What Is Alephium (ALPH)?

Alephium is a Layer-1 Proof-of-Work blockchain that brings together robust PoW security, sharded high throughput and modern smart-contract capabilities powered by its own Ralph language. The native coin ALPH is used as gas, as block rewards for miners and as the core asset for value transfer across the network.

The project aims to deliver “the Web3 you were promised”: scalability without sacrificing decentralization or security, plus a developer-friendly and user-friendly experience.

Table of contents

• What is Alephium (ALPH)
• Why Alephium is special
• Alephium (ALPH) tokenomics
• How to get ALPH
• Building and contributing on Alephium
• Alephium’s sustainability and security
• Alephium and ALPH FAQ
• Conclusion
• Disclaimer

What is Alephium (ALPH)

Alephium is an original Layer-1 blockchain that does not simply copy existing designs but re-architects them. It combines battle-tested Proof-of-Work security with the programmability of smart-contract platforms and a scalable sharded base layer.

The network is built around several core components: the Proof-of-Less-Work (PoLW) consensus, BlockFlow sharding, a stateful UTXO model and the Alphred virtual machine. Together they allow Alephium to reach high throughput, strong security and energy efficiency without compromising decentralization.

The ALPH coin is the native asset of the ecosystem. It is used to:

• pay transaction and smart-contract execution fees;
• reward miners who secure the network;
• fuel dApps, DeFi protocols and NFT infrastructure;
• serve as a medium of exchange and value transfer within Alephium.

Why Alephium is special

Alephium stands out because it manages to combine performance, security, scalability and sustainability within a Proof-of-Work framework. Below are the main features that differentiate it from other blockchains.

Fast: blocks every 8 seconds

Alephium targets a block time of around 8 seconds, with an aggregate network throughput of about 2 blocks per second. The architecture consists of 16 parallel chains, each producing a block every 8 seconds. This design means that:

• transactions are confirmed quickly;
• latency between sending and finality is low;
• the user experience is comparable to leading Proof-of-Stake networks while preserving PoW-level security.

Scalable: BlockFlow sharding

The BlockFlow sharding mechanism splits the network into multiple chains (shards) that process transactions in parallel. This unlocks throughput of tens of thousands of transactions per second and gives the ecosystem room to grow.

For users and developers Alephium still feels like a single chain:

• all assets and smart contracts remain accessible across shards;
• cross-shard transfers are handled under the hood;
• dApps can benefit from sharding without complex application logic.

Secure: stateful UTXO and MEV-aware design

Instead of a classic account model, Alephium uses a stateful UTXO design. It combines Bitcoin-style transparency with Ethereum-like programmability:

• each contract has its own isolated state, shrinking the attack surface;
• double-spend attempts are harder to pull off thanks to UTXO semantics;
• the architecture is designed with MEV risks in mind, mitigating manipulative transaction ordering.

As a result, smart contracts on Alephium come with built-in protection against common issues such as reentrancy, unlimited token approvals and some cross-chain consistency pitfalls.

Sustainable: Proof-of-Less-Work

Proof-of-Less-Work is an improved form of Proof-of-Work that can cut energy consumption by up to 87% under similar loads compared to traditional mining. This is achieved through a more nuanced approach to difficulty adjustment and block rewards.

In practice this delivers a “green” consensus that:

• keeps the transparency and verifiability of PoW;
• reduces the environmental footprint of the network;
• lowers the hardware barrier for participation in mining.

Programmable: smart contracts in Ralph

Alephium merges the security of UTXO with the flexibility of smart contracts. The stateful UTXO model makes it possible to build sophisticated DeFi apps, token and NFT standards and complex multi-step dApps while keeping user funds protected.

The Ralph language is purpose-built for Alephium’s architecture. It focuses on:

• simple, predictable contract logic;
• reducing classes of vulnerabilities at the language and execution level;
• making contracts scale in a sharded environment.

