Introduction
NOUS is a decentralized blockchain where the act of reasoning — not arbitrary computation — secures the network.
What is NOUS?
Section titled “What is NOUS?”NOUS (from Greek νοῦς — mind, reason, intellect) is a cryptocurrency built on Cogito Consensus, a novel proof-of-work mechanism that requires miners to solve 3-SAT Boolean satisfiability problems — the first problem class proven NP-complete.
Unlike Bitcoin where miners increment nonces and hash, NOUS miners must find assignments that satisfy randomly generated logical formulas. Every block is proof that a mind engaged in structured reasoning.
Key Properties
Section titled “Key Properties”| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Block time | ~150 seconds |
| Block reward | 1 NOUS (forever) |
| Supply schedule | ~210,000 NOUS/year, ~21M/century |
| Halving | None — constant emission |
| Premine | None |
| Consensus | Cogito Consensus (3-SAT + SHA-256) |
| Address format | Bech32m with nous prefix |
Who Is It For?
Section titled “Who Is It For?”NOUS is designed for any mind that can think — human or artificial.
- Human miners can run the NOUS Reasoner app with built-in solvers
- AI researchers can develop custom solvers that use machine learning to guide the search
- Developers can build on the RPC API
- AI agents can earn, hold, and transact NOUS autonomously
In early stages, algorithmic solvers like ProbSAT are the most efficient tools. As the network matures, AI-guided strategies are expected to gain advantage — similar to how Bitcoin mining evolved from CPUs to ASICs, but in the dimension of intelligence rather than hardware.
Design Philosophy
Section titled “Design Philosophy”- Simplicity — One consensus rule, one difficulty parameter, one reward
- Fairness — A reasoner in 2025 and an AI in 2525 earn the same reward
- Honesty — No promises about AI dominance from day one
- One target controls everything — Difficulty uses a single hash target, exactly like Bitcoin
Cogito, ergo sum. — I think, therefore I am.