Every term, in plain words.

The text you share to get paid, like prl1p… It holds a 32-byte key or script fingerprint plus a checksum, and every Pearl mainnet address is exactly 63 characters long.

Also: prl1 address

Read the page Bech32m Human-readable part (HRP) Witness version Checksum

An optional last witness item that starts with the byte 0x50. Signatures commit to it, but no rule gives it a meaning yet. Pearl relays transactions that carry one; Bitcoin Core does not.

Read the page Witness Sighash

A table that gives each letter, digit and symbol a number from 0 to 127, so text can be stored as bytes. "P" is 0x50, "R" is 0x52, "L" is 0x4c.

Also: UTF-8 · text encoding

Read the page Byte Hexadecimal

The property that changing one bit of a hash function's input flips about half the bits of its output, so similar inputs give unrelated-looking hashes.

Read the page Hash function

A text encoding with 58 easy-to-read characters and a 4-byte double-SHA-256 checksum. Pearl uses it only for WIF private keys and zprv/zpub extended keys, never for addresses.

Also: base58

Read the page WIF Extended key Checksum

The format Pearl addresses are written in: a prefix (prl), the separator 1, data in a 32-character alphabet, and a 6-character checksum that catches typos. Same algorithm as Bitcoin’s bc1p addresses.

Also: BIP-350

Read the page Address Checksum Human-readable part (HRP)

Storing a number that spans several bytes with its biggest byte first, the way people write numbers. Pearl uses it for private keys and inside SHA-256, but stores most integers little-endian.

Read the page Little-endian Byte

A standard for encrypting the connection between two nodes. Pearl uses it for every connection, with no unencrypted fallback.

Also: v2 transport · encrypted transport

Read the page Peer Magic bytes

The block's height, written as the first push of the coinbase scriptSig. Every Pearl block must have it, which makes every coinbase transaction unique.

Also: coinbase height

Read the page Coinbase transaction Block height

The smallest piece of digital information: a 0 or a 1. Eight bits make a byte.

Also: binary digit · binary

Read the page Byte

The first cryptocurrency, launched in 2009. Pearl is built from Bitcoin software, so many parts work the same way, and some important parts do not.

Also: BTC

Read the page Pearl Cryptocurrency

A 4-byte field in the header that stores the target in a compact form. Pearl's easiest allowed value, difficulty 1, is 0x1b00ffff.

Also: nBits · compact target

Read the page Target Difficulty

A fast, modern hash function that is built internally as a Merkle tree. Pearl's mining uses it for the job key, the matrix fingerprints, the noise and the lottery tickets.

Pearl uses standard BLAKE3, not a modified version. Its tree shape lets a miner commit to a huge matrix and later prove that a few rows belong to it, without revealing the rest.

Read the page Keyed hash Ticket Job key Merkle tree

A batch of transactions added to the chain together, with a header that links it to the block before and a certificate that proves the mining work.

Read the page Block header Certificate Blockchain

A website for browsing the blockchain: blocks, transactions and address balances, shown in readable form.

Also: explorer

Read the page Block Transaction

A block's ID: the double SHA-256 of its 108-byte header. On Pearl it looks random, because it is never compared with the target.

Also: block ID

Read the page Block header SHA256d Target

A block's 108-byte summary: version, the previous block's hash, the Merkle root, time, bits and the proof commitment. Unlike Bitcoin's 80-byte header, it has no nonce.

Also: header

Read the page Block hash Proof commitment Merkle root Bits

A block's position in the chain, counting from the genesis block at height 0.

Also: height

Read the page Genesis block Block

The time between one block and the next. Pearl aims for 194 seconds on average (3 minutes 14 seconds), against Bitcoin's 10 minutes.

Also: block time · target spacing

Read the page WTEMA Difficulty

A list of block hashes from a node’s chain, dense near the tip and sparser further back, sent in getheaders so a peer can find where the two chains split.

Read the page Headers-first sync Chain tip

What a block's miner may pay itself: the newly created coins (the subsidy) plus all the fees of the block's transactions.

Read the page Subsidy Fee Coinbase transaction

The block a miner is trying to win: transactions chosen, header filled in except its last field. On Pearl the template fixes the first 76 header bytes, and all the puzzle’s randomness flows from them.

Also: candidate block · getblocktemplate

Read the page Job key Block header Miner

The ledger itself: a chain of blocks, each holding a batch of transactions and pointing to the block before it by its hash. Changing an old block breaks every link after it.

Also: the chain

Read the page Block Block hash Ledger

An older way for a light wallet to ask a node for only its own transactions (BIP-37). The node replies with merkleblock messages, which on Pearl carry the header but not the certificate.

Also: BIP-37 · filterload

Read the page Light client Compact block filters

Eight bits, enough to hold a whole number from 0 to 255. Written as two hexadecimal characters, from 00 to ff.

Also: bytes

Read the page Bit Hexadecimal

The proof of work that travels in front of every block: about 60 KB, mostly a zero-knowledge proof. Any node can check it in milliseconds without seeing the miner's matrices.

Also: PoW certificate · ZK certificate

Read the page Zero-knowledge proof Proof commitment Ticket

The extra 32 bytes that travel with every key in an HD wallet. Child keys need the key and the chain code, so a public key alone is not enough to find its children.

Read the page Extended key HD wallet HMAC

The newest block of the chain a node currently follows. New blocks are built on top of it.

Also: tip · best block

Read the page Most-work chain Block height Reorg

The total expected work behind a chain, added up from each block's target. On Pearl it is roughly a count of multiply-accumulates.

