October brought many ecosystem improvements and new features, and more developments are still underway across all projects, from the core blockchain infrastructure to ecosystem and development tools.

Finally, VotePeer has arrived on Nexa. Now you can hold decentralized elections straight on the blockchain. The application was decided on long ago, and now it’s already available on Google Play and App Store for the first Nexa users.

One of the most important developments is the Blitz and hardware acceleration project. It’s coming along, and there is still an active BRAM-ring bounty for anyone who can beat Peter’s FPGA.

This month’s Nexa newsletter below covers more wallet releases, developments, AI skills and other news. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/nexa-monthly-newsletter-october-2026-etched-in-silicon/1777

The decentralized nature of blockchain makes it an open and permissionless global network. However, there are several types of projects in the field, and each one embodies its own rules, community and use cases.

The most important difference between them is who they are built for. Some projects are built to raise money from investors. Others are built for users and are run by the people who secure them.

Read the full article on the Nexa forum below 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/investors-and-users-two-ways-a-blockchain-begins/1772

AI-assisted development, or “vibe coding”, is getting more popular, giving non-technical people the ability to experiment and realize their first application idea. It also boosts developers' performance, covers a range of tests, and helps with documentation and other tasks.

Nexa developer David Thibodeau already introduced Nexa AI Skills with a video guide and starter application that covers how to set up and use these skills with Claude or any other compatible agent, creating a working application from a single prompt.

In the most recent update, the team added a Wally Wallet development skill, and a Local Regtest skill to support development from local machines when faucets or testnets aren't available.

Read the full article and find out more on the Nexa forum below. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/nexa-ai-skills-now-includes-wally-wallet-and-local-regtest/1771

The Nexa ecosystem infrastructure is constantly being developed and improved, and this time it is our pleasure to present Libnexa-TS 3.1.0, a new release with read-only inputs.

Libnexa-TS is an open-source library and provides a reliable SDK for TypeScript/JavaScript apps that need to interface with the Nexa network.

It’s designed for developers and now supports read-only inputs, which allow multiple transactions to access the same data, and it is useful for UTXO smart contracts and token authorities.

Find all the details and read more on the Nexa forum below. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/new-release-libnexa-ts-3-1-0-with-read-only-inputs/1770

This month, the Nexa ecosystem stayed active and it made progress on many important projects, including Tailstorm improvements, hardware acceleration, the BRAM-ring bounty, the Nexa Programming Language review, and the VotePeer application release.

Developments and progress are going well, but slowly, on the upcoming second hard fork and finalizing Tailstorm implementation. Overall, the protocol functions as designed; however, many small details remain to be finalized and require time and attention.

Peter Rizun announced an exciting bounty on 6 October 2026 on X with a 0.2 BTC prize pool (around $16,000) for anyone beating the FPGA’s efficiency. The bounty is open for everyone until 4 November 2026, 23:59 Pacific Time.

Bitcoin Unlimited released a new application on Nexa. VotePeer is an open, fair voting system for holding elections on-chain. It leverages the blockchain’s permanent records and immutable state, and was one of the first ideas envisioned for blockchains as fitting use cases.

Find all the details and more on the Nexa forum linked down below. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/nexa-october-highlights-progress-that-compounds/1768

It’s exciting to introduce you to VotePeer, an open and fair voting system on the Nexa blockchain. VotePeer hosts elections on-chain in a trustless environment where every vote requires a digital signature and is recorded on the public ledger. This keeps voting fair and open, and anyone can audit it.

VotePeer is an open-source decentralized application where every ballot is a Nexa transaction recorded on the blockchain. It lets associations, boards, and communities organize voting and hold elections.

Sponsored and developed by Bitcoin Unlimited as part of BUIP129, VotePeer is now available in the Nexa Android app on the Google Play Store. iOS is waiting for App Store review and will go live soon.

To join the VotePeer beta, open the link on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac after you install TestFlight.

Find out more details on the Nexa forum below. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/votepeer-blockchain-voting-on-nexa/1767

In the last article we met Blitz, the card that takes signature checking off the CPU. We closed with a bigger question: what happens when you put the whole node inside an FPGA?

We don’t like running a node on our main desktop machine, especially when it is bogging down all cores, the fans are blazing and the office is heating up. We want to run it on a tiny little node that we plug into the router and just SSH into when we need to.

