About IceRoot

Mono Labs R&D LLC builds IceRoot for asset continuity and Monolythium for programmable applications. LYTH, Monolythium’s token, is planned to launch as a native asset on IceRoot, then migrate when Monolythium’s network is ready. The networks are separate, and ROOT remains IceRoot’s own token for fees and voting.

Heartwood Core, the production Rust node, is still being built. A reference devnet runs now; the public testnet has not launched. These docs are a working specification, and parameters, economics, and validator rules may change. See Network status.

Who builds IceRoot

Mono Labs also builds Heartwood Core, IceRoot’s Rust node software, and its wallets and tools.

For the personal background, read Nayiem Willems’s story and why he is building IceRoot and Monolythium.

Monolythium and LYTH

LYTH follows the same operations, fees, and rules as every other asset. Its planned move uses IceRoot’s standard migrate-out path; Launch before your mainnet describes that path.

The ROOT genesis includes no allocation for Monolythium. A payout or grant from a genesis pool to a person or project related to the IceRoot team, Monolythium and LYTH included, follows the same rules and amounts as for anyone else. It is marked as related-party on the public program list and on the explorer’s distribution page, with the relationship stated. See ROOT supply and distribution.

Why IceRoot exists

The team needed a minimal, durable home for digital assets: a network that keeps them under post-quantum keys and lets them move in from other networks and out again. It found no available network that offered this, so it is building IceRoot for every project and holder to use under the same rules.

IceRoot is based on a protocol design that has run on public networks since 2017, with several enhancements; Where the design comes from describes both. What IceRoot is for describes the asset lifecycle IceRoot serves.

Where the design comes from

IceRoot builds on the protocol design of ARK Core and of Solar Core, which was built from ARK Core. It is a delegated proof-of-stake design that has run on public networks since 2017. IceRoot keeps its structure: elected validators, voting weight that follows liquid balances, forging in rounds of fixed slots, and height-based milestones for rule changes.

The draft protocol adds several enhancements, all active from mainnet’s first block:

• Post-quantum signatures. Every signature the protocol verifies is ML-DSA-65 (FIPS 204). See Cryptography.
• BFT finality. Votes carried in signed block headers finalize blocks, which gives exchanges and destination chains one signal to act on. See Consensus and finality.
• Native assets. Every asset has a canonical AssetID, every asset created on IceRoot has a fixed supply set at creation, and one fixed set of operations applies to all assets. See Native assets.
• Swaps and time locks. Atomic swaps between two assets, hash time-locked transfers for swaps with other chains, and non-revocable time-locked transfers for vesting. See Proposed swaps and time locks.
• Migration. Migration lists that a validator quorum reproduces and certifies before anything is credited, and recorded exits to other chains. See Migrations and continuity.

Heartwood Core, IceRoot’s node software, is a new implementation of this design, written in Rust. During development, Heartwood runs the same inputs as a pinned Solar reference and compares the outputs; see Testing and compatibility.

Time on public networks is a record of the design, not of the new code. Before mainnet, the draft protocol calls for external audits of Heartwood’s post-quantum signature verification and of its finality core, and for a public testnet that runs with finality enforced for at least eight weeks.

What IceRoot does not inherit

IceRoot inherits the design of ARK Core and Solar Core. It does not inherit their implementation, their tokens, or their networks.

ROOT is a distinct token. ARK, SXP, and LYTH holdings do not create an entitlement to ROOT:

• No balance of ARK, SXP, or LYTH converts to ROOT.
• The ROOT genesis holds no snapshot of their holders and allocates nothing to them.
• IceRoot is a new network with its own genesis. It does not continue an ARK or Solar network, and its genesis carries over no token or balance from them.

After mainnet

The protocol is meant to be feature-complete at mainnet. After launch, releases carry:

• security fixes and maintenance;
• parameter changes through milestones at named activation heights, such as a new block reward table;
• improvements outside consensus, such as node tooling, the API and indexer, wallets, SDKs, and Connector adapters for new source networks.

A consensus change beyond these needs an obvious demand that the design did not plan for, or a small, clearly useful improvement. There is no feature roadmap after mainnet. Every rule change reaches the network as a published release with a named activation height; see Network status.

Two parts of the draft design stay as they are, with no upgrade planned:

• Forging order. Every node knows a round’s forging order when the round starts. Validators limit their exposure to targeted flooding of the next forgers with optional sentry relays and firewall rules; see Validator hardening.
• Reward sharing. Validators declare how they share rewards with voters, and the indexer measures what voters receive and shows it. Consensus stores the terms and does not enforce payment; see Validators and voting.

What IceRoot is for → · Protocol design →