Also: chainwork · cumulative work

Read the page Most-work chain Target Multiply-accumulate

The leftover a transaction sends back to its sender. Outputs are spent whole, so if they hold more than you're paying, the rest comes back to you as a new output.

Also: change output

Read the page Output Input

A block hash built into the node software at a fixed height. Pearl has one every 10,000 blocks so far, and nodes refuse any chain that disagrees with them.

Read the page Block height pearld

A few extra characters calculated from the rest of a code, so that a typo can be spotted. Every Pearl address ends with a six-character checksum.

Read the page Bech32m Address

The second level of a wallet path, which keeps each coin's keys apart. Pearl mainnet uses 808276, the ASCII codes of P, R and L written as decimals; test networks use 1.

Also: 808276

Read the page Derivation path HD wallet

The rule that newly mined coins cannot be spent until 100 more blocks have been added on top, in case their block is replaced.

Read the page Coinbase transaction Reorg

The first transaction in every block. It has no real inputs: it creates the block's new PRL and pays them, plus the fees, to the miner.

Also: coinbase

Read the page Block reward Subsidy Coinbase maturity

The property that no one can find two different inputs with the same hash. Without it, one signed or committed message could be swapped for another.

Also: collision

Read the page Hash function Preimage resistance

A hash published in advance that pins down some data without showing all of it. Change the data later and the hash no longer matches, so the data is locked in.

Read the page Hash Proof commitment Merkle root

Small summaries of each block that let a light client ask “might this block involve my addresses?” without telling anyone which addresses.

Also: BIP-157 · BIP-158

Read the page Light client

A space-saving way to write a count or a length: numbers below 253 take one byte, bigger ones take 3, 5 or 9 bytes. Same as Bitcoin.

Also: varint · compact size

Read the page Byte Little-endian

The block holding your transaction counts as one confirmation, and each block added on top counts as one more. The more confirmations, the harder it is to undo.

Also: confirmations

Read the page Block Reorg

The rules every node checks for itself, like “no spending coins twice” or “the proof of work must be valid”. A block that breaks one is rejected, whoever made it.

Also: consensus

Read the page Node Hard fork Soft fork

The last item of a script-path witness: a few bytes proving that the script being run really belongs to the output's script tree.

Read the page Tapscript P2TR (Pay-to-Taproot) P2MR (Pay-to-Merkle-Root)

Digital money with no bank in the middle: a shared ledger kept by many computers, where ownership is proven with cryptography instead of an account at a company.

Also: crypto · digital currency

Read the page Ledger Blockchain

Having no one in charge. Pearl’s ledger is kept and checked by many independent computers, so no single person or company can change its rules alone.

Also: decentralized

Read the page Node Consensus rules

Removing the noise's effect after multiplying, to get the exact product of the original matrices: the useful answer. It is cheap because the noise has low rank.

Read the page Low-rank noise Inference

The route through a wallet's key tree to one key, written like m/86'/808276'/0'/0/0 (Pearl's first receive address). 808276 comes from the letters P, R, L (codes 80, 82, 76).

Also: BIP-86 path · coin type

Read the page HD wallet Extended key

How much harder it is to find a block now than at the easiest level Pearl allows (difficulty 1). It is retuned after every block.

Read the page Target Bits WTEMA

A name server that gives a brand-new node the addresses of active nodes, so it can find its first peers. Pearl mainnet has 3.

Read the page Peer Node

Mixing a label into a hash so that hashes made for one purpose can never be mistaken for hashes made for another. Tagged hashes and keyed BLAKE3 both do it.

Read the page Tagged hash Keyed hash

Multiply two lists of numbers pair by pair and add up the results: (1, 2, 3) · (4, 5, 6) = 4 + 10 + 18 = 32.

Read the page Matrix multiplication Multiply-accumulate

Trying to spend the same coins twice, for example paying two people with one coin. Stopping this without a bank is the main job of a blockchain.

Also: double spending

Read the page Blockchain Confirmation

An output so small that spending it would eat a large share of its value in fees. Pearl nodes won't pass on transactions that create Taproot or P2MR outputs below 333 grains.

Read the page Output Fee rate

A way of writing an elliptic-curve public key as 64 bytes that look completely random. BIP-324 uses it so even the key exchange that opens a connection gives nothing away.

Read the page BIP-324 Public key

A special curve whose points can be “added” together. Multiplying a point by a number is easy, but undoing it is practically impossible, which is what keeps private keys secret.

Read the page secp256k1 Public key

The schedule for creating new PRL. By block h, at most 2.1 billion × h ÷ (h + 650,226) PRL exist, so half arrives in about four years and the rest ever more slowly.

Also: issuance · emission curve

Read the page Subsidy PRL Halving

The random bits a wallet starts from. A Pearl wallet draws 128 random bits, which become 12 words; everything else is computed from them.

Also: randomness

Read the page Mnemonic Seed Private key

A key plus extra data (a chain code) that lets you derive a family of child keys from it. Pearl mainnet writes them starting with zprv (private) and zpub (public).

Also: zprv · zpub · xpub

Read the page HD wallet Derivation path

Free bytes a miner or pool puts in the coinbase scriptSig, often a counter or a pool tag. Changing them changes the coinbase txid and so the block's Merkle root.

Read the page Coinbase transaction Merkle root

What a transaction leaves for the miner: the total of its inputs minus the total of its outputs. The miner who puts it in a block keeps it.

Also: transaction fee

Read the page Fee rate Virtual byte (vbyte) Block reward

A transaction's fee divided by its size, in grains per vbyte. Miners prefer higher rates; nodes won't pass on anything below 1 grain per vbyte.

