Deterministic evaluation.
The portable integer implementation defines the result. Accelerated implementations are required to reproduce it bit for bit.
PhotonicMoney.
Laser is a proof-of-work Layer 1 with ML-DSA-65 account authorization, exact integer state transitions, and PhotonHash matrix computation in block production.
Native account state. Greatest-valid-work chain selection. CPU and CUDA mining. Public Shadownet execution.
Matrix computation as proof of work.
PhotonHash binds each block candidate to parent-derived low-bit matrices and nonce-derived vectors. Exact integer evaluation determines consensus; the matrix workload provides a stable execution target for electronic and photonic hardware research.
Electronic mining.
The CPU miner is complete. An optional CUDA helper accelerates matrix evaluation; submitted work is rechecked by the CPU path.
Photonic workload.
Dense low-bit matrix operations are explicit in consensus and measurable independently from hashing, conversion, and control.
Transaction and block processing.
Signed intent
A wallet constructs a transaction and authorizes it with ML-DSA-65.
Authorization
Scheme-bound addresses and network-bound signing domains define who may change an account.
Account state
Nodes apply valid transfers, fees, rewards, balances, and issuance using exact integers.
Candidate block
A miner assembles valid state transitions and commits them to a candidate header.
PhotonHash
Parent-derived matrices and nonce-derived vectors produce the proof-of-work value.
Chain selection
Independently valid histories are compared by accumulated proof of work.
Public Shadownet execution.
Shadownet runs the Laser protocol across peer discovery, block propagation, ML-DSA-65 transaction validation, PhotonHash mining, persistent account state, and read-only explorer indexing.
Canonical height—Greatest valid accumulated work
- Network
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- Blocks
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- Orphans
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- Tip time
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- Tip hash
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- Chain work
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Data source: explorer.laserchain.org/api/tip. Refreshed every 15 seconds. Shadownet is the resettable public test environment.
PhotonHash profile development.
PhotonHash profiles are evaluated against optimized electronic implementations before consensus consideration. The primary electronic metric is the fraction of complete mining execution attributable to matrix operations. Photonic evaluation additionally includes modulation, detection, conversion, control, hashing, and exact-output yield.
The measurements below were produced with the bit-exact RTX 5090 implementation and its complete-pipeline benchmark harness.
PhotonHash v0.2.2
The CUDA implementation reproduced reference outputs and passed differential and sanitizer checks. Matrix execution accounted for approximately 11–12% of device time; SHAKE, expansion, requantization, and support stages comprised the remainder.
v0.2.2 is the current Shadownet consensus profile.
Recurrent R1
Fused recurrent execution raised the electronically accelerable share to approximately 93–94%. The construction required an exact nonlinear state-regeneration boundary between rounds.
Modeled conversion energy and measured noise sensitivity prevented the recurrent architecture from satisfying the complete-system criteria. The candidate is archived.
Feed-forward LF2-K8
LF2-K8 performs eight independent matrix passes followed by one exact boundary and final digest. The measured RTX 5090 GEMM-time share is 61.55–61.98%.
The candidate runs in read-only shadow instrumentation while independent implementation and adversarial qualification proceed.
Open the technical record
- Current consensus
- PhotonHash v0.2.2
- Reference behavior
- Portable exact integer CPU implementation
- Optional acceleration
- Separate CUDA mining helper; submitted work is rechecked by the CPU path
- Matrix derivation
- The parent block fixes the matrix context; candidate material derives fresh vectors
- LF2-K8 construction
- Eight feed-forward matrix passes followed by one exact conversion and final digest
- Qualification work
- Independent implementation, omission and approximation attacks, precomputation, batching, matrix-bank amortization, and cross-hardware analysis
- Photonic evaluation
- Complete-system energy and throughput accounting across matrix, conversion, control, hashing, and recheck stages
Post-quantum accounts and monetary state.
Laser uses ML-DSA-65 for account authorization and integer-valued state transitions for balances, fees, rewards, and issuance. Every node evaluates monetary validity during block validation.
Maximum issuance
The consensus supply cap is 137 million LASER. Nodes validate rewards and issuance as part of block acceptance.
Photons per LASER
Every ledger quantity is an integer. Photons are the atomic unit; LASER is the displayed denomination.
Target block interval
Proof-of-work discovery varies, but difficulty aims the network toward a ten-second block interval.
Authorization without elliptic-curve accounts.
Transactions use ML-DSA-65, standardized in NIST FIPS 204. Scheme-bound addresses identify the authorization method, while network-bound signing domains prevent a signature prepared for one Laser environment from being interpreted as authorization in another. The result is a native account-based ledger whose ownership model is post-quantum from the protocol boundary inward.
Open the ledger record
- Signature scheme
- ML-DSA-65
- Standard
- NIST FIPS 204
- State model
- Native account-based ledger
- Supply cap
- 137,000,000 LASER
- Atomic unit
- 1 LASER = 1,000,000,000 photons
- Public environment
- Shadownet, a resettable and valueless test network
Integrated protocol implementation.
Shadownet executes the node, wallet, miner, peer-discovery, seed, persistence, and explorer paths against a common public chain.
Technical publication.
Shadownet: First Public Execution of the Laser Protocol
A technical account of the network environment, consensus path, post-quantum transaction model, PhotonHash execution, public instrumentation, and qualification work now operating together.