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📄 Lethean Whitepaper (Reimagined Chain)

🔒 Introduction

Lethean is a decentralized platform focused on delivering private, censorship-resistant access to internet services — with VPNs as its first major use case. Originally launched as a Cryptonote-based privacy coin, Lethean is now entering a new chapter.

We are initiating a hard fork of the current Lethean blockchain, adopting rich features of the Zano codebase, while retaining Lethean's mission and community. This move brings modern features, greater scalability, and long-term sustainability.

🚀 Purpose of the Fork

The new Lethean blockchain aims to:

  • Modernize its infrastructure using Zano's active Cryptonote development base
  • Rebuild trust with old holders and attract new investors
  • Reinforce its original use case: decentralized VPN access
  • Enable long-term support for developers, VPN providers, and coin holders

📈 Market Opportunity

The global VPN market is projected to grow as follows:

  • 2024: $72.89 billion
  • 2025: $88.96 billion
  • 2034: $534.22 billion
  • CAGR: 22.04% (2024–2034)

Lethean aims to capture a slice of this massive and growing market by offering a decentralized, privacy-first alternative to traditional VPN providers.

🧬 Chain Upgrade & Snapshot

Parameter Value
Parent Chain Lethean (original Cryptonote fork)
New Codebase Lethean code base with Zano improvements
Max Supply 21 million LTHN
Initial Supply 10 million LTHN
Snapshot Ratio 100 old LTHN = 1 new LTHN
Swap Window 6 months post-launch
Unclaimed Swap Allocation Dev fund / ecosystem grants

After the 6-month token swap period, any unclaimed coins will be reallocated to the developer and ecosystem fund, subject to transparency and multi-sig control.

💰 Tokenomics Overview

🪙 Coin Distribution

Category Allocation (%) Notes
Proof of Work 45% Miners secure the network and receive rewards
Proof of Stake 45% Stakers earn passive income for validating
Developer Fund 10% Funded at genesis; supports ongoing development

The developer fund is established at genesis and may receive unclaimed swap coins. This fund will be used for development bounties, grants, partnerships, and infrastructure.

📉 Inflation & Supply Management

Year Target Inflation Notes
Y1 20% High initial reward to attract users
Y2+ Gradual decrease Floor target ~5% per year
Max Supply Cap 21 million LTHN Enforced via smart emissions and burning
  • Burning Mechanism: A portion of coins will be permanently destroyed during ecosystem usage — especially VPN service payments — ensuring deflationary pressure.
  • No supply will exceed 21 million coins.

🧾 Rewarding Key Stakeholders

Lethean identifies four critical actors that must be incentivized:

1. 🧑‍💻 Developers

  • Supported via a 10% genesis allocation + unclaimed swap funds
  • Transparent multisig-controlled wallet
  • Used for: core development, security audits, feature bounties

2. 💼 Coin Investors

  • Rewarded via Proof-of-Stake (PoS)
  • Incentivized to hold and secure the network
  • Help support long-term price stability and market cap growth

3. 🌐 VPN Service Providers

  • Must hold a minimum balance of LTHN per exit node
  • VPN exits may require a base amount (TBD: e.g., 500 LTHN per node)
  • Encourages healthy collateral and trust-based provisioning

4. 🧑‍💻 VPN Users

  • Will use LTHN to pay for anonymous VPN access
  • Benefit from low-cost, decentralized infrastructure
  • Enable coin-burning on each purchase to support token scarcity

🏗️ Governance & Ecosystem Growth

  • Open-Source Governance: Community-driven improvements, proposals, and grants
  • DAO (Future): Consider establishing a Lethean DAO post-launch
  • Ecosystem Incentives: Dev grants, VPN gateway incentives, liquidity mining (optional)

📅 Roadmap Preview

Phase Milestone
✅ Phase 0 Vision, planning, branding
🚧 Phase 1 Fork codebase, define tokenomics, build testnet
⏳ Phase 2 Token snapshot, infrastructure setup, wallet UX
🔜 Phase 3 Launch 6-month token swap period
🔜 Phase 4 Mainnet go-live, PoW/PoS activation, VPN testing
🔜 Phase 5 Burn mechanics, staking UI, exchange listing

🔐 Summary

The new Lethean chain is a fresh start — rooted in its original mission, powered by modern technology, and guided by fair and transparent tokenomics. With a clear path to incentivizing developers, service providers, investors, and users, Lethean is poised to reclaim its place in the decentralized privacy economy.

Lethean is more than just a coin. It's infrastructure for a freer internet.