Defcoin History
The community story
Defcoin is the DEF CON community's cryptocurrency, with its own blockchain and Litecoin-derived software. Coindroids developers built a game around Defcoin transactions, and community miners ran pools to process them.
Source review: 2026-10-08. Copy revision: 2026-10-09. Original link inventory: 2026-04-27. Check the tables for dated archive captures and service tests.
A cryptocurrency for learning at DEF CON
At DEF CON 22 on 7 August 2014, Jeff Thomas (Xaphan), Seth Van Ommen (Beaker), and Mike Guthrie (Anch) presented The Making of DEFCOIN. They described the coin's creation and early development problems, then explained how cryptocurrency works.
Coindroids developers launched their Defcoin-based game at the same conference. Players sent transactions to attack other droids, buy items, and upgrade their characters. The developers described the launch in their 12 August 2014 article.
Developers updated the wallet software
Defcoin developers published v1.0.0 on 19 June 2018, updating the wallet software to the Litecoin v0.15 codebase. Defcoin kept its own blockchain.
Coindroids returned with player-built bots
On 18 August 2019, the Coindroids team described its sixth DEF CON contest, held at DEF CON 27. Players could run a Defcoin client and a game bot together with the docker-droid package. The team credited g4te_keep3r for configuration improvements.
Community miners published P2Pool nodes
Community miners shared a Defcoin P2Pool node and source code on 10 August 2020. They linked to charlesrocket/p2pool-defcoin, which GitHub redirects to hellbyte/p2pool-defcoin. Miners run their own pool nodes and connect them through P2Pool.
A coinbase transaction dated 13 April 2014 includes a P2Pool donation output and an OP_RETURN share marker. Follow its link in the on-chain records below.
Coindroids paused the game; developers maintained the wallet
On 23 January 2021, Coindroids developers announced a pause in the game.
Defcoin developers released v1.0.1 on 15 April 2021 to fix the DNS seeder, which helps wallets find peers. GitHub hosts the v1.0.1 source archives and the older v1.0.0 wallet binaries on separate release pages.
New wallet work and the DC903 node
Defcoin Core Nu developers published v26.6.8-alpha on 20 June 2026 for development and testing. Check its release notes for platform support and known limitations.
On 8 October 2026, DC903 operators verified the Defcoin peer, P2Pool node, and explorer. Check the table below for each node's latest recorded service test.
- Follow each chapter's links to its sources. Research date: 8 October 2026. Copy revision: 9 October 2026.
- Read first and last evidence dates as individual observations. Wayback dates identify saved pages; use dated service or miner checks for pool activity.
- DC903 service and explorer-redirect checks passed on 8 October 2026. Other endpoint checks keep their recorded dates. Social-activity and retired-site checks remain pending for the 8 October review.
- The local faucet returns HTTP 404. Find older faucet records in the archive tables.
- The original launch date, complete contributor list, and several pool operation dates remain unknown.
Community links and further reading
Scroll across the table to read columns offscreen. With a keyboard, tab to the table and press Left or Right.