Developer-friendly tooling

Developers can rely on the Alphred virtual machine, a Typescript SDK and a suite of tools for smart-contract development and integration:

• writing, testing and deploying Ralph contracts;
• connecting web frontends to Alephium-based backends;
• building wallets, DeFi products and financial services.

This toolset shortens the time from idea to production and helps grow the ecosystem around ALPH.

Alephium (ALPH) tokenomics

ALPH is the utility and reward asset of the Alephium network. Its economic model is built around predictable, ongoing emissions and a fee-burning mechanism that partially offsets inflation.

Supply equation

The total supply of ALPH can be described as:

Total Supply = Circulating Supply + Reserved Supply + Locked ALPH

Some coins are in active circulation, some are reserved for ecosystem growth and team incentives, and some remain locked according to vesting and mining rules.

Emissions and burning

• Mining emissions are not capped by a hard maximum supply.
• Newly mined ALPH remains locked for 500 minutes before it becomes spendable.
• All transaction fees are burned, introducing a partial deflationary component.

ALPH allocation

• Mining emissions: unlimited, with a 500-minute lock for mined coins.
• Burned: all transaction fees are destroyed via the PoLW mechanism.
• Seed/private sales: 80 million ALPH with quarterly vesting over 2–4 years.
• Ecosystem allocation: 30 million ALPH, unlocked quarterly over 4 years.
• Treasury: 30 million ALPH, vested quarterly over 3 years.

This hybrid model of continuous issuance and fee burning keeps network incentives in place while reducing the risk of runaway inflation over time. The effective inflation rate depends on the balance between new emissions and the volume of fees being burned.

How to get ALPH

There are multiple ways to acquire ALPH: through Alephium wallets, centralized exchanges, decentralized platforms, bridges or direct peer-to-peer transfers. Here are the main routes into the ecosystem.

On-ramp purchases inside wallets

Alephium’s mobile and desktop wallets integrate on-ramp services that let you buy ALPH with debit and credit cards, bank transfers or Apple Pay (availability depends on your region). This approach:

• simplifies onboarding for new users;
• removes the need to start with a centralized exchange;
• reduces the chance of mistakes when withdrawing to a personal address.

Centralized exchanges

ALPH is listed on several centralized exchanges, often paired with major cryptocurrencies and in some cases fiat currencies. A typical flow looks like this:

1. open an account and complete the required procedures on the exchange;
2. fund your balance with fiat or crypto;
3. trade into ALPH using a suitable market pair;
4. withdraw ALPH to your own Alephium wallet for self-custody.

For long-term storage it is generally safer to hold ALPH in a wallet you control rather than leaving it on an exchange.

Decentralized exchanges

Self-custody users can access ALPH on native decentralized exchanges such as Elexium, Ayin and Nightshade, where ALPH is traded on-chain within the Alephium network. Wrapped versions of ALPH are also available on other chains via official bridges.

Before swapping, it is wise to check liquidity and daily volume for the pool you plan to use. Smaller DEXes or exotic pairs may have higher slippage.

Bridged ALPH and cross-chain access

Bridged ALPH enables smooth movement of value between Alephium and other ecosystems. Through the official bridge, wrapped ALPH can move between Alephium and networks like Ethereum or BNB Chain, giving users access to a broad range of DeFi protocols.

Always double-check token contract addresses and stick to reputable bridges and protocols to reduce technical and counterparty risk.

Peer-to-peer transfers

With the Alephium wallet users can send ALPH directly to one another. Share your address, and the other party can transfer funds to you. Thanks to the high-throughput network, transactions typically confirm within seconds, making ALPH convenient for payments and transfers.

Building and contributing on Alephium

By open-sourcing its stack Alephium invites developers, miners and community members to help expand its decentralized infrastructure. The project ships a comprehensive toolset, SDKs and documentation to make building and running dApps straightforward.

