# Introduction

## Introduction

### TL;DR

**Pandacoin (PND)** is an independent, community-run blockchain that launched in **February 2014** as a Dogecoin fork. It quickly pivoted from pure Proof-of-Work to a **PoS-first** model to stay decentralized, and in **May 2021** it relaunched on the **Peercoin codebase** as a modern hybrid PoW + PoS chain. There was **no premine, no ICO, and no VC round** — and every transaction fee is **burned**, not paid to miners or stakers.

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In plain English: fair launch, community owned, long-running, deflationary pressure built into the protocol, and now capable of smart contracts.
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### A short history

1. **February 2014 — Launch.** Pandacoin goes live as a Dogecoin fork with a short Proof-of-Work distribution phase. No premine, no ICO.
2. **2014 — PoS transition.** The network moves to Proof-of-Stake quickly to encourage wider, fairer coin distribution and reduce reliance on mining hardware.
3. **2014–2021 — The long quiet.** The chain keeps running, maintained by a small community, while most 2014-era altcoins disappear.
4. **17 May 2021 — Network upgrade.** Pandacoin rebases on the **Peercoin** codebase. PoW returns (SHA-256d) alongside PoS, producing the **hybrid** chain we have today. The upgrade brings modern wallet internals, faster sync, and a path toward smart contracts.
5. **2026 — Solana token.** A **PND SPL token** is deployed on Solana to widen access and liquidity, alongside the native L1.

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The native L1 chain is the canonical Pandacoin network. The Solana token is a separate, tradeable representation on Solana — see the Welcome page for the contract address and markets.
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### What makes Pandacoin different

<table data-view="cards"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th data-hidden data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>🔥 100% fee burn</strong></td><td>Transaction fees are destroyed, not paid to miners or stakers. Every transaction tightens supply.</td><td></td></tr><tr><td><strong>🧬 Hybrid PoW + PoS</strong></td><td>PoW (SHA-256d) secures the chain while PoS lets anyone mint blocks from a regular machine.</td><td></td></tr><tr><td><strong>🐼 Fair launch</strong></td><td>No premine, no ICO, no insider allocation. The coin was distributed through mining and staking from day one.</td><td></td></tr><tr><td><strong>🧩 Smart contract ready</strong></td><td>The Peercoin-based codebase opens the door to on-chain programmability and issued assets.</td><td></td></tr><tr><td><strong>⚡ Fast sync</strong></td><td>Near-instant wallet synchronization on modern hardware — no more all-day initial downloads.</td><td></td></tr><tr><td><strong>🌱 Low energy</strong></td><td>PoS minting runs on a laptop, a mini-PC, or a Raspberry Pi. Secure the network without a mining rig.</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

### Under the hood

A few spec highlights — the full table is on the Technical Specification page.

| Property        | Value                         |
| --------------- | ----------------------------- |
| Consensus       | Hybrid PoW (SHA-256d) + PoS   |
| Block time      | 10 minutes                    |
| Block size      | 1 MB                          |
| Transaction fee | Static — 10 PND/kb            |
| Fee handling    | **100% burned**               |
| Supply          | Unlimited, offset by fee burn |
| Launched        | February 2014                 |
| Codebase        | Peercoin (since May 2021)     |

### Where the project is headed

Pandacoin's focus is the same thing it was in 2014: **being usable as actual money**. The roadmap boils down to three things:

* **Lower the barrier to entry** — better wallets, better onboarding, better docs (this wiki is part of that).
* **Expand the platform** — smart contracts and issued assets on top of the native chain.
* **Grow reach** — more exchanges, more integrations, and bridges like the new Solana token.

Everything is open source and developed in the open on GitLab. If you want to poke at the code or propose changes, that's where it happens:

<table><thead><tr><th width="180">Resource</th><th></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>🦊 <strong>GitLab (source of truth)</strong></td><td><a href="https://gitlab.com/pandacoin">gitlab.com/pandacoin</a></td></tr><tr><td>🐙 <strong>GitHub mirror</strong></td><td><a href="https://github.com/DigitalPandacoin">github.com/DigitalPandacoin</a></td></tr><tr><td>🐳 <strong>Docker image</strong></td><td><a href="https://gitlab.com/pandacoin/docker-pandacoind">docker-pandacoind</a></td></tr><tr><td>🔎 <strong>Block explorer</strong></td><td><a href="https://explorer.thepandacoin.net/">explorer.thepandacoin.net</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

### Next steps

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Questions? Come say hi in [Discord](https://discord.gg/9UAXtm2ApS) or [Telegram](https://t.me/pandacoin) — the community does most of the answering.
{% endhint %}


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