| Link | Notes |
|---|---|
| Discord invite | Live check: 18 April 2026. |
| reddit.com/r/defcoin | Community subreddit. Activity level unmeasured in the 8 October 2026 review. |
| x.com/defcoin | Project social account included in the 8 October 2026 reference inventory; activity check pending. |
| GitHub source tree | Surviving v1.0.1 source repository; GitHub redirects the older NaH012 namespace to this account. |
| GitHub releases | GitHub hosts the historical v1.0.0 binaries and v1.0.1 source release. Follow the Nu release link below for newer wallet builds. |
| wiki.defcoin.io | Read the older project documentation in this wiki. |
| InfoCon talk: The Making of Defcoin | Archive listing for the 7 August 2014 talk by Xaphan, Beaker, and Anch. |
| Medium: The Honeypot of Cryptocurrencies | Retrospective essay included in the 8 October 2026 reference inventory; live check pending. |
| g4tekeep3r DFC P2Pool post | The preserved 2020 reference lists two P2Pool endpoints and credits charlesrocket. The 8 October 2026 review used that reference; page retrieval remains pending. |
| Defcoin Core Nu releases | Newer wallet work. Check each release label and platform notes; alpha builds are development releases. |
Pools with recorded live checks
| Pool | Operator | Website | Stratum | Last live check | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DC903 Defcoin P2Pool | DC903 | https://defcoin.dc903.org/pool | stratum+tcp://defcoin.dc903.org:13372 | 2026-10-08 | Defcoin peer, P2Pool peer, Stratum work, and public page checks passed on 2026-10-08. |
| Defcoin.io P2Pool Node | Unknown | https://defcoin.io/ | stratum+tcp://135.148.43.189:13372 | 2026-05-26 | Wayback captured defcoin.io on 2 April 2014. P2Pool live check: 26 May 2026. |
| defcoin.host | Unknown | https://defcoin.host/ | stratum+tcp://135.148.43.188:13371 | 2026-05-26 | The pool accepted shares from a bounded cpuminer-opt test on 26 May 2026, its latest recorded test. |
Pool evidence timeline
Use the bar endpoints to find each pool's first and last dated observation. Look in the directory below for pools whose dates remain unknown.
Source code and network identity
Follow the archived project-site links to trace the source repositories. Compare the network settings below across those versions; message bytes identify the expected network at the start of a peer message.
- 2014 official defcoin.org archive — Archived official site snapshot linking its GitHub footer to tiabguls/defcoin.
- Original tiabguls/defcoin source — Original-source reference linked from the archived 2014 official site.
- 2018 official defcoin-ng.org archive — Archived official successor site linking its GitHub footer to NaH012/defcoin.
- mspicer/Defcoin source — Current GitHub location for the old NaH012/Defcoin repository.
- DefCoinCore v2.0.0 chainparams — Pinned Litecoin Core-based v2.0.0 source, with seed.defcoin.io and seed2.defcoin.io listed as DNS seeds.
- Defcoin Core Nu source — Nu source retains the 120-second mainnet target spacing and adds Defcoin-specific P2P message bytes.
- wiki.defcoin.io — Historical wiki/documentation surface.
- The mainnet wallet peer port is consistently 1337 in the v1.0.1 and v2.0.0 source trees.
- The Defcoin mainnet target block spacing is 120 seconds, or 2 minutes. The original source sets nTargetSpacing = 2 * 60, and the later chainparams.cpp based releases set nPowTargetSpacing = 2 * 60.
- The original source tree includes mainnet message bytes fb c0 b6 db in the global pchMessageStart initializer and fc c1 b7 dc in the testnet initialization path.
- The v1.0.1 and v2.0.0 chainparams.cpp files use fb c0 b6 db for mainnet on port 1337, fc c1 b7 dc for testnet on port 31337, and fa bf b5 da for regtest on port 19444.
- Port 19444 belongs to regtest, a local testing network, in the v1.0.1 and v2.0.0 source trees.
- Modern Defcoin Core Nu compatible nodes use defc014e as the Defcoin-specific P2P packet magic while compatibility mode can still accept legacy fbc0b6db.