Read the page Fee Virtual byte (vbyte) Mempool

A trick that turns a back-and-forth proof into a single message: the verifier’s random questions are replaced by hashes of everything said so far.

Also: Fiat-Shamir transform

Read the page Zero-knowledge proof STARK

When two competing branches carry exactly the same work, a node keeps the one it received first instead of switching.

Read the page Most-work chain Reorg Stale block

A classic trick for checking a claimed matrix product with random vectors, far faster than redoing it. Pearl doesn't use it, but it shows why checking can be much cheaper than doing.

Also: Freivalds' algorithm

Read the page Matrix multiplication Zero-knowledge proof

A node that downloads and checks every block and every transaction itself, trusting no one.

Read the page Node Light client

A fixed, publicly known point on an elliptic curve. Your public key is the generator point multiplied by your private key.

Also: G · base point

Read the page Elliptic curve Public key Private key

Block 0, written into the software rather than mined. Pearl's is dated 27 April 2026, pays no reward, and quotes a Bitcoin block hash to show it wasn't made earlier.

Also: block 0

Read the page Block height Block

Graphics processing unit: a chip with thousands of small cores working in parallel. Built for games, it now does most AI math, and Pearl mining.

Also: graphics card · graphics processing unit

Read the page Tensor core Matrix multiplication

The smallest amount of PRL: one hundred-millionth of a coin (0.00000001 PRL). Every amount inside a transaction is counted in grains.

Grains play the part that satoshis play in Bitcoin. 1 PRL = 100,000,000 grains.

Also: grains

Read the page PRL

In Bitcoin, the block reward is cut in half every 210,000 blocks. Pearl has no halvings: its reward shrinks smoothly, a tiny bit every block.

Also: halvening

Read the page Emission Subsidy

A rule change that old software rejects, so every node must upgrade. Pearl has had two, at blocks 71,935 and 99,000, each requiring a new certificate version.

Read the page Soft fork Consensus rules Certificate

A way to make a child key that needs the parent's private key, marked with ' in a path (86'). Child numbers 2³¹ and up are hardened. A leaked child key then can't expose its siblings.

Also: hardened key · '

Read the page Derivation path Extended key HD wallet

The output of a hash function: a short, fixed-size fingerprint of some data, usually shown in hexadecimal.

Also: digest · fingerprint

Read the page Hash function SHA-256 BLAKE3

A function that turns any data into a fixed-size fingerprint. The same input always gives the same output, a tiny change gives a completely different one, and you can't work backwards.

Read the page Hash Avalanche effect SHA-256 BLAKE3

How much mining work happens per second. On Pearl it counts multiply-accumulates, not hashes, even though explorers label it H/s.

Also: network hashrate · H/s

Read the page Multiply-accumulate Difficulty

A wallet that grows a whole tree of keys from one seed, always in the same order. Pearl wallets work this way, so one backup restores every address.

Also: hierarchical deterministic wallet · BIP-32

Read the page Seed Extended key Derivation path

How a new node catches up: it first downloads and checks block headers up to the next checkpoint, then fetches the blocks. On Pearl each header comes with its certificate, and every certificate is verified.

Also: initial block download · IBD

Read the page Checkpoint Certificate Block header

A way of writing numbers with sixteen digits, 0–9 then a–f. One byte is always exactly two hex characters, which is why keys and hashes are shown in hex.

Also: hex · base 16

Read the page Byte

A standard recipe, built on HMAC, for turning one shared secret into several independent keys. Pearl’s encrypted transport salts it with "pearl_v2_shared_secret" plus the network’s magic bytes.

Also: HMAC-based key derivation

Read the page HMAC BIP-324 Magic bytes

A hash that takes a secret key as well as a message. HD wallets use HMAC-SHA512 to make each child key and chain code; the master key uses the fixed key "Bitcoin seed".

Also: HMAC-SHA512

Read the page Hash function HD wallet PBKDF2

The prefix before the 1 in an address, naming its network: prl on mainnet, tprl on the test networks and rprl on regtest.

Also: HRP · prefix

Read the page Address Bech32m Testnet

Running a trained AI model to get an answer, as opposed to training it. Most of the work is matrix multiplication, which is why Pearl mining can happen inside it.

Read the page LLM vLLM Matrix multiplication

The part of a transaction that names an earlier output and spends it, all of it at once.

Read the page Output Outpoint Witness

A whole number stored in 8 bits, from −128 to 127. Pearl's matrices hold numbers in the range [−64, 64]; once noise is added they use almost the full 8-bit range.

Also: 8-bit integer · int7

Read the page Quantization Tensor core Low-rank noise

The x-only public key a wallet starts from, before the Taproot tweak. It never appears on chain in a normal spend; the address holds the tweaked output key instead.

Also: untweaked key · P

Read the page Output key Taproot tweak X-only public key

A short announcement listing the hashes of new blocks or transactions a node has. A peer that lacks one asks for it with getdata.

Also: inventory · inv · getdata

Read the page Peer Mempool

A BLAKE3 hash of the block template (the header minus its proof commitment) and the mining settings. All of the puzzle's randomness flows from it, tying the work to one block.

Read the page Noise seed BLAKE3 Block header

The first 4 bytes of HASH160 of a compressed public key. Extended keys store their parent's fingerprint to help software find where they sit in the tree. It is one of the few places Pearl still uses RIPEMD-160.

Also: fingerprint · parent fingerprint

Read the page Extended key HD wallet

Spending a Taproot output with one Schnorr signature from the tweaked key, and nothing else in the witness. It is how Pearl wallets spend almost every coin. P2MR outputs have no key path.