Developer environment and Ralph

Ralph and the Alphred VM are engineered with security and scalability in mind. Developers get:

• a deterministic contract execution environment;
• fine-grained control over gas usage;
• tooling for local testing, deployment and integration with web frontends.

The Typescript SDK and API libraries simplify wallet integrations, dApp frontends, DeFi tools and more. New builders can start with simple templates and gradually move toward more advanced use cases.

Contributing to the ecosystem

Because Alephium is open source, anyone can:

• explore repositories and open pull requests to propose improvements;
• submit their dApps to the public Alephium ecosystem showcase;
• apply for grants and bug bounty programs that reward useful contributions and security research.

This model fosters innovation, encourages audits and hardening of contracts and improves the overall infrastructure over time.

Running Alephium nodes

Running a node is crucial for decentralization and network robustness. Alephium node software is optimized for consumer-grade hardware, making participation more accessible:

• it supports common operating systems;
• documentation covers setup, configuration, monitoring and upgrades;
• tools are available for connecting to mining pools and validating transactions.

For dApp developers, having their own node can improve reliability, reduce latency and lower reliance on third-party RPC providers.

Mining Alephium

Alephium supports both solo and pool mining. In its current setup, the network features four address groups and sixteen chains with a target block time of 8 seconds. The base block reward is 0.1915 ALPH, and on average around 172,800 blocks are mined per day.

Newly mined coins are locked for 500 minutes before becoming spendable. This moderates immediate sell pressure and helps make the emission schedule more predictable. The community maintains channels for miners to discuss hardware, software and configuration tips.

Before starting to mine, it is important to assess energy costs, network difficulty, hardware expenses and ALPH’s price, and to understand that profitability may change over time. Background reading such as a general crypto mining guide can be helpful.

Alephium’s sustainability and security

Alephium was created with the conviction that decentralization, security and sustainability can coexist. Its architecture and PoLW consensus build on several years of research into how PoW networks can evolve to meet modern efficiency standards without becoming fragile.

Proof-of-Less-Work (PoLW)

PoLW preserves the basic PoW idea of rewarding verifiable computational work while reducing unnecessary energy usage. Difficulty adjustments and reward logic are tuned so that the network stays secure without overspending on hash power.

This allows Alephium to:

• maintain an open, easily verifiable PoW model with clear incentives;
• lower its environmental impact compared to traditional PoW chains;
• mitigate centralization pressures by keeping hardware requirements moderate.

Security by design

The stateful UTXO model, shard-aware logic and MEV-aware design work together to reduce the attack surface for smart contracts:

• contracts are isolated at the state level;
• reentrancy and similar multi-call exploits are harder to engineer;
• “infinite approvals” and related token allowance risks can be constrained;
• unified shard-aware rules lower the chance of cross-shard inconsistencies.

Developers benefit from a safer execution environment, and users benefit from stronger default protections for their assets.

Environmental and network stability

By combining PoLW with multi-chain sharding, Alephium aims to be both energy-efficient and high throughput. The ability to run nodes on consumer-grade hardware strengthens decentralization and reduces dependence on large data centers.

Alephium remains a public, verifiable Proof-of-Work blockchain that aligns with broader sustainability goals while still offering strong security guarantees.

Alephium and ALPH FAQ

Conclusion

Alephium is more than just another Layer-1 chain: it is an attempt to rethink Proof-of-Work for the Web3 era. With PoLW, BlockFlow sharding and a secure stateful UTXO model, it aims to deliver high throughput, strong security and sustainability in one package. ALPH acts as the fuel that keeps this ecosystem running — from fees and mining to DeFi and NFTs.

If you are looking for a blockchain that prioritizes decentralization, sustainability and developer experience, Alephium is worth exploring. Your next step might be to set up a wallet, send your first transaction, read through the Ralph documentation or try building a simple dApp on top of this network.

Disclaimer

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice. The cryptocurrency market is highly volatile and risky. Before buying, selling or mining ALPH, do your own research and consider the legal requirements applicable in your jurisdiction.