Lux Docs

IP and Licensing Strategy

Three-tier IP strategy — public BSD-3 commodity, patent-protected Lux Ecosystem License, and a closed-source private performance moat.

This page mirrors the canonical IP/licensing strategy at github.com/luxfi/.github/profile/README.md. The LICENSE file in each repository is the binding artifact; this page is navigational documentation. Where this page and any repo LICENSE disagree, the LICENSE wins.

Lux ships a deliberate three-tier IP strategy: public BSD-3 commodity, patent-protected Lux Ecosystem License with paid commercial license available, and a closed-source private performance tier living in lux-private/* (private GitHub org). Read this section before forking, embedding, or building a commercial product on top of Lux code.

The three tiers

TierVisibilityLicenseWho can use freelyWhat lives there
Publicgithub.com/luxfi/* (public)BSD-3-Clause (and a few inherited Apache-2.0 / MIT / GPL / LGPL / MPL / BSL repos — see classification table below)Anyone, any purpose, including commercial forksPure-Go reference implementations. Protocol specs. Types and codecs. Commodity primitives that have no patent claim.
Patent-protectedgithub.com/luxfi/* (public)Lux Ecosystem License v1.2 (Eco), or Lux Research License with Patent Reservation, or Lux Genesis LicenseAuthorized Networks (Lux Primary NetID=1 and EVM 96369; official Lux testnets and devnets; Descending Chains) and Research UseFHE design and runtime, DEX matching engine, novel post-quantum cryptography (lamport, lattice, corona, threshold MPC), KMS, MPC, bridge, consensus internals. Source visible (so prior art is established and forks for Authorized Networks are unblocked); commercial use outside Authorized Networks gated.
Private performance moatgithub.com/lux-private/* (private org, not on public GitHub)Commercial license / NDA onlyLux Industries Inc. and paying customers under contractProduction-grade C++ / CUDA / Metal / MLX / FPGA implementations of the same algorithms — the actual performance you cannot get from the public reference. Currently being extracted from luxcpp/* (see "Extraction status" below).

Definitions of "Authorized Network", "Descending Chain", "Research Use", and "Commercial Use" are the ones in the Lux Ecosystem License v1.2 text — see any Eco-tier repo's LICENSE for the binding language. Where this page and the LICENSE disagree, the LICENSE wins.

Runtime gate vs license tier

A common point of confusion: every Lux artifact is licensed. The question is not "is there a license" — it is "which license, and is there a runtime token check on top of it". The table below separates those two concerns.

LayerCode licenseRuntime token?Enforcement model
BSD-3-Clause commodityBSD 3-Clause (or inherited Apache-2.0 / MIT / GPL / LGPL / MPL / BSL where vendored)NonePermissive open source; commercial use and forks unrestricted under the named license.
Patent-protected source-visible (Eco)Lux Ecosystem License v1.2, Lux Research with Patent Reservation, or Lux Genesis LicenseNoneContract-only — source is visible so prior art is fixed and Authorized Networks can fork; commercial use outside Authorized Networks legally requires a signed paid license (Confluent Server / MongoDB SSPL pattern).
Closed performance moatCommercial License Only (lux-private/*, not on public GitHub)luxfi/license token verified at startupFail-closed runtime check (HashiCorp Vault EE / NVIDIA cuDNN pattern) — token signed by Lux Industries Inc., verified offline against an embedded public key. No phone-home.

Two things this table makes explicit:

  1. The public CPU binary is not "unlicensed". It ships under BSD-3-Clause (or, for vendored upstreams, the inherited Apache / MIT / GPL / LGPL / MPL / BSL). What it lacks is a runtime token check, because there is nothing in that binary to gate.
  2. The runtime token gate at cevm v0.50.0 and later only fires on tier-3 GPU/FPGA backends. CPU paths run unmodified under their actual public licenses. Removing or bypassing the token does not make the closed code free — the closed code never shipped in the public binary in the first place (two-binary distribution).

What this strategy is and is not

The Eco tier is the revenue surface.Patent-protected repos stay Eco. They are the catalog Lux sells commercial licenses against. There are no planned license flips from Eco to BSD-3 — loosening the patent gate would erase the licensing business.
The BSD-3 tier is the integration surface.If a primitive has no patent claim and no defensible moat, it ships BSD-3. Anyone can fork it, embed it in a sovereign L1, sell a product built on it. This is intentional. It is what makes Lux usable as a base for other networks.
The private moat is the performance surface.The C++/CUDA/Metal/MLX/FPGA kernels that make Lux fast (orders of magnitude over the public Go reference) live in lux-private/*. Public Go is correct, audited, complete, and slower. The private moat is the same algorithms, hand-tuned for hardware. Contact licensing@lux.network.

What you can do without a commercial license

You areDoing thisOutcome
Researcher / academicAnything, any tierFree under "Research Use" in the Lux Ecosystem License
Hobbyist / personalAnything in the public + patent-protected tiersFree; Eco permits personal and non-commercial use
Commercial productBuilding on a Descending Chain (subnet of Lux Primary or downstream)Free; you are an Authorized Network under Eco
Commercial productForking BSD-3 code into a sovereign L1 unrelated to LuxFree; BSD-3 is unrestricted
Commercial productEmbedding Eco-tier code (FHE, DEX matching, MPC, threshold, corona, lattice, lamport, etc.) in a sovereign L1 unrelated to LuxCommercial license required — licensing@lux.network
Commercial productUsing the private moat (C++/CUDA/Metal/MLX/FPGA kernels)Contract via licensing@lux.network

Repository classification

The table below mirrors the LICENSE file currently in each public repository. The LICENSE file is the binding artifact; this table is a navigational aid.