Also: key path

Read the page Script-path spend P2TR (Pay-to-Taproot) Schnorr signature

A hash with a 32-byte key mixed in, so the same data gives a different result under a different key. Pearl's mining keys its BLAKE3 hashes with the job key or a noise seed, tying every result to one job.

Also: keyed BLAKE3

Read the page BLAKE3 Job key Noise seed

A record of who owns what. Pearl's ledger is its blockchain, and every full node keeps its own complete copy.

Read the page Blockchain Full node

Software that downloads block headers instead of whole blocks. Pearl's light client still checks every header's certificate, so it is lighter than a full node but much heavier than a Bitcoin one.

Also: SPV client · light wallet

Read the page Full node Compact block filters Certificate

Storing a number that spans several bytes with its smallest byte first. Pearl, like Bitcoin, stores numbers this way, and shows hashes with their bytes reversed.

Also: byte order · endianness

Read the page Byte Hash

An AI model trained on huge amounts of text that writes text in reply, such as the Llama models published for Pearl's official miner.

Also: large language model

Read the page Inference vLLM

The script inside an output that says what is needed to spend it. On Pearl it is always one of three short patterns: Taproot, P2MR or OP_RETURN.

Also: scriptPubKey · output script

Read the page Output P2TR (Pay-to-Taproot) P2MR (Pay-to-Merkle-Root) OP_RETURN

A field that stops a transaction from being valid before a chosen block height or time. Zero, the usual value, means no lock.

Also: nLockTime

Read the page Sequence Block height

Random-looking numbers a miner must add to both matrices before multiplying. No one can predict them in advance, and because they have low rank (128) they are cheap to remove afterwards.

Also: noise · noise matrix

Read the page Rank Noise seed Denoising

Four bytes that name a network: “PRLM” on Pearl's mainnet. Because Pearl encrypts all traffic between nodes, they never appear in plain view on the wire.

Also: network magic

Read the page BIP-324 Testnet

A grid of numbers arranged in rows and columns. AI models store most of what they have learned as huge matrices.

Also: matrices

Read the page Matrix multiplication Rank

Combining two matrices into a third: each cell of the result is a row of the first times a column of the second (a dot product). It is the main work inside AI models, and inside Pearl mining.

Also: matmul · GEMM

Read the page Matrix Dot product Multiply-accumulate

The median timestamp of the previous 11 blocks. Time-based locktimes are compared against it, not against the clock, so miners cannot unlock coins early by lying about the time.

Also: MTP · BIP-113

Read the page Locktime Timestamp

Each node's waiting room for valid transactions that aren't in a block yet. Miners pick from it, usually the best-paying ones first.

Also: memory pool

Read the page Fee rate Transaction Node

Mining two blockchains with the same work, by tagging one chain’s blocks with data from the other. Some Pearl coinbases carry such tags.

Read the page Coinbase transaction Mining pool

The handful of sibling hashes needed to rebuild a Merkle root from one leaf. It proves the leaf is in the tree without showing the other leaves.

Also: Merkle branch · inclusion proof · authentication path

Read the page Merkle tree Merkle root

One 32-byte hash that sums up every transaction in a block, made by hashing them in pairs up a Merkle tree. It sits in the header, so changing any transaction changes the block.

Read the page Merkle tree Block header TXID

A tree of hashes: hash the items in pairs, then hash those results in pairs, and so on up to one hash at the top. You can prove one item is in the tree with just a handful of hashes.

Also: hash tree

Read the page Merkle root Hash

A person or computer that mines: it builds a candidate block, does the work, and announces the block to the network when it wins.

Read the page Mining Mining pool

Adding new blocks to the chain. Miners do costly work for the chance to add the next block and collect its reward; on Pearl, that work is multiplying matrices.

Read the page Miner Proof of work Block reward

A group of miners who combine their work and share the rewards. On Pearl, the pool's software also turns a member's winning ticket into the block's zero-knowledge certificate.

Also: pool

Read the page Share Miner Certificate

An AI model design that sends each word to a few specialist sub-networks. Pearl accepted mining proofs from such layers from block 71,935, and has rejected them again since block 91,630.

Also: MoE

Read the page Hard fork Soft fork

The 12 English words a Pearl wallet shows you when it is created. They encode the random number every key comes from, so anyone who has them controls the coins.

Also: seed phrase · recovery phrase · 12 words · BIP-39

Read the page Seed HD wallet Self-custody

Arithmetic that wraps around after a fixed number, like hours on a clock: with mod 17, 15 + 5 = 3. Elliptic-curve keys and signatures are all computed this way.

Also: clock arithmetic · mod

Read the page Elliptic curve secp256k1

The rule nodes use to choose between competing branches: follow the valid one with the most total work. Pearl only switches if the new branch leads by at least a quarter of a block’s work.

Also: longest chain · best chain

Read the page Chain work Reorg

One multiplication added onto a running total. A big matrix multiplication is billions of them, and Pearl's hashrate counts them.

Also: MAC · multiply-add

Read the page Dot product Hashrate

A lock that needs several signatures, such as 2 of 2 or 2 of 3. On Pearl it is written in tapscript with OP_CHECKSIGADD; the old OP_CHECKMULTISIG always fails.

Also: k-of-n · OP_CHECKSIGADD

Read the page Tapscript Script Signature

A node's own clock, corrected by the median of the time differences its peers report. Pearl rejects blocks timestamped more than 5 minutes past it.

Read the page Timestamp Peer

Half a byte: four bits, which is exactly one hexadecimal digit (0 to f).