Historical statistics
| Snapshot | Earliest evidence | Latest evidence | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| defcoinstats.com | 2014-03-17 | 2026-02-08 | Historical statistics reference with imported hashrate samples ending in 2017. |
Older project sites
| Site | Earliest evidence | Latest evidence | Archive | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| defcoin-ng.org | 2020-04-09 | 2025-04-05 | Wayback search | Retired domain. Follow the archived footer's links to trace later Defcoin projects. |
| explorer.def-coin.org | 2020-04-09 | 2024-02-06 | Wayback search | The 26 April 2026 DNS check returned NXDOMAIN. Wayback captured the pages on the listed dates. |
| miningpoolstats.stream/defcoin | 2021-02-02 | 2022-12-18 | Wayback search | The original site review recorded HTTP 404 for the Defcoin page. Check date unknown. |
| defcoin.org | 2014-04-02 | 2024-03-18 | Wayback search | The earlier site review recorded this domain as parked; use its archive for project history. |
Older games, wallets, and tools
Historical pool directory
| Pool | Operator | Earliest evidence | Latest evidence | Original URL | Archive | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RedBaron Defcoin Pool | RedBaron | 2014-09-29 | 2021-03-25 | https://www.redbaron.us | Wayback search | DefcoinStats and community pool lists name RedBaron. |
| Subba Defcoin Pool | Subba | 2014-04-05 | 2021-03-18 | https://defcoin-pool.subba.net | Wayback search | DefcoinStats and preserved community lists name Subba. |
| Chunky Pools | Chunky | 2014-04-01 | 2016-03-09 | http://chunkypools.com/def | Wayback search | defcoinstats listed Chunky Pools at chunkypools.com; older alias also appeared as http://ww3.chunkypools.com. |
| Defcoin.US | Unknown | 2014-04-02 | 2021-03-18 | http://defcoin.us | Wayback search | DefcoinStats lists Defcoin.US separately. |
| coin.iptron.net | IPTron | 2014-04-01 | 2015-02-25 | http://coin.iptron.net:13370 | Wayback search | DefcoinStats lists coin.iptron.net on port 13370. |
| Beardpool Defcoin Pool | Acor / Beardpool | 2017-03-11 | 2021-03-18 | https://pool.acor.to | Wayback search | Historical HTTPS and HTTP forms both existed. |
| DC801 Defcoin Pool | DC801 | — | — | http://defcoin.dc801.org/ | Wayback search | The earlier review found an unrelated redirect. Pool operation dates remain unknown. |
| defcoinpool.com | Unknown | 2014-08-20 | 2016-10-23 | http://www.defcoinpool.com/ | Wayback search | DefcoinStats calls it “DEFCOIN Pool”; its Bitcointalk announcement uses “[ANN][POOL][DFC] defcoinpool.com | New DEFCOIN Pool”. Source names: defcoinpool.com and www.defcoinpool.com. |
| g4tekeep3r DFC P2Pool | g4tekeep3r | 2020-08-16 | 2020-08-16 | https://www.g4tekeep3r.com/2020/08/16/dfc-p2pool/ | Wayback search | The preserved 16 August 2020 post lists two nodes on port 9355 and credits charlesrocket. Endpoint evidence dates to that post. |
| Poltergeek's Pool | Poltergeek | 2014-04-02 | 2015-02-05 | http://defcoin.cloudapp.net | Wayback search | Community pool lists name Poltergeek's Pool. |
| Cryptoheater | Unknown | 2014-04-04 | 2014-09-29 | http://cryptoheater.com/ | Wayback search | The preserved DefcoinStats page lists Cryptoheater as down. |
| SecDSM Defcoin Pool | SecDSM | 2025-04-05 | 2025-04-05 | https://web.archive.org/web/20250405212630/https://defcoin-ng.org/ | Wayback search | The 5 April 2025 defcoin-ng.org archive names SecDSM. Follow the linked archive for that reference; the original pool URL remains unknown. |
| Unknown Mining Pool | Unknown | 2025-04-05 | — | http://unknownminingpool.com/ | Wayback search | An operator recorded the pool as inactive by 10 August 2023. A 5 April 2025 archive preserves its name in a pool list. The 26 April 2026 HTTP check received no response. |
| Laiw Pool | LAIW | 2025-04-05 | — | https://mine.laiw.com/ | Wayback search | The 26 April 2026 DNS check returned NXDOMAIN. |
Early on-chain records
Block 25 carries a 7 March 2014 timestamp. The 13 April 2014 coinbase includes P2Pool markers. Follow the explorer links to inspect both transactions.
| Date / time | Event | Evidence | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-03-07 07:54:37 UTC | Block 25: an early chain record | Block explorer transaction | Block 25 contains this coinbase transaction. |
| 2014-04-13 19:27:00 UTC | P2Pool-style coinbase recorded | Block explorer transaction | The coinbase includes a legacy P2Pool donation output and an OP_RETURN share marker. |