Question 1

What is Parallax?

Accepted Answer

Parallax is a proof-of-work blockchain with Bitcoin's monetary rules and the Ethereum Virtual Machine. Supply is capped at 21 million LAX, a block arrives about every 10 minutes, and the block subsidy halves every 210,000 blocks. Smart contracts written for Ethereum run on it, at the Berlin level of the EVM.

Question 2

When did Parallax launch?

Accepted Answer

The genesis block was mined on October 28, 2025. Like Bitcoin's, it carries a newspaper headline from that day ("The Times 28/Oct/2025 Trump tells Japan: Any favours you need, we'll be there"), which shows it could not have been mined earlier. The genesis block held no coins.

Question 3

Who created Parallax?

Accepted Answer

It matters less than you might expect. The source code was public before launch, the launch date was announced in advance, and the supply at genesis was zero, so every participant started at the same line. The original authors hold no keys to the protocol, received no allocation and are needed for nothing: the network would carry on without them. Every claim about Parallax can be checked against the chain itself, so authorship carries no authority.

Question 4

How is Parallax different from Bitcoin and Ethereum?

Accepted Answer

It takes its monetary policy from Bitcoin: a 21 million cap, 10-minute blocks, halvings every 210,000 blocks and proof of work. It takes the EVM from Ethereum, so it runs smart contracts that Bitcoin can't. Unlike today's Ethereum, it is mined rather than staked, its supply is fixed, and no fees are burned: the miner keeps the whole fee.

Question 5

Is Parallax a fork of Bitcoin or Ethereum?

Accepted Answer

Not in the sense that matters for money: no balances, blocks or history were copied from either chain, and every LAX in existence was mined on Parallax. The software is a separate client. Its EVM layer is derived from go-ethereum (LGPL-3.0), while consensus, the XHash mining algorithm, the difficulty algorithm and the monetary rules are Parallax's own.

Question 6

Why Proof of Work instead of Proof of Stake?

Accepted Answer

Proof of work ties security to an external cost, energy, that can't be simulated, voted into existence or negotiated. Proof of stake hands control to whoever holds the most coins, which moves trust to validators instead of removing it. Under proof of work, influence over the chain has to be paid for with work. It can't be granted by holdings or identity.

Question 7

Which wallet should I use?

Accepted Answer

On a computer, Parallax Wallet: a desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux with a full Parallax node inside, so your balances come from your own copy of the chain. On a phone, any EVM wallet that lets you add a custom network, such as MetaMask, Rabby or Trust Wallet; the Wallets page lists them. Whichever you choose, keep your recovery phrase offline and never share it.

Question 8

How do I add Parallax to MetaMask?

Accepted Answer

Add a custom network in MetaMask with these values: network name Parallax, RPC URL https://rpc.parallaxprotocol.org, chain ID 2110, currency symbol LAX, block explorer https://explorer.parallaxprotocol.org. The Wallets page can also add it in one click. Other EVM wallets take the same values.

Question 9

Can I use a Ledger or Trezor?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Parallax addresses and signatures are the same as Ethereum's, so both devices work with their standard Ethereum app; there's no Parallax app to install. Use them from Parallax Wallet, which supports both directly, or from MetaMask with the Parallax network added. The device shows and confirms every transaction on its own screen.

Question 10

Is my Ethereum address also a Parallax address?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The same recovery phrase or private key controls the same address on both networks. They are still separate networks: LAX exists only on Parallax, and ETH only on Ethereum. Before sending LAX to an exchange or a service, check that it supports Parallax; sending it to an address that only watches Ethereum can lose it.

Question 11

Can I ask an AI assistant about Parallax?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The Parallax MCP server lets assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and Gemini read the network directly, so they answer questions about blocks, transactions, addresses, mining and network health from live data. It is read-only: it can't send transactions or touch a wallet, and it never asks for a key. The setup for each assistant is on the homepage and in the docs.

Question 12

What consensus mechanism does Parallax use?

Accepted Answer

Proof of work, with the XHash algorithm. XHash is memory-hard and mined on GPUs, unlike Bitcoin's SHA-256, which is dominated by ASICs.

Question 13

What is XHash and why was it chosen?

Accepted Answer

XHash is a modified version of Ethash. It is memory-hard, so ordinary GPUs mine it competitively, and it was changed so that existing Ethash ASICs can't be reused on Parallax. A proof-of-work network is most fragile in its early years, while total hashrate is small. XHash means security in those years comes from widely owned hardware, not from whoever holds the leftover machines of another chain's arms race.

Question 14

Is Parallax EVM compatible?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Parallax runs the Ethereum Virtual Machine as of the Berlin upgrade. Contracts written in Solidity or Vyper deploy unchanged, and MetaMask, Remix, Hardhat and Foundry work once pointed at chain ID 2110. Two things differ from today's Ethereum. Later opcodes such as BASEFEE and PUSH0 don't exist, so set your compiler's EVM version to "berlin" (Solidity 0.8.20 and later emit PUSH0 by default). And there is no EIP-1559, so transactions use a plain gas price.