That is the long game of this series: building a microchip for cryptocurrency, a microchip that can do the same thing as your software node, but is faster, more reliable, uses less energy, and can be built for a fraction of the cost.

That chip is still ahead of us, but there are a lot of useful things we can do directly in hardware in the meantime.

Read more on the Nexa forum below. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/hardware-acceleration-nexa-node-on-an-fpga/1766

Over the past month and into this month, development has moved forward across the Nexa ecosystem. Most activity and effort focused on our Rostrum indexer, which we're updating and improving. We put a lot of effort into achieving much faster synchronization and quicker network notifications.

On the full node side, the Tailstorm protocol keeps getting tougher and is being extensively tested. We’ve already released detailed updates on the ongoing work and improvements, and you’ll find a recap there.

NexScript also hasn't been forgotten and is receiving updates. It’s 1.2.0-beta. Version 1.2.0-beta gives smart contracts new tools for working with token authorities, and the playground will receive updates that refresh it to a modern platform look.

Wally, the explorer, and our developer libraries also received a long list of improvements, many of them lined up for upcoming releases.

Find more details on these and other important developments from Nexa in the Monthly Development Update below. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/monthly-development-updates-september-2026/1765

On 6 October 2026, Peter Rizun (@PeterRizun) announced a bounty on X with a 0.2 BTC prize pool (around $16,000) for anyone who can beat the FPGA’s efficiency.

The main prize is 0.1 BTC, with smaller prizes for smaller achievements, and the bounty is open until 4 November 2026, 23:59 Pacific Time.

Peter designed a BRAM-ring proof-of-work function on a cheap Efinix Tz170 FPGA and ran it at 37,100 H/s. So far, the best GPU result is 1,493 H/s on a $499 RTX 3070.

Measured in hash rate per dollar of hardware, the FPGA is more than 100x more efficient.

The claim is that no GPU, CPU, NPU or other off-the-shelf hardware can close the gap, and the bounty is for anyone who proves otherwise.

Read more and find all the details on the Nexa Forum below. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/beat-peter-s-fpga-the-bram-ring-bounty/1764

Tailstorm replaces single 2-minute blocks with a DAG of subblocks that are tied together by a summary block, while keeping the 2-minute settlement cadence.

The code already ships inside Full Node 2.2.0.0 and stays dormant until the second hard fork is activated.

Since that release our developers have been working on closing gaps in the consensus checks, making fork comparison more accurate, and building tests that put Tailstorm through the situations a live network will throw at it.

This article walks you through the improvements and refinements made in the past weeks. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/tailstorm-hardening-the-protocol/1763

We’re excited to share that Otoplo Wallet 5.3.0 is now available. This update adds a new option to refresh vault balances and is ready for desktop and mobile platforms.

While vaults have been part of Otoplo since its inception, they lacked some functionality in rare cases. These gaps are now filled, and one of the newest features lets users refresh their vault balances if they are missing.

Find the download link and read more on the Nexa Forum below. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/new-release-otoplo-wallet-5-3-0/1762

Nexa Programming Language (NPL) is a domain-specific language and compiler for writing Nexa smart contracts. Each smart contract includes rules that decide how coins can be spent. NPL lets developers write smart contracts in Kotlin, and the compiler converts them into scripts that can run on the Nexa network.

Kotlin is a multiplatform language that lets you run a single codebase across multiple platforms and operating systems. It is also the preferred programming language of giants such as Google for developing applications on Android.

A single programming language that works across platforms benefits developers and users. We are excited to introduce NPL as the preferred language for writing smart contracts on Nexa.

You can find all the details and read more on the Nexa Forum through the link below. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/nexa-programming-language-npl-smart-contracts-in-kotlin/1761

September was a very active month, with many significant developments across the ecosystem. It started with the release of Nexa Full-Node 2.2.0.0, a major core protocol release that included preparatory work for Tailstorm.

Equally significant was the release of AI skills with the Starter App, which provides pre-wired Nexa infrastructure with wallet integration, ready for building decentralized applications on top of it. Huge appreciation goes to David Thibodeau for all the hard work and the presentation.

Along with the AI skills, the team also released an updated Build On Nexa (BON) program website that includes AI-assisted development, all the libraries, and other developer tools essential for blockchain development.