Also: half-byte

Read the page Bit Byte Hexadecimal

A computer running Pearl's software. It keeps a copy of the blockchain, checks every new block and transaction against the rules, and passes them on.

Read the page Full node Peer pearld

One of two random-looking values made from the job key and fingerprints of the two matrices (and, since block 99,000, their sizes). Each seed grows into one noise matrix.

Also: seed A · seed B

Read the page Job key Low-rank noise Keyed hash

In Bitcoin, the number in the header a miner keeps changing until the block hash is low enough. Pearl's header has no nonce: miners multiply matrices instead.

Read the page Proof commitment Block header

A signature scheme built only from a hash function, where each key may sign just one message. Signing twice with the same key gives away enough secrets to forge.

Also: OTS · Lamport signature

Read the page Winternitz signature (WOTS+) XMSS

An opcode that joins two pieces of data into one. Bitcoin switched it off long ago; Pearl turns it on inside tapscript.

Read the page Opcode Tapscript

A Pearl-only opcode (0xde) that checks a post-quantum XMSS signature. It works only in tapscript, and the 2,340-byte signature is passed in five 468-byte pieces.

Read the page XMSS Tapscript Post-quantum

An output that starts with OP_RETURN. It can carry data but can never be spent, so it never joins the set of unspent outputs.

Also: null data · data output

Read the page Output Locking script

In Bitcoin tapscript, unused opcodes that make a script succeed at once, kept for future upgrades. Pearl has none: an unknown opcode makes the script fail.

Also: OP_SUCCESSx · upgrade hook

Read the page Opcode Tapscript Soft fork

One instruction in Script, written as a single byte, such as OP_CAT (0x7e). On Pearl, an unknown opcode makes the script fail.

Read the page Script OP_CAT OP_CHECKXMSSSIG

A column of numbers times a row of numbers, giving a whole matrix where every row is a multiple of the same row. It is the simplest kind of matrix: rank 1.

Also: rank-1 matrix

Read the page Rank Matrix multiplication

A pointer to one specific output: the ID of the transaction that made it, plus the number of the output within that transaction.

Also: prevout

Read the page Input TXID

The part of a transaction that creates a new chunk of PRL: an amount in grains and a lock saying who can spend it. Pearl allows only three kinds: Taproot, P2MR and OP_RETURN.

Read the page UTXO Input Locking script

The tweaked public key Q = P + t·G that a Taproot output locks to. Its 32 bytes are the witness program, and its bech32m form is the prl1p… address.

Also: tweaked key · Q

Read the page Internal key Taproot tweak Witness program

Pearl's reference wallet program, which runs in the background and is driven by the oystercli command line. It is derived from btcwallet, and the Pearl Desktop Wallet uses it under the hood.

Also: oystercli

Read the page Wallet Pearl Desktop Wallet pearld

An output locked only by a tree of scripts, with no public key in it: witness version 2, addresses starting prl1z. Valid on Pearl from the start; still a draft proposal for Bitcoin.

Also: Pay-to-Merkle-Root · BIP-360 · prl1z

Read the page P2TR (Pay-to-Taproot) Tapscript Post-quantum

The standard Pearl output: witness version 1, with addresses starting prl1p. It can be spent with one Schnorr signature, or through a hidden tree of scripts.

Also: Pay-to-Taproot · prl1p

Read the page Taproot P2MR (Pay-to-Merkle-Root) Address

A deliberately slow way to turn a password into a key by hashing it thousands of times. BIP-39 runs it 2,048 times with HMAC-SHA512 to turn the 12 words into a 64-byte seed.

Read the page HMAC Seed Mnemonic

A digital money network built from Bitcoin's code, where miners earn new coins by multiplying matrices, the same math AI models run on. Its coin is PRL.

Pearl's first block is dated 27 April 2026. Anyone can run its software, keep a copy of its ledger and check every rule. The reference software is built by Pearl Research Labs.

Also: Pearl network · Pearl blockchain

Read the page PRL Proof of useful work Bitcoin

The point-and-click wallet app made by Pearl Research Labs. It creates a wallet backed by 12 words and runs Oyster behind the scenes.

Read the page Oyster Wallet Mnemonic

The company that develops Pearl’s reference software: the pearld node, the Oyster wallet, the miner and the Pearl Desktop Wallet.

pearld Oyster Pearl Desktop Wallet

Pearl’s reference software between a node and GPU miners. It turns block templates into mining jobs, turns a winning share into the block’s certificate, and submits the block.

Also: gateway

Read the page Plain proof Certificate Mining pool

Pearl's reference node software, written in Go and derived from btcd, a Bitcoin node.

Read the page Node Oyster

Another node that yours is directly connected to. Blocks and transactions spread from peer to peer.

Also: peer-to-peer · P2P

Read the page Node DNS seed

What a miner sends its pool or gateway for a winning tile: the real rows of A and columns of B with Merkle paths to their fingerprints. Anyone holding it can recompute the ticket; it is turned into the much smaller zero-knowledge certificate.

Also: share proof · PlainProof

Read the page Share Certificate Merkle proof

A proof system that can efficiently check other proofs. Pearl wraps its STARK in two Plonky2 layers to shrink it to about 59.6 KB; the final layer is the zero-knowledge one.

Read the page STARK Zero-knowledge proof Certificate

A numbered door on a computer that a program listens on. Pearl nodes listen for peers on port 44108 and for local commands (RPC) on 44107.

Read the page Peer Magic bytes

Describes cryptography believed to stay secure even against large quantum computers. In Pearl, that means XMSS signatures, which are optional.

