The only Layer 1 combining GhostDAG BlockDAG consensus, BraidCore dual-stream mining, post-quantum cryptography (ML-KEM-768 / Dilithium), and full EVM compatibility. Built from scratch in Rust. Industrial-strength infrastructure for the post-quantum era.
Kaspa has GhostDAG but no EVM and no post-quantum layer. Ethereum has EVM but no BlockDAG and no PQC. IronDAG has all four — and adds BraidCore dual-stream mining on top.
| Protocol | GhostDAG Consensus | Post-Quantum P2P | EVM Compatible | Dual-Stream Mining | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IronDAG ($IDAG) | ✓ GhostDAG | ✓ ML-KEM-768 | ✓ SputnikVM | ✓ BraidCore | ✓ Testnet Live |
| Kaspa (KAS) | ✓ GhostDAG | ✗ None | ✗ None | ✗ None | ✓ Mainnet |
| Ethereum (ETH) | ✗ Single chain | ✗ None | ✓ Native | ✗ None | ✓ Mainnet |
| QRL | ✗ Single chain | ✓ XMSS | ✗ None | ✗ None | ✓ Mainnet |
| Bitcoin (BTC) | ✗ Single chain | ✗ None | ✗ None | ✗ None | ✓ Mainnet |
Three independently powerful technologies, forged into one industrial-strength protocol.
Every peer connection uses ML-KEM-768 (CRYSTALS-Kyber, NIST FIPS 203) key exchange — defeating Harvest Now, Decrypt Later attacks at the P2P layer from the first packet. Dilithium signatures protect transaction integrity.
IronDAG uses the GhostDAG protocol — the proven architecture behind Kaspa's billion-dollar network. Blocks form a Directed Acyclic Graph, enabling parallel block production and eliminating orphaned blocks entirely.
IronDAG integrates SputnikVM (Shanghai hard fork) with a full JSON-RPC surface. MetaMask connects today. Deploy Solidity contracts without modification. Parallel EVM execution with automatic conflict detection.
BraidCore is IronDAG's dual-stream parallel mining architecture. Two independent PoW streams run simultaneously, each with its own algorithm, block time, and reward — then cross-reference each other at the parent level before braiding into a single GhostDAG consensus layer.
Stream A uses Blake3 — a fast, cache-friendly algorithm targeting CPU and GPU miners. Stream B uses B3MemHash, an SIMD-accelerated memory-hard algorithm (256KB working set) tuned to resist ASIC dominance.
The result: broader hardware participation, more block finality checkpoints per second, and a uniquely resilient DAG structure that no single hash rate can control.
These features are fully implemented and running on the live testnet today.
Full BlockDAG implementation with blue-score finality, parallel block production, and hybrid sled+RAM storage. Battle-tested across multi-datacenter runs.
✅ OperationalML-KEM-768 key exchange on every peer connection via QUIC transport. Kyber handshake completes before any block data is exchanged. Ed25519 TOFU identity.
✅ OperationalSputnikVM (Shanghai) with MetaMask compatibility, Solidity contract deployment, eth_call, gas estimation, and complete receipt handling. Parallel execution with conflict detection.
✅ OperationalBlake3 (Stream A) and B3MemHash SIMD (Stream B) running simultaneously. Both streams active on testnet with dynamic difficulty adjustment per-stream.
✅ OperationalERC-4337 compatible smart contract wallets with flexible signature schemes, gas sponsorship, multi-sig, social recovery, and spending limits.
✅ OperationalPhase 1–6 complete in codebase: consistent-hash shard assignment, two-phase commit cross-shard transactions, unified stream sources. Enabled at mainnet.
Mainnet ActivationTwo nodes running between datacenters — real cryptographic PoW, real post-quantum key exchange, MetaMask connects today.
The IronDAG Public Testnet runs a miner node and a sync-only node between two geographic locations. Both BraidCore streams are active, producing real proof-of-work blocks.
Use the faucet in the block explorer to get test $IDAG — 10 IDAG per request.
Core protocol is complete and live. The roadmap focuses on ecosystem, community, and mainnet launch.
GhostDAG consensus, BraidCore mining (Blake3 + B3MemHash), post-quantum P2P (ML-KEM-768), SputnikVM EVM, account abstraction, QUIC networking.
Multi-datacenter testnet, React+Vite block explorer, MetaMask compatibility, 30+ JSON-RPC methods, sync resilience hardening, dynamic difficulty adjustment.
Public RPC endpoint, block explorer at explorer.irondag.io, faucet, community node onboarding, bug bounty, seed funding, chainlist.org listing, IKO preparation.
Genesis configuration, mainnet deployment, ML-DSA signature migration (NIST FIPS 204), sharding activation, exchange listings, ecosystem integrations.
Built by someone who has shipped production infrastructure, not just whitepapers.
David Cooper is CCIE #14019, a network security architect with 25 years building production infrastructure, a U.S. Air Force veteran, and the creator of Runtime Fence, a patent-pending AI agent safety platform. He has shipped working AI security tools including MCPShield and the AI Agent Kill Switch — both open source and available in production today.
IronDAG is built from scratch in Rust. Not a fork. Not a modified template. A ground-up implementation combining four technologies no other Layer 1 has assembled: GhostDAG consensus (proven by Kaspa's billion-dollar network), BraidCore dual-stream mining (Blake3 + SIMD B3MemHash), ML-KEM-768 post-quantum key encapsulation (NIST FIPS 203), and a full EVM surface with MetaMask compatibility on day one.
A live multi-node testnet is running between datacenters right now — real proof-of-work, real post-quantum key exchange on every peer connection, and a live block explorer at explorer.irondag.io.
Source: github.com/RunTimeAdmin/IronDAG