or 4,294,967,296 coins, all issued through mining with no pre-mine. Under the current rules the block reward falls in steps to a floor of 64 NOCK and issuance stops at block 16,144,876. Each block's new coins are split 80% to the miner and 20% to a protocol fund, and transaction fees go to the miner.

Risks to understand

  • The Base bridge is one-way for now: withdrawals back to Nockchain are only planned for the first quarter of 2027.
  • The network is about 17 months old and has already changed its consensus rules several times.
  • A small board at Nock Community Co. governs the protocol fund that receives 20% of new issuance, and development rests with a few independent companies, which concentrates influence.
  • Don't buy NOCK expecting privacy: transactions are public today and the privacy pool app is only on the roadmap.
  • Specialized mining hardware and software are evolving fast, so mining can concentrate among well-funded operators.

Nockchain FAQ

Is Nockchain a privacy coin?

Not today. Its zero-knowledge proofs secure mining, and the project's FAQ says NOCK transactions are not currently private. A privacy pool app is planned for 2027.

What is zero-knowledge proof of work?

Miners compete by producing compact proofs that a set computation was done correctly, instead of guessing hashes. Nodes verify the short proof cheaply.

What is the NOCK supply cap?

2^32, or 4,294,967,296 NOCK, set by consensus rules, with issuance ending at block 16,144,876.

Sources

  1. Roadmap — Nockchain
  2. Zero-Knowledge Proof of Work — Nockchain Docs
  3. Frequently Asked Questions — Nockchain Docs
  4. Tokenomics overview — Nockchain Docs
  5. How Compute Networks Work — Nockchain Docs
  6. Announcing Nock Community Co. — Nockchain (X)
  7. NOCK is available for trading! — Kraken
  8. Where is Kraken licensed or regulated? — Kraken

Last reviewed October 20, 2026. Written by . Utility Lens ratings are editorial judgments, not investment advice. Market data from CoinGecko. Spot an error? Request a correction.

About the author

Dave McNaught has worked in IT since 1999 and founded All Business Technologies (ABT) in 2003, a Boston-area firm providing Managed IT, Cybersecurity, Managed AI, Web Design and App Development. He publishes The Crypto Guide.

Full bio