VIGI as money
You will be able to explain the supply, where new VIGI comes from, and what you pay when you move it.
Supply
Twenty-one million, and the smallest unit is the vix.
The maximum supply is 21,000,000 VIGI, and each VIGI divides into 100,000,000 vix — the unit every amount is actually counted in, so that no rounding ever happens inside the protocol. New VIGI enters only as the reward for producing a block, on a schedule written into the software, not by a decision anybody makes afterwards.
Illustration to come
Real photograph, close and precise: many small identical objects being counted or weighed on a scale. Conveys a fixed, countable quantity — not a pile of gold, not a bank vault cliché.
What you pay
Gas, because it is work — never a "fee" somebody sets.
Moving value costs gas: a measure of the work your transaction asks of every node that will validate and store it. A post-quantum signature is large, so a VigiChain transaction is heavier on the wire than a classical one — and the network is engineered so the cost stays in the cents range that a payments network needs, rather than being priced like scarce block space.
Illustration to come
Real photograph of an analogue gauge or torque meter on a workbench, needle mid-scale. The idea is measured effort, not a price tag or a coin.
Where it comes from
Mining, and mining is the only door.
There was no pre-mine sold to anyone, and there is no mechanism by which the software can create VIGI outside a valid block reward. That means the way to obtain testnet VIGI today is to produce blocks, or to be paid by somebody who did. It also means the rules that decide a valid block are the rules that decide the money supply — which is why so much of this academy is about validation.
Illustration to come
REAL photograph of real hardware: a modest mining or compute machine on a shelf in an ordinary room — not a warehouse, not a render. Cables visible, dust visible. Honesty over glamour.
Today
Testnet VIGI has no monetary value, and the software says so.
The public network is a testnet, and mainnet is locked inside the code — a constant the release refuses to launch without, and the preflight refuses to pass without evidence for every gate. Anything you earn or receive today is for learning and testing. Anyone offering to buy or sell testnet VIGI is not describing this network.
Illustration to come
Real photograph: a paper document or banknote-style specimen with a clear "SPECIMEN"/test stamp across it. Must not imitate any real currency or institution.
In short
- Supply is capped at 21,000,000 VIGI, counted internally in vix (10⁻⁸).
- You pay gas — work — and the network targets cents, not scarce-block-space pricing.
- New VIGI exists only as a block reward; there is no other door.
- Today's network is a testnet with no monetary value, and mainnet is locked in the software.
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