Also: quantum-safe · quantum-resistant

Read the page XMSS Quantum computer

The property that, given a hash, you cannot find any input that produces it, short of trying inputs one by one for longer than the universe has existed.

Also: one-way

Read the page Hash function Collision resistance

A huge random number (256 bits) that only you should know. It lets you sign transactions that spend your coins, so whoever has it controls them.

Read the page Public key Signature Mnemonic

The coin of the Pearl network. At most 2.1 billion PRL will ever exist, and each one splits into 100,000,000 grains.

Also: pearls · Pearl coin

Read the page Grain Emission

The last 32 bytes of a Pearl block header, where Bitcoin has its nonce. It is a hash of the certificate's public data, so the block's ID is tied to the winning lottery ticket.

Also: ProofCommitment

Read the page Certificate Block header Nonce

Proof of work whose computation can also be useful. Pearl's is matrix multiplication, the main math inside AI models, though the rules do not check that the matrices mean anything.

Also: PoUW

Read the page Proof of work Matrix multiplication Usefulness gap

A way to decide who adds the next block: show evidence of a lot of computation. Because the work is costly, rewriting history would mean redoing it.

Also: PoW

Read the page Proof of useful work Mining Chain work

The largest target, so the easiest block, the rules allow. On Pearl's mainnet it is 2²⁰⁸ − 1; in compact form that rounds down to bits 0x1b00ffff, which is difficulty 1.

Also: PowLimit · minimum difficulty · maximum target

Read the page Target Difficulty Bits

A number that says which message formats a node speaks. Pearl's is 2, and nodes refuse peers below 2.

Read the page Version handshake

A full node that checks every block but deletes old ones afterwards to save disk space. It can no longer serve the whole history to others.

Read the page Full node Service flags

The 164-byte readable part of a certificate: the mining settings, fingerprints of both matrices, the winning ticket, the matrix sizes and the tile's position. The header's proof commitment is a hash of it.

Also: certificate public data · PublicData

Read the page Certificate Proof commitment Ticket

A number made from your private key with elliptic-curve math. Anyone can use it to check your signatures, but no one can work backwards from it to the private key.

Read the page Private key X-only public key Elliptic curve

Rounding numbers to a smaller set of values so they fit in fewer bits. Pearl's miner turns an AI layer's numbers into small whole numbers so the GPU's fast integer circuits can multiply them.

Read the page INT8 Inference

A computer that uses quantum physics to solve certain problems far faster. A large enough one could work out a private key from its public key on curves like secp256k1; none that large is publicly known to exist.

Read the page Post-quantum XMSS secp256k1

A measure of how much independent information a matrix holds. A low-rank matrix can be built from two thin ones, which makes it cheap to create and to undo.

Read the page Low-rank noise Matrix

A rule since block 96,251: the noise rank must be at least 128, and a higher rank makes the winning bar proportionally stricter, so it buys no advantage.

Read the page Rank Low-rank noise Soft fork

A lock written in an input's sequence number: the coin it spends must be a certain number of blocks (or 512-second units) old. It only applies to transactions of version 2 or higher.

Also: BIP-68 · CSV

Read the page Sequence Locktime

When a node drops the newest block or blocks of its chain because a competing branch with more work appeared. Transactions from the dropped blocks go back to waiting.

Also: reorganization · chain reorganization

Read the page Most-work chain Confirmation Stale block

Swapping an unconfirmed transaction for a new version that pays a higher fee. On Pearl it is opt-in, and the reference wallet doesn't turn it on.

Also: RBF

Read the page Sequence Fee Mempool

Storing a matrix as one long list, row after row. Column-major stores it column after column. Pearl commits to matrix A row by row and to B column by column.

Also: column-major · memory layout

Read the page Matrix

The signature scheme Pearl uses to spend coins: 64 bytes, defined in Bitcoin's BIP-340. Pearl transactions never use the older ECDSA signatures.

Also: Schnorr · BIP-340

Read the page Signature X-only public key secp256k1

The tiny programming language that sets the conditions for spending an output, such as “show a valid signature for this key”.

Read the page Opcode Tapscript Locking script

Spending a Taproot or P2MR output by revealing one of its committed scripts, the inputs that satisfy it and a control block that proves the script was committed to.

Also: script path

Read the page Key-path spend Control block TapLeaf hash

An input's old-style unlocking field. In Pearl it is always empty (one 00 byte) except in the coinbase, because every spend puts its proof in the witness instead.

Also: unlocking script · signature script

Read the page Input Witness Coinbase transaction

The particular elliptic curve Bitcoin uses. Pearl uses exactly the same curve for its keys and Schnorr signatures.

Read the page Elliptic curve Schnorr signature

The 64-byte number computed from your 12 words. Every private key and address in your wallet is derived from it, so backing up the words backs up everything.

Also: wallet seed

Read the page Mnemonic HD wallet

The transaction layout, from Bitcoin, that keeps witnesses separate. Pearl uses it from its very first block, but allows only witness versions 1 and 2.

Also: Segregated Witness

Read the page Witness Witness version

Holding your own keys, usually as your 12 words, instead of trusting an exchange or another company to hold them for you.

Read the page Wallet Mnemonic

A 4-byte number in each input, used for relative time locks and to signal that a transaction may be replaced by one paying more (RBF).

Also: nSequence

Read the page Locktime Replace-by-fee (RBF)

Bits a node sets in its version message to say what it offers, such as full blocks, compact block filters or encrypted transport.

