Introduction
Nexus is a blockchain built for programmable finance. Its architecture pairs a general-purpose smart-contract environment with a specialized, high-performance financial execution engine — under one consensus layer and a distributed proof system — so applications get the openness and composability of a public chain with the speed and depth of a centralized exchange.
At its center is the Nexus Exchange: a spot and perpetual-futures exchange built into the chain itself, not bolted on as a smart contract. It is live on testnet today and expands toward crypto, equities, FX, and commodities as it moves to production.
How it fits together
Nexus separates execution, verification, and consensus over one unified state:
Execution — dual-core. NexusEVM runs general-purpose, EVM-compatible contracts (1-second blocks); NexusCore runs native financial co-processors — order matching, risk, oracles, liquidations — at 200 ms block intervals. They interoperate atomically, so any contract can compose with exchange liquidity.
Verification. The Compute Network progressively proves execution, so anyone can verify it independently — without trusting the operator.
Consensus. NexusBFT finalizes blocks with instant, single-slot finality.
See Architecture for the full picture.
Start here
Architecture — how the chain and the exchange work.
The Exchange — trading, perpetuals, and markets.
Build on Nexus — deploy with standard EVM tools.
Tokenomics — NEX supply, utility, and distribution.
Further reading
Original Nexus whitepaper — the foundational technical paper that introduced Nexus.
NEX MiCA whitepaper — the NEX token disclosure under the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation.
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