How Slithy Tove works

Abstract

Slithy Tove is a transparent proof-of-work cryptocurrency. Wallet owners sign transactions, and miners include them in blocks. Nodes check each block against the network rules and follow the valid chain with the most accumulated work. A miner receives 90 percent of the new coins in its block, plus transaction fees. The other 10 percent goes to a public treasury address for children’s literacy.

You can inspect the treasury payments on Slithy's public ledger. It does not provide a smart-contract platform or promise a financial return.

1. Why Slithy exists

Slithy uses part of each mining reward to fund children’s books and literacy programs. The software is designed for people using ordinary computers, including those who have not used a cryptocurrency wallet before.

The name comes from Lewis Carroll’s poem Jabberwocky.

2. Design principles

3. Network model

Slithy follows Bitcoin’s peer-to-peer model. A node checks transactions before passing them to its peers. It also checks blocks and follows the valid chain with the most accumulated proof of work. Running a full node lets you verify the history yourself.

The treasury uses the same public records as every other address. You can inspect a block and confirm the required treasury payment without asking the project for a report.

4. Proof of work and mining

A miner assembles a candidate block and tries different block headers until one produces a hash at or below the current difficulty target. It then sends the block to its peers. Each node checks the proof of work and the block contents, including the miner reward and treasury payment, before accepting it.

Slithy uses yespower, an algorithm designed for general-purpose CPUs. You can mine with the processor already in your computer.

Faster hardware and cheaper electricity give some miners an advantage. Pools can gather a large share of the network’s hashrate, and specialized hardware may appear over time. The project should publish mining observations and discuss concentration risks with the community. A change to proof of work would need advance notice and tested software. Independent node operators would then decide whether to adopt it. CS Idea Labs LLC or a future foundation cannot impose that change on nodes that reject it.

Slithy targets an average of 2 minutes per block. Difficulty adjusts from observed block timing as miners join or leave. Individual blocks can take much longer or arrive close together, and a laptop may go days without finding one. Official project nodes are intended to relay and verify blocks without mining.

5. Block reward and literacy treasury

The initial block subsidy is 10 SLTHY. Each reward block creates 9 SLTHY for its miner and 1 SLTHY for the literacy treasury. Any transaction fees in the block go to the miner as well.

The subsidy halves every 1,051,200 blocks, roughly four years at the target block interval. It starts at 10 SLTHY, then falls to 5 SLTHY and later 2.5 SLTHY. The 90/10 split applies after each halving. For example, a 5 SLTHY subsidy pays 4.5 SLTHY to the miner and 0.5 SLTHY to the treasury.

The planned supply is about 21.024 million SLTHY. With reward rounding and the zero-reward genesis block accounted for, the schedule permits up to 21,023,989.863344 SLTHY from mining. The treasury share is part of that total. Transaction fees do not create additional coins.

Transaction fees are paid by senders to the miner that includes their transactions. They provide a mining incentive as the subsidy shrinks. The treasury split does not apply to fees.

Nodes reject blocks that omit the required treasury output or pay the wrong amount. A miner cannot choose to skip that payment.

6. Treasury use

The treasury is for children’s books and literacy programs. Reading materials and costs directly tied to that work are eligible. The treasury page shows its address and balance. Spending reports are planned for the live fund, with a note explaining what each grant paid for.

At launch, CS Idea Labs LLC will control one encrypted offline treasury wallet. Community control is a future goal. The plan is to publish each payment amount and recipient, with an explanation of the literacy work it supports.

Community voting on proposed donations is planned for later, once the network has regular activity. Proposals must support the literacy mission. There is no binding voting system today. Before voting begins, the project must publish who can submit proposals and vote, along with the turnout and approval thresholds. The rules must cover conflicts of interest and allow time to review proposals. They must also explain how approved payments are made and how disputes are resolved.

The website displays treasury records from the chain. It does not hold the keys needed to spend the fund.

7. Wallet and user experience

The desktop app includes a wallet and local miner. It has controls for wallet backups and sending coins, along with your balance and mining status. Mining controls apply to your computer. Network and treasury information is also shown in the app.

The app checks for updates and verifies release signatures before accepting update packages. It shows progress during installation.

8. How nodes connect

Official seed nodes help new nodes find the network. Community nodes give them additional peers and reduce dependence on project servers. Every full node still checks the blocks it receives.

A public peer connection lets nodes exchange blocks and transactions. Wallet RPC is a separate interface for controlling a wallet. Access should stay restricted unless an operator deliberately provides a public service with appropriate limits.

9. Public launch

The launch plan has no premine, hidden founder reward or private sale. The literacy allocation is the disclosed 10 percent treasury share.

People should have the software and network details before mining opens. The launch announcement must include the start time, file checksums, treasury address, genesis hash and official node list. Official Slithy nodes should relay and verify the network without mining.

10. CS Idea Labs LLC and plans for a foundation

CS Idea Labs LLC operates slithy.io and publishes the official software during development. It manages project servers and contracts and supports public treasury reporting. The company does not own the blockchain. Wallet owners control their keys, and independent miners and node operators choose the software they run.

A separate Slithy Tove foundation may be considered once a community is established. None exists today, and no nonprofit or tax-exempt status is claimed. Its legal form and location would need community discussion and legal and tax advice. The same applies to its board and relationship with CS Idea Labs LLC.

A foundation could manage grant applications and community votes, then publish receipts and spending reports. It could arrange independent audits and oversee shared project resources under published conflict-of-interest rules. As qualified independent people join, treasury custody should require multiple approvers with separated keys and documented spending limits.

A foundation would have no claim to your coins or authority to force a software change on independent nodes. Before a transition, the project should publish a proposed charter explaining board selection and treasury custody. The plan must include conflict-of-interest rules and financial reporting requirements, and define the responsibilities of the foundation and CS Idea Labs LLC.

11. Roadmap

The live network target is December 1, 2026. Testing may delay that date. Public beta testing covers the Windows wallet and local miner, along with Linux tools and signed updates. The test chain and balances will reset before the live launch.

Before launch, testing covers wallet recovery and the required treasury payment. The final releases must agree on the same starting block. Downloads and network details will be published before mining opens.

After launch, work will continue on reliable node connections and signed releases for Windows and Linux. Treasury reporting should follow the public chain, with grant notes added as funds are spent on literacy work.

The current reward schedule halves until rounding brings the subsidy to zero. There is no continuing tail subsidy in the code. Community voting rules and changes to treasury custody need public discussion. Mining performance and the conditions for a future foundation also remain open questions. Decisions must be published before they become final policy. This roadmap makes no promise about price, adoption or exchange listings.

12. Risks and limits

Slithy is experimental software. Bugs or mistakes can cause losses, and a small network can be vulnerable to attacks or concentrated mining. There may be little liquidity, exchanges may decline to list SLTHY, and regulatory requirements can change.

Nothing in this paper is investment advice, a fundraising offer or a promise that SLTHY will have market value.

13. Influences

Bitcoin’s proof-of-work ledger is the basis for Slithy’s network model. Litecoin and Dogecoin offer examples of payment networks built on that approach. Ravencoin is another Bitcoin-based project with a stated purpose. The treasury arrangements in Decred, Dash and Zcash offer different examples of using block rewards to fund work.

The references below informed the design. They do not imply those projects endorse Slithy.