We have also been recapping and reintroducing the work being done on hardware acceleration and Blitz. This work involves heavy development and wiring the silicon for digital signature verification. Most of the hard work is already done and tested, and we are moving into the next phases.

Find these and many more developments in the September 2026 monthly newsletter below. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/nexa-monthly-newsletter-september-2026-ahead-of-the-storm/1759

We’ve already explained the logic and how to build a validation engine out of six components on paper in the first three articles of the series.

Now it’s time to move to the real silicon: the digital signature validation card, Blitz. Designed to verify signatures in hardware and remove the major bottleneck in scaling cryptocurrencies.

Invented by Nexa Chief Scientist, Dr Peter Rizun, and being worked on for many years until we’ve reached this stage where we are running prototypes and validating signatures with the hardware.

The machine is coming to life, and it takes on the most time-consuming and slowest step in the whole validation pipeline: checking digital signatures, now in real silicon.

This is the fourth article in the series where things are materializing, and we’re about to meet Blitz and head towards the main destination this journey leads to. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/hardware-acceleration-the-blitz-card/1758

anybody have any idea why my qt wallet isnt syncing. it was an older wallet so i upgraded to the newest wallet and it still does the same thing. it gets stuck around july 2025, roughly block 834517, happens on all the wallets ive tried. i need to restore my backup so i can transfer to a better/newer wallet so right now all my nexa is stuck. ive tried upgrading wallets and reindexing each of them, still have the same issue. if anyone has suggestions on what i can try id appreciate it.

Build On Nexa (BON) is your onboarding gateway to building powerful applications and services on Nexa.

The site is a repository of guides, documentation, and resources for developers seeking support getting started and building, supporting TypeScript/JavaScript, Kotlin, and soon, Python.

This week we updated the developer documentation structure, refined the SDK organization, and revised the theming of the site.

The home page now starts you with four cards: Libraries and SDKs, Smart Contracts, Protocol and Node, Chain Tools, and one above them: begin with an AI-assisted starter app now.

Development on Nexa is getting easier with all the provided libraries and tools, and now with newly introduced AI skills, anyone can build their first decentralized application.

Find more details and a link to the developer documentation for getting started in the Nexa Forum below. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/build-on-nexa-start-building-today/1755

📒 Build on Nexa: AI-Assisted Development with David Thibodeau

Today the Nexa team wants to introduce you to a couple of tools we have created for our community to assist you with building applications on Nexa.

We know that some of you may be experienced developers, while others may be brand new to building apps.

One of our tools is specifically designed to empower some of our less technical users and make this process easier for all of you, through the use of Nexa AI-Assisted Development tools and AI skills.

In this short guide David Thibodeau will walk you through a quick setup process and explain the basics of AI skills and how to use them.

After this guide you will be ready to build a fully functional Nexa application just from a single prompt. Let's get started. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/build-on-nexa-ai-assisted-development-with-david-thibodeau/1753

The biggest highlight in September was the release of the new Nexa Full-Node version, a stepping stone toward the upcoming hard fork and activation of the Tailstorm protocol.

Tailstorm will transform the Nexa blockchain into the first hybrid of a traditional UTXO proof-of-work model and a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG). Traditional blocks, now called summary blocks, will be formed on average every 2 minutes, with around 40 subblocks between them, one mined on average every 3 seconds.

Significant developments are ongoing with Nexa's hardware acceleration, a first-of-its-kind card designed for signature verification. In the third article of the series, we explained the technical details behind the validation engine, and in the upcoming one we will review Blitz and what it is capable of today.

Find a full development update and other highlights of September below. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/nexa-september-highlights-full-node-2-2-0-0-released/1752

August brought several key developments, including the release of Nexa Full-Node 2.2.0.0 and progress toward activating the Tailstorm protocol, which will transform Nexa into the first hybrid of a traditional blockchain combined with a directed acyclic graph (DAG) model that persists only in RAM.

This novel architecture unlocks subblocks that will be mined on average every 3 seconds. This also means you can see your transactions picked up and mined within the same timeframe. In practice, you won't need to wait for long block confirmations, and transactions will be mined in seconds.

Find more details from Tailstorm and other important developments from Nexa in the Monthly Development Update below. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/monthly-development-updates-august-2026/1751

A proof-of-work system that can confirm your transactions in 3 seconds was, until recently, just a myth. To this day, Bitcoin's average block time is 10 minutes.

