RESEARCH ARTICLE
John McAfee GHOST Whitepaper: Complete Guide and Archive
Original summaries, evolution, and links to archival sources.
Editorial metadata · E-E-A-T
Author
The GHOST Archive Editorial Team
Editor
The GHOST Archive Editorial Team
Published
2024-01-01
Updated
2026-10-08
Last verified
2026-10-08
Direct answer
GHOST had more than one major technical whitepaper during its history. Its earliest 2020 specification described a PIVX-related architecture. Following controversy and technical changes, GHOST moved toward a Particl-derived blockchain using RingCT, stealth addresses, Bulletproofs, and Dandelion++. A substantially updated whitepaper was later published by the continuing community in December 2024.
Whitepaper evolution
Flow diagram
MAY 2020 — Original specification
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PIVX controversy
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JUNE 2020 — Revised architecture
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Particl-based GHOST mainnet
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2020–2024 development
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DECEMBER 2024 — Updated GHOST Privacy Whitepaper
The documents in this archive
- ›Original 2020 Whitepaper — the PIVX-related proposal.
- ›Revised 2020 Whitepaper — the Particl-derived architecture that launched.
- ›2024 Whitepaper — the updated community document.
- ›Evolution — a dedicated analysis of how the design changed.
- ›Interactive Explorer — a split-screen reader with clickable concepts.
Sources
- S-01Original GHOST Whitepaper (May 2020)PRIMARY2020-05 · whitepaper · supports: Original architecture, ESH distribution, supply proposalhttps://web.archive.org/web/2020/https://ghostbymcafee.com/
- S-02Revised GHOST Whitepaper (June 2020)PRIMARY2020-06 · whitepaper · supports: Particl-derived architecture, RingCT, stealth addresses, Bulletproofs, Dandelion++https://github.com/ghost-coin
- S-03Updated GHOST Privacy Whitepaper (December 2024)PRIMARY2024-12 · whitepaper · supports: Current privacy stack, tokenomics, Ghost Veterans, governancehttps://github.com/ghost-coin