Question 15

What is the block time?

Accepted Answer

A block arrives about every 10 minutes on average. Like Bitcoin's, the gaps between blocks are random: a 30-minute wait is not unusual. Difficulty is adjusted every block with ASERT (two-day half-life), so the average stays close to 10 minutes as hashrate comes and goes.

Question 16

How many confirmations should I wait for?

Accepted Answer

It depends on the amount. Each confirmation adds about 10 minutes of work that an attacker would have to redo. One or two confirmations is usually enough for small payments; Bitcoin's convention of six (about an hour) is a sensible default for larger ones. Parallax is a young proof-of-work network with far less hashrate than Bitcoin, so wait longer for large transfers, and check status.parallaxprotocol.org for reorgs or incidents before you treat a payment as final.

Question 17

Why 10-minute blocks instead of faster?

Accepted Answer

Global agreement takes physical time. Systems that push time-to-finality below physical limits create hidden advantages: proximity to other miners, specialized networking, privileged transaction ordering. Each of these centralizes consensus. Parallax treats time as a stabilizing force: finality earned slowly through accumulated work is more robust than finality declared quickly by agreement.

Question 18

Can Parallax do instant payments?

Accepted Answer

Not on the base layer: a payment is confirmed when it's in a block. Payment channels, being built as a contract plus wallet software, handle the rest. You lock LAX in a channel once, on-chain, then pay the other side instantly by exchanging signed updates over the Nostr relay network, or by QR code with no internet at all. They are in development and need no change to the protocol.

Question 19

Are transactions private?

Accepted Answer

No. Like Bitcoin and Ethereum, Parallax is a public ledger: every address, balance and transaction is visible to anyone. Parallax Wallet can send everything it sends through Tor, which hides your IP address from the network, though not what's on the chain. Two privacy features are being built as contracts and wallet software, with no change to the protocol. Stealth addresses, in development for Parallax Wallet, give each payment a fresh address so incoming payments can't be linked to you. A shielded pool, which would hide amounts and parties too, is at the research stage.

Question 20

Is Parallax quantum-safe?

Accepted Answer

No more than Bitcoin or Ethereum. Accounts sign with ECDSA on secp256k1, which a large enough quantum computer is expected to break. Research is under way on a post-quantum shielded pool built from STARK proofs, hash-based spending and ML-KEM encryption, as a contract with no fork. It's research, not a product, and entering or leaving it would still use ordinary ECDSA accounts.

Question 21

What is the block gas limit?

Accepted Answer

600 million gas per block, about 1 million gas per second at one block every 10 minutes, well below Ethereum's mainnet. Miners can move the limit by at most 0.1% per block. It is kept low on purpose so that a full node stays cheap to run on ordinary hardware.

Question 22

How does Parallax handle 51% attacks?

Accepted Answer

Like any proof-of-work chain, Parallax can be reorganized by someone with a majority of the hashrate. What stands in the way is cost: rewriting history means redoing more work than the honest chain, and that cost grows with every block. XHash keeps mining on widely owned GPUs and locks out existing Ethash ASICs, and ASERT adjusts difficulty every block, so a sudden swing in hashrate can't distort it for long. Mined rewards can't be spent for 100 blocks, which stops a miner spending coins a reorg could erase. For large amounts, wait for more confirmations.

Question 23

What is coinbase maturity?

Accepted Answer

Newly mined LAX can't be spent until 100 more blocks have been built on top of it, about 17 hours. If a block is reorganized out of the chain, its reward disappears with it; the wait makes sure nobody has spent that reward in the meantime.

Question 24

What are the hardware requirements for running a full node?

Accepted Answer

Modest, because blocks come every 10 minutes and the chain is still small. A dual-core CPU, 2 GB of RAM (4 GB if you also mine) and a 50 GB SSD are enough; 100 GB leaves room to grow. Any stable connection works, and 10 Mbit/s or more makes the first sync faster. Use an SSD rather than a hard drive. Parallax Wallet runs the same full node, so installing it is the easiest way to run one.

Question 25

How can I check the supply myself?

Accepted Answer

Ask your own node. The Verify page walks through it: check the genesis block, compare block rewards against the halving schedule, and add up the issued supply from the chain itself. You don't need to trust this website, an explorer or anyone else for any of it.

Question 26

How can I mine Parallax?

Accepted Answer

Mine on a GPU with Hashwarp, the official open-source miner, or with SRBMiner-Multi. Point it at a Parallax pool, or at your own node to mine solo. Other Ethash miners such as ethminer do not work. The client also has a built-in CPU miner, but it is only useful for testing.

Question 27

Can I mine with Parallax Wallet?

Accepted Answer

No. Parallax Wallet is a wallet with a full node; mining was removed from it. Mine with Hashwarp or SRBMiner-Multi, and use any of your wallet's addresses as the payout address.