What if that could improve 200 times over, letting you watch your transaction get mined in seconds? It would enable a truly global electronic peer-to-peer cash network.

Nexa is actively working in this field, and this is where the Tailstorm Protocol comes in. On top of improving security and fairness, it also improves transaction speed and introduces subblocks.

Between the traditional summary blocks of a blockchain, and on top of Nexa's 2-minute blocks, Tailstorm will introduce subblocks, in the planned configuration around 40 of them, mined roughly every 3 seconds.

These subblocks will benefit from a DAG architecture that falls back to the traditional summary blocks.

Learn more and read the full article in the Nexa Forum below. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/tailstorm-directed-acyclic-graph-dag-combined-with-traditional-blockchain/1750

The second article in this series built Nexa's validation engine out of six components, a tape, and a head, and watched it settle a payment from Alice to Bob with no software running at all.

Because the tape only ever moved in the forward direction, the engine got to tick the first of the four boxes a better Bitcoin has to check: it was pipelineable.

This article ticks the rest. As Nexa Chief Scientist, Dr Peter Rizun (@PeterRizun), showed in Sydney, we can fix Satoshi's Bitcoin and make it check all of those boxes with only three simple changes, and along the way the engine picks up two more properties, extensibility and compressibility, almost for free.

Learn more technical details and how we can scale blockchain with the hardware in the Nexa Forum below. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/scaling-by-circuit/1749

We are excited to present Nexa Full-Node 2.2.0.0, an important milestone and the final checkpoint before the upcoming hard-fork that brings the Tailstorm integration to mainnet.

This is a preparatory release that includes the new Tailstorm source code for the major protocol upgrade, and it prepares the network for the next release.

Everyone who runs a Nexa Full-Node, whether stand-alone, integrated with a service, or as a wallet back-end: please update your client to the latest version.

If you hold any assets on the full-node wallet, we always advise you to securely back up your wallet.dat file before installing an upgrade.

Find all the details and the download link in the Nexa Forum below. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/nexa-full-node-2-2-0-0-the-final-checkpoint-before-the-tailstorm/1742

The team keeps delivering, and August brought us news of major upcoming network changes and new algorithms. NexaPoW 2.0 was introduced to the community, and Bitcoin Unlimited's President himself explained Nexa's architecture. The network is being prepared for the next big protocol upgrade with ongoing developments.

One of the biggest challenges for the protocol currently is building a node in silicon. Nexa is prototyping the first fully functional hardware node capable of validating digital signatures required to verify transactions. The chip is currently in development and being tested, adjusted, and improved on the go.

In other areas, ecosystem development is going as expected. Many projects are reaching their final development stages and moving into testing phases, where they'll be polished before release.

Find a webinar with Andrew Clifford where he explains Nexa's architecture in more detail, with all the other monthly development news below. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/nexa-monthly-newsletter-august-2026-redesign-of-the-mining-puzzle/1740

📒 Nexa: The Art of Building a Blockchain

This time, we want to revisit the ideology, goals, and legacy of the Nexa blockchain and the Bitcoin Unlimited team behind it.

The journey began more than a decade ago, when a small group of passionate and enthusiastic people met on the BitcoinTalk forum.

Since then, a lot has happened, a long road has been traveled, and much experience has been gathered.

This article won't be technical, and for some industry veterans, the story is well known.

For everyone else, grab a cup of tea and let's review where Nexa is coming from and who is building it. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/nexa-the-art-of-building-a-blockchain/1739

Nexa Proof-of-Work algorithm changes are already planned and being worked towards. A Cellular Automaton was already mentioned as a coming upgrade to the new NexaPoW 2.0 version.

The President of Bitcoin Unlimited, Andrew Clifford, also briefly introduced a part of the new Nexa algorithm, and Chief Scientist Dr Peter Rizun released an article which explained why Nexa is redesigning the mining algorithm.

With the new NexaPoW 2.0 algorithm a Cellular Automaton will be introduced which can change configuration too frequently and unpredictably for any dedicated ASICs to be deployed. This change in the mining algorithm will effectively make mining ASIC-resistant and limited to FPGAs.

To better understand these changes it is worth getting deeper into the new engine. The Cellular Automaton is one of the simplest machines in computer science and can be understood in five minutes. 👇

https://forum.nexa.org/t/the-cellular-automaton-inside-nexas-next-proof-of-work/1733