Also: services · service bits

Read the page Version handshake Full node

A widely used hash function that produces a 256-bit (32-byte) fingerprint. Pearl uses it, as Bitcoin does, for transaction IDs, block hashes and signatures.

Read the page SHA256d Tagged hash Hash function

SHA-256 applied twice: the hash of the hash. Pearl's block hashes, transaction IDs, Merkle roots and proof commitments all use it.

Also: double SHA-256 · HASH256

Read the page SHA-256 Block hash TXID

A hash function from the SHA-3 family that can produce output of any length. In Pearl it is used only inside XMSS signatures.

Also: SHA-3 · Keccak

Read the page XMSS Hash function

A ticket that beats an easier target set by a pool. Shares show a miner is working; one that also beats the network's target wins a block.

Read the page Mining pool Ticket Target

The exact message a signature signs: a tagged hash of the transaction's parts. A flag picks which parts are covered; Pearl's wallet signs all of them.

Also: signature hash · SIGHASH_DEFAULT

Read the page Signature Tagged hash

Proof, made with a private key, that the key's owner approved one exact transaction. Anyone can check it with the public key, and it is useless for any other transaction.

Also: digital signature

Read the page Schnorr signature Private key Sighash

A secret one-time number used inside each Schnorr signature. It must never repeat for different messages, or the private key can be worked out. Not the same thing as a mining nonce.

Also: k · signature nonce

Read the page Schnorr signature Private key

A per-input allowance of 50 plus the witness size. Each signature check spends 50, OP_CAT spends a little, OP_CHECKXMSSSIG spends 1,000. It is Pearl's only limit on signature work; there is no block sigops limit.

Also: validation budget

Read the page Tapscript OP_CAT OP_CHECKXMSSSIG

A rule change that only tightens the rules, so old software still accepts the new blocks. Pearl's soft forks came at blocks 91,630 and 96,251.

Read the page Hard fork Consensus rules Rank penalty

Mining alone, against your own node, instead of in a pool. You keep the whole reward when you win, but wins are rare and irregular unless you control a lot of hardware.

Read the page Mining pool Miner

How hard it is to cheat a verifier: the chance that a false claim is accepted. A sound check catches a cheat with high probability.

Read the page Freivalds' check Zero-knowledge proof

The pile of values a script works on. Each step pushes a value on top or takes values off the top, like a stack of plates. A spend succeeds if exactly one true value is left at the end.

Also: script stack

Read the page Script Opcode Witness

A valid block that lost a race: a different block at the same height ended up in the winning chain, so its reward can never be spent.

Also: orphan block

Read the page Reorg Most-work chain

A node's own extra rules for which unconfirmed transactions it will relay, like the dust limit or one OP_RETURN per transaction. Breaking policy keeps a transaction out of the mempool; breaking consensus makes a block invalid.

Also: relay policy · standard transaction · policy

Read the page Consensus rules Mempool Dust

A kind of proof that needs no secret setup and is built from hash functions. Pearl's certificate starts as a STARK, which is then compressed by Plonky2.

Read the page Plonky2 Zero-knowledge proof

The brand-new PRL created in each block. Block 1 created about 3,229.64 PRL, and the amount shrinks a little with every block after that.

Also: block subsidy

Read the page Block reward Emission Halving

SHA-256 with a label mixed in first, so a hash made for one purpose (say, signing) can never be confused with one made for another. Pearl uses Bitcoin’s tags unchanged.

Read the page SHA-256 Taproot tweak Sighash

The tagged hash of one script in a Taproot or P2MR script tree: TaggedHash("TapLeaf", leaf version ‖ length ‖ script). With a single script, it is the Merkle root.

Also: leaf hash · script leaf

Read the page Tagged hash Merkle root Control block

A design for outputs, taken from Bitcoin, that locks coins to one public key which can also hide a tree of extra spending scripts. Every normal Pearl address (prl1p…) is a Taproot address.

Also: BIP-341

Read the page P2TR (Pay-to-Taproot) Taproot tweak Tapscript

The step that shifts your public key to the key inside your address, by an amount set by a hash of the key (and of any script tree). Same as Bitcoin’s Taproot (BIP-341, and BIP-86 for key-only addresses).

Also: TapTweak · tweak

Read the page Taproot Tagged hash Public key

The version of Script used when spending through a Taproot or P2MR script tree. Pearl's extra opcodes, OP_CAT and OP_CHECKXMSSSIG, work only here.

Also: BIP-342

Read the page Script Taproot P2MR (Pay-to-Merkle-Root)

The number a winning lottery ticket must not exceed. On Pearl the bar is the target times the work the ticket cost; the block hash is never compared with it.

Read the page Bits Difficulty Ticket

A circuit inside modern NVIDIA GPUs that multiplies small blocks of matrices in one step. Pearl miners use its 8-bit integer mode.

Read the page GPU INT8

A practice copy of the Pearl network whose coins have no value, for trying things out. Its addresses start with tprl instead of prl.

Also: test network

Read the page Human-readable part (HRP) Magic bytes

A 256-bit BLAKE3 hash of a tile's transcript. It wins a block if, read as a number, it is at most the target times the work that tile cost.

Also: hash_jackpot · jackpot · lottery ticket

Read the page Tile Transcript Target

A small patch of cells in the output matrix: 2 × 64 cells in the official GPU miner, though miners may choose other shapes (block 130,827 used 8 × 16). Each tile of a multiplication becomes one lottery ticket.

Also: hash tile

Read the page Ticket Transcript GPU

How quickly WTEMA reacts. Pearl's is one week (604,800 seconds): a week of accumulated lateness (or earliness) against the 194-second schedule moves the target by a factor of about e ≈ 2.72. The code calls it a half-life, but the target doubles after about 4.85 days.