Question 28

What is the mining reward schedule?

Accepted Answer

The block subsidy started at 50 LAX and halves every 210,000 blocks, roughly every four years at 10-minute blocks: the same schedule as Bitcoin. The miner also collects every fee in the block. Mined LAX can be spent after 100 blocks.

Question 29

Can I use my Ethereum mining rig?

Accepted Answer

Yes, the hardware carries over. XHash is Ethash-derived and memory-hard, so Ethash-class GPU rigs mine Parallax competitively without hardware changes. The software does change: existing Ethash miners cannot mine XHash, so use Hashwarp (the official open-source miner) or SRBMiner-Multi, pointed at a Parallax pool or your own node.

Question 30

What is the total supply of Parallax?

Accepted Answer

21 million LAX, the same cap as Bitcoin. New supply comes only from the block subsidy, which halves every 210,000 blocks. There is no governance body that could raise the cap.

Question 31

How do transaction fees work?

Accepted Answer

Fees are a plain auction on gas price, like Ethereum before 2021. There is no EIP-1559 base fee: you set a gas price, miners include the highest-paying transactions first, and the miner who includes a transaction receives its entire fee. Nothing is burned. Wallets estimate a price from recent blocks, so you rarely set it by hand.

Question 32

Why doesn't Parallax burn fees like Ethereum?

Accepted Answer

Burning fees takes income away from the people securing the chain. As halvings shrink the block subsidy, fees become miners' main income, and the network's long-term security depends on them. Paying the whole fee to miners keeps that link intact.

Question 33

What happens when all 21 million coins are mined?

Accepted Answer

Miners are then paid by fees alone, as in Bitcoin. The subsidy shrinks with every halving, so it takes more than a century to reach zero. Because no fees are burned, all of that fee income goes to the miners securing the chain.

Question 34

Is there a premine or ICO?

Accepted Answer

No. There was no premine, no ICO, no presale and no allocation to developers. The genesis block held zero LAX, the launch date was announced in advance, and every coin in circulation was mined.

Question 35

Where can I get LAX?

Accepted Answer

Mine it, or buy it on one of the exchanges listed on the Exchanges page. Exchanges are independent businesses: once you've bought, withdraw to a wallet you control.

Question 36

How are protocol upgrades decided?

Accepted Answer

There is no roadmap and no schedule of hard forks. The monetary rules (the 21 million cap, the halving schedule and proof of work) are not up for change. Consensus rules are meant to ossify: changes are limited to fixing real defects, and a fix takes effect only if node operators choose to run it. The one consensus change so far, the switch to ASERT difficulty at block 17,560, fixed a retargeting window that miners were manipulating. Ongoing development happens in the client, tooling and contracts, not in the consensus rules.

Question 37

Is there a foundation or company behind Parallax?

Accepted Answer

No. There is no foundation, company, treasury or council, and no governance token. Client development happens in the open, on GitHub, and anyone can propose a change. Whether a change takes effect is decided by node operators, each choosing which software to run.

Question 38

Will Parallax support Layer 2 solutions?

Accepted Answer

The base layer is kept conservative on purpose: it exists to settle, not to impress. Experiments belong on higher layers, where failure doesn't threaten settlement. Because Parallax runs the EVM, rollups, sidechains and payment channels can anchor to it with ordinary contracts, and building one needs no change to the protocol.

Question 39

Are there bridges to other blockchains?

Accepted Answer

Bridges are built by independent teams, not by the protocol. Parallax is a standard EVM chain, so existing bridge designs can be deployed on it the same way as on any other. Before you use a bridge, check who controls its contracts and what happens to your funds if it fails.

Question 40

How can I build on Parallax?

Accepted Answer

The same way you build on Ethereum. Write Solidity or Vyper, use Remix, Hardhat or Foundry, and deploy with MetaMask or any wallet connected to chain ID 2110. Two settings matter: compile with evmVersion "berlin", and send legacy transactions with a gas price, since Parallax has no EIP-1559. The Parallax for developers page has ready-made Hardhat and Foundry configs.

Question 41

Is there a testnet?

Accepted Answer

There is no public testnet. For contract development, start the client with --dev, which runs a local single-node chain, then deploy to mainnet when you're ready.

Question 42

What tools and libraries are supported?

Accepted Answer

The usual Ethereum tools work: ethers.js, web3.js, viem, MetaMask, Remix, Hardhat, Foundry and OpenZeppelin contracts. ethers and viem detect that blocks have no base fee and send legacy transactions on their own. The explorer is Blockscout, with an Etherscan-compatible API for contract verification.

Question 43

Are there development grants available?

Accepted Answer

No. There is no foundation or treasury, so there is no grant program. Projects are funded by the people who build and use them.

Question 44

How do I report a security vulnerability?

Accepted Answer

Privately, to security@parallaxprotocol.org, not in a public issue. The client repository's SECURITY.md explains what to include and how disclosure works.

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