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Understand Animica from the protocol up

24 in-depth articles (51k words) written from the project's own specifications and documentation. Every article lists the repository files it was written from, so you can check any claim against the source. Start with What is Animica? if you are new, or jump to a track below.

Protocol

How the chain works underneath: post-quantum signatures, the address format, the nonce-less transaction model, PoIES consensus and difficulty.

  1. What is Animica? A technical overview of the chain Animica is an open-source proof-of-work Layer-1 with ML-DSA-65 post-quantum signatures, bech32m addresses, a deterministic Python VM and a PoIES consensus design. What is live, and what is not. beginner · 9 min read ·
  2. Post-quantum signatures on Animica: why ML-DSA-65 How Animica authorises transactions with ML-DSA-65 (FIPS 204), scheme id 0x1003: key and signature sizes, the signing preimage, why the legacy stub schemes are hard-rejected, and SPHINCS+ status. intermediate · 8 min read ·
  3. Animica addresses: bech32m, alg ids and SHA3-256 explained Anatomy of an anim1… address: the 34-byte payload, why bech32m and not bech32, a character-by-character decode of the published test vector, and how to validate addresses in code. beginner · 8 min read ·
  4. Transactions and fees on Animica The v2 nonce-less transaction: validity window, salt and txid uniqueness, the signed envelope, intrinsic gas, the 21,000 nANM transfer fee, admission checks and error codes, with a mainnet example. intermediate · 10 min read ·
  5. PoIES consensus explained: S = H(u) + Σψ ≥ Θ How Animica scores a block: the hash-work term H(u) from a SHA3-256 header hash, the capped evidence term Σψ, the threshold Θ, fork choice, and an honest account of what mainnet enforces today. advanced · 9 min read ·
  6. Difficulty adjustment and Θ: how Animica holds a 60-second block Θ (theta) is Animica's difficulty in micro-nats. Derives the per-block EMA retarget, its mainnet constants and clamp, stall handling after block 75,000, and checks the math against live Θ history. intermediate · 9 min read ·

Operate

Running the network: mining (pool or solo), running a node, wallets and the HD derivation standard, reading the explorer, peer-to-peer sync, and the security model.

  1. Mining Animica: from animica up to pool payouts How Animica proof-of-work mining works on mainnet, how to start with one command, pool versus solo on ports 3333 and 3334, and how the 300 ANM block subsidy is split. beginner · 14 min read ·
  2. Running an Animica full node Install the animica package, start a mainnet node with animica node up or animica up --with-node, open the right ports, watch it sync, query your own JSON-RPC, and keep it healthy. intermediate · 11 min read ·
  3. Animica wallets and HD derivation The four Animica wallets plus the CLI, the normative BIP-39/SLIP-0010 derivation to ML-DSA-65 keys with its test vector, what to back up, and why SPHINCS+ wallets are stranded. intermediate · 11 min read ·
  4. Reading the Animica block explorer A walkthrough of explorer.animica.org and its REST API: head, blocks, transactions, addresses, supply and mining endpoints, with live 2026-08-23 examples and node cross-checks. beginner · 10 min read ·
  5. P2P networking and sync How Animica nodes find each other, what the wire protocol and handshake look like, how headers-first sync, snapshots, checkpoints and the reorg bound work, and how to debug a stalled node. advanced · 11 min read ·
  6. Animica security and threat model What Animica assumes, what it defends against at each layer, how to reason about reorg risk with PoIES, which incidents have actually happened on mainnet, and how to report a vulnerability. advanced · 11 min read ·

Build

Developing on Animica: Python-VM smart contracts, the JSON-RPC API, the ANM-native L2 rollup, the AI compute framework (AICF), and x402 agent payments.

  1. Smart contracts on Animica: the deterministic Python VM How Animica's Python-VM works: the deterministic language subset, the stdlib, bytes-only storage, the gas table, the ABI, and which capabilities are actually wired up. intermediate · 10 min read ·
  2. Tutorial: compile, deploy, and call a Counter contract Write the Counter contract, compile it to VM IR, simulate it locally, deploy it with the animica CLI, call inc() and get(), and read the result back from the RPC. beginner · 9 min read ·
  3. The Animica JSON-RPC API: namespaces, methods, and live examples How to talk to rpc.animica.org: transport rules, the method catalog by namespace, ten request/response pairs captured live, error codes, and the eth_ and Bitcoin-style facades. intermediate · 8 min read ·
  4. The Animica L2: an ANM-native payment rollup How the 10.x Layer 2 works: payment-only transaction types, ML-DSA-65 signatures, a designated sequencer, re-execution validity proofs, DA blobs, the L1 bridge, fees, and live status. advanced · 11 min read ·
  5. AICF: Animica's AI compute framework, from credits to inference receipts What the AI Compute Fund is: the on-chain credit and epoch mechanism, the job pipeline and provider registry as specified, the aicf.* RPC surface, and which parts serve the free animica.dev API today. intermediate · 9 min read ·
  6. x402 on Animica: HTTP 402 payments for agents, with an ANM lane What the x402 protocol is, how the paywall, facilitator and marketplace Animica runs are put together, and how the animica:1 lane lets a client pay in ANM by signing an ordinary transfer. intermediate · 10 min read ·

Economy

ANM issuance and fees, what useful work means on this chain today, how Animica compares with Bitcoin and Ethereum, and how to buy or accept ANM.

  1. ANM tokenomics: premine, block subsidy, halvings and the reward split How ANM enters circulation: the 81 M premine, the 300 ANM block subsidy, 1.35 M-block halvings, the 0.0001 ANM tail, and how the coinbase is split between miner, treasury and the service carve. intermediate · 10 min read ·
  2. Useful work on Animica: what PoIES defines, and what mainnet enforces today The AI, quantum and storage proof lanes that PoIES can score, the quantum RNG beacon, AICF inference receipts, and an honest account of which of these are live on mainnet versus designed. advanced · 11 min read ·
  3. Animica compared with Bitcoin and Ethereum A property-by-property comparison: signature scheme, address format, transaction model, virtual machine, consensus, block time, decimals, supply and finality, with the trade-offs each choice implies. beginner · 11 min read ·
  4. How to buy, receive and accept ANM Ways to obtain ANM (mining, the NonKYC ANM/USDT market, payments), how to withdraw safely to an anim1 address, how to accept ANM with Animica Pay or a plain wallet, and the cautions that apply. beginner · 11 min read ·

Reference

The glossary and the long-form FAQ.

  1. Animica glossary Alphabetical definitions of the terms used across Animica's protocol, wallets, mining, AI layer and documentation, each linked to the article that explains it in depth. beginner · 18 min read ·
  2. Animica FAQ Direct answers to the questions people ask about Animica: what it is, how ANM is issued and obtained, wallets and addresses, fees, mining, useful work, contracts, nodes, security and common errors. beginner · 15 min read ·

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