Nervos Network (CKB) is a Layer-1 public blockchain, the "Common Knowledge Base," launched as its own standalone chain rather than a token issued on another network. It uses a RISC-V-based instruction set for its smart-contract layer and is secured by proof-of-work.
CKB is the native asset used to pay transaction fees and to pay for on-chain state storage. The mainnet, named "Lina," launched in November 2019. CKB trades at approximately $0.0010045, with a market capitalization of roughly $49.4 million.
Nervos differentiates itself through a smart-contract design that lets each contract choose its own cryptographic scheme, rather than fixing one scheme network-wide. In February 2026 this let Nervos deploy SPHINCS+ post-quantum cryptography on-chain and release a "Quantum Purse" wallet without a network-wide hard fork, unlike upgrades on many other Layer-1 chains.
CKB captures this differentiation directly: it is the asset required to pay for the state storage and computation that any contract, including quantum-resistant ones, consumes on the network.
CKB is primarily a utility token: it pays transaction fees and on-chain state-storage costs on the Nervos Network.
Holders can also deposit CKB into the Nervos DAO, a native contract that distributes a share of ongoing secondary token issuance to depositors, functioning similarly to staking by offsetting dilution for participants who lock their tokens.
Circulating supply is approximately 49.44 billion CKB, with total supply around 50.28 billion CKB.
Because secondary issuance continues indefinitely, CKB has no maximum supply and is structurally inflationary for holders who do not stake; the Nervos DAO offsets this by redistributing 35% of secondary issuance to depositors.
CKB launched through a public token sale on CoinList in October 2019, priced at $0.01 per CKB and selling about 20% of the genesis supply, raising roughly $70 million.
Nervos Network was founded in 2018, a year before its "Lina" mainnet went live in November 2019. At genesis, 33.6 billion CKB were issued, of which 8.4 billion were burned shortly after launch.
Nervos Network operates its own standalone Layer-1 blockchain, the Common Knowledge Base (CKB); it is not a token deployed on Ethereum, Solana, or any other existing chain.
The chain is secured by proof-of-work consensus and uses a RISC-V-based instruction set for its smart-contract execution environment, which allows contracts to select their own cryptographic schemes.
Nervos Network was founded in 2018 by a five-person team: Jan Xie, Terry Tai, Kevin Wang, Daniel Lv, and Cipher Wang. Terry Tai serves as Co-Founder and CEO.
Jan Xie previously worked as chief architect at the Yunbi exchange and later joined Ethereum's core research team, working on Casper and sharding prototypes. Kevin Wang has an engineering background, including work on big-data systems at IBM's Silicon Valley Lab, and co-founded the Launch School education platform before Nervos.
The Nervos Foundation, a non-profit organization, stewards Nervos Network's ongoing development with a stated mission of bootstrapping a thriving ecosystem around CKB.
The foundation has supported the network since its "Lina" mainnet launched in November 2019, and continues to back ecosystem funding efforts such as the CKB Community Fund DAO alongside community contributors.
The primary on-chain, governance-adjacent mechanism is the Nervos DAO, through which CKB holders deposit tokens to participate in the network's issuance economics rather than vote directly on decisions.
A separate CKB Community Fund DAO, jointly funded by the community and the Nervos Foundation, allocates funding toward ecosystem work such as code development, event organization, and content production. A "DAO mainnet launch" targeted for February 2026 was reported to finalize aspects of decentralized governance.
Nervos underwent multiple security audits ahead of its 2019 mainnet launch, including reviews by Trail of Bits and Least Authority. A PeckShield audit identified 12 issues -- 4 critical, 5 medium, and 3 informational -- which Nervos stated were resolved. CertiK completed a further audit delivered April 7, 2020, reporting no findings across all severity levels.
As a liquidity risk factor, KuCoin delisted CKB from margin trading in May 2026, reducing leverage access on at least one major exchange.