Also: WTEMA half-life · tau

Read the page WTEMA Target

The time a miner writes into a block header. On Pearl it must be at least 1 second after the previous block's, and at most 5 minutes ahead of the network's clock.

Also: block time

Read the page Block header WTEMA

A signed instruction that spends some existing outputs and creates new ones. It is how PRL moves from one owner to another.

Also: tx

Read the page Input Output UTXO Fee

A tile's running diary: every 128 steps along the long sums, the tile's running totals are folded into a 64-byte record. The ticket is a hash of it, so it depends on the work along the way, not just the final answer.

Also: diary

Read the page Tile Ticket

The standard way to store negative whole numbers in bytes: −1 is all ones (0xff in one byte), −128 is 0x80. Pearl’s matrix entries are stored this way, one signed byte each.

Also: signed integer · negative numbers in bytes

Read the page Byte INT8

A transaction's ID: the double SHA-256 hash of the transaction without its witness, shown with its bytes reversed.

Also: transaction ID

Read the page WTXID SHA256d Little-endian

The gap between the work Pearl rewards (any matrix multiplication) and work that is actually useful. The rules can't tell a real AI layer from random numbers, so some mining may do nothing useful.

Read the page Proof of useful work Inference

A short label a node sends to its peers naming its software, like /pearlwire:0.5.0/pearld:1.5.2/ for pearld 1.5.2. It is informational only.

Also: subversion

Read the page Version handshake pearld

An output that has not been spent yet: a chunk of PRL waiting to be used. Your balance is the total of the UTXOs your keys can unlock.

Also: unspent transaction output · coin

Read the page Output Input Wallet

Bitcoin’s scheme for miners to signal support for an upgrade by setting bits in the header’s version field. Pearl inherited the machinery but upgrades at fixed heights instead, so the bits mean nothing.

Also: BIP 9 · version signalling

Read the page Block header Soft fork

The first two messages two nodes swap after connecting: each sends a version message (protocol version, services, user agent) and answers the other’s with verack.

Also: version message · verack

Read the page Protocol version Service flags User agent

Pearl's unit of transaction size: ordinary bytes count in full and witness bytes count a quarter each. A block can hold at most 1,000,000 vbytes.

Also: vB · vsize · virtual size

Read the page Fee rate Witness

A popular open-source engine for running AI language models. Pearl's official miner plugs into it, so mining happens inside the model's own matrix multiplications.

Read the page Inference LLM

Software that keeps your private keys, finds the coins they unlock and signs transactions for you. It holds keys, not coins: the coins are entries on the blockchain.

Read the page Private key Mnemonic Self-custody

A way to write one private key as text, starting with K, L or 5 on mainnet. A Pearl WIF string is identical to Bitcoin's for the same key, so it doesn't say which coin it belongs to.

Also: Wallet Import Format

Read the page Private key

A one-time signature that signs a message digit by digit by walking along chains of repeated hashes. Pearl’s XMSS uses 67 chains of 16 values each.

Also: WOTS · WOTS+ · hash chain

Read the page One-time signature XMSS

The part of a transaction that carries the signatures and other unlocking data, kept apart from the part that makes the transaction ID. Every Pearl spend has one.

Also: witness data

Read the page SegWit Signature TXID

An OP_RETURN output in the coinbase that commits to every witness in the block: 6a24aa21a9ed followed by SHA256d(witness Merkle root ‖ a 32-byte value from the coinbase witness).

Also: aa21a9ed

Read the page Coinbase transaction Witness Merkle root

The 32 bytes inside a Pearl locking script, after the version opcode. For Taproot it is the tweaked public key; for P2MR it is the Merkle root of the scripts. An address is a witness program written in bech32m.

Read the page Witness version Locking script Address

A number at the start of an output's lock that says which spending rules apply. Pearl accepts only version 1 (Taproot, prl1p…) and version 2 (P2MR, prl1z…).

Read the page P2TR (Pay-to-Taproot) P2MR (Pay-to-Merkle-Root) SegWit

Getting more lottery tickets than the work done justifies, for example by reading one committed matrix under several shapes. Pearl closed the known form with salted noise seeds at block 99,000.

Read the page Noise seed Ticket

Pearl's difficulty rule. After every block it nudges the target slightly: easier if that block took longer than 194 seconds, harder if it was quicker, with a one-week time constant.

Also: weighted-target exponential moving average

Read the page Difficulty Target Block interval

The witness transaction ID: like the TXID, but the hash covers the witness too.

Also: witness transaction ID

Read the page TXID Witness

A public key written as just its 32-byte x-coordinate, with the y-coordinate left implied. Taproot addresses and Schnorr signatures use this short form.

Also: x-only key

Read the page Public key Taproot Schnorr signature

A signature scheme built only from hash functions, believed to stay secure against quantum computers. Pearl's version allows 32 signatures per key, each 2,340 bytes. Using it is optional.

XMSS is checked by the Pearl-only opcode OP_CHECKXMSSSIG (0xde), inside tapscript. The reference wallet adds an XMSS key to an address only when asked to (getnewaddress with pq=true); default addresses do not have one.

Also: eXtended Merkle Signature Scheme

Read the page Post-quantum OP_CHECKXMSSSIG Quantum computer

A proof that convinces you something is true without showing the private data behind it. Pearl's certificate proves a ticket came from real matrix work without revealing the matrices.

Also: ZK proof · zero-knowledge

Read the page Certificate STARK Plonky2