RepositoryLicenseTier
accelBSD-3-ClausePublic
addressBSD-3-ClausePublic
adxAll Rights Reserved (Lux Industries Inc. + ADXYZ Inc.)Patent-protected
ageBSD-3-Clause (vendored from filippo.io/age)Public
aiLux Ecosystem v1.2Patent-protected
apiBSD-3-ClausePublic
assetsMITPublic
audioBSD (Lux Audio LLC)Public
benchlistBSD-3-ClausePublic
bftBSD-3-ClausePublic
brandBSD-3-ClausePublic
bridgeLux Ecosystem v1.2Patent-protected
buildBSD-3-ClausePublic
cacheBSD-3-ClausePublic
chartsBSD-3-ClausePublic
chatApache-2.0Public
cliBSD-3-ClausePublic
codecBSD-3-ClausePublic
compressBSD-3-ClausePublic
concurrentBSD-3-ClausePublic
configBSD-3-ClausePublic
consensusLux Ecosystem v1.2Patent-protected
constantsBSD-3-ClausePublic
containerBSD-3-ClausePublic
contractsBSD-3-ClausePublic
corethLGPL-3.0 (inherited from go-ethereum)Public, copyleft
coronaLux Ecosystem v1.2Patent-protected
cryptoLux Ecosystem v1.2Patent-protected
czmqMPL-2.0 (vendored upstream)Public, weak copyleft
daoLux Research with Patent ReservationPatent-protected
databaseBSD-3-ClausePublic
devopsBSD-3-ClausePublic
dexLux Research with Patent ReservationPatent-protected (extraction-pending to lux-private/*)
docsBSD-3-ClausePublic
docs-templateBSD-3-ClausePublic
dwalletMIT (vendored from Rabby)Public
erc20-goBSD-3-ClausePublic
evmLGPL-3.0 (inherited from go-ethereum)Public, copyleft
evmgpuLGPL-3.0 (inherited from go-ethereum)Public, copyleft
exchangeLux Ecosystem v1.2Patent-protected
exploreGPL-3.0 (inherited from Blockscout)Public, copyleft
extensionBSD-3-ClausePublic
faucetBSD-3-ClausePublic
fheLux Ecosystem v1.2Patent-protected
fhe-coprocessorLux Ecosystem v1.2Patent-protected
filesystemBSD-3-ClausePublic
financialAll Rights Reserved (Lux Industries Inc.)Patent-protected
formattingBSD-3-ClausePublic
forumBSD-3-ClausePublic
fpgaLux Ecosystem v1.2Patent-protected (extraction-pending to lux-private/*)
genesisBSD-3-ClausePublic
gethBSD-3-Clause (Lux fork)Public
go-bip32BSD-3-ClausePublic
go-bip39BSD-3-ClausePublic
go-verklePublic Domain (Unlicense, vendored upstream)Public
guiMITPublic
headerBSD-3-ClausePublic
helpBSD-3-ClausePublic
iamApache-2.0Public
idsBSD-3-ClausePublic
indexerMITPublic
jsBSD-3-ClausePublic
keychainBSD-3-ClausePublic
keysBSD-3-ClausePublic
kitBSD-3-ClausePublic
kmsLux Ecosystem v1.2Patent-protected
lamportLux Ecosystem v1.2Patent-protected
latticeLux Ecosystem v1.2Patent-protected
ledgerApache-2.0Public
ledger-goBSD-3-ClausePublic
lensApache-2.0 (with Lux copyright)Public
licenseBSD-3-Clause (canonical license-text repo)Public
liquidBSD-3-ClausePublic
logBSD-3-ClausePublic
loginBSD-3-ClausePublic
logoBSD-3-ClausePublic
lpmBSD-3-ClausePublic
lux-opsBSD-3-ClausePublic
marketsBSL 1.1 (inherited from Morpho Blue, time-limited)Public, time-limited
mathBSD-3-ClausePublic
mdnsAll Rights Reserved (Lux Industries Inc.)Patent-protected
metricBSD-3-ClausePublic
minerLux Research with Patent ReservationPatent-protected
mlxBSD-3-ClausePublic
mockMITPublic
monitoringBSD-3-ClausePublic
mpcLux Ecosystem v1.2Patent-protected
netBSD-3-ClausePublic
netrunnerBSD-3-ClausePublic
netrunner-sdkBSD-3-ClausePublic
nodeBSD-3-ClausePublic
onnxApache-2.0Public
oracleBSD-3-ClausePublic
orderingBSD-3-ClausePublic
p2pBSD-3-ClausePublic
p3q-evmDual MIT / Apache-2.0Public
packagesBSD-3-ClausePublic
papersBSD-3-ClausePublic
passwordBSD-3-ClausePublic
plugins-coreBSD-3-ClausePublic
pqMITPublic
pq-profile-idsDual MIT / Apache-2.0Public
pqrnsApache-2.0Public
pqsafeApache-2.0Public
precompileLux Ecosystem v1.2Patent-protected
priceBSD-3-ClausePublic
protocolBSD-3-ClausePublic
pubsubBSD-3-ClausePublic
pulsarApache-2.0Public
pulsar-mptcApache-2.0Public
qzmqApache-2.0Public
resourceBSD-3-ClausePublic
coronaLux Ecosystem v1.2Patent-protected
rpcBSD-3-ClausePublic
runtimeBSD-3-ClausePublic
safeLux Ecosystem v1.2Patent-protected
safe-frostGPL-3.0 (inherited from Safe)Public, copyleft
safe-iosGPL-3.0 (inherited from Safe)Public, copyleft
safe-walletGPL-3.0 (inherited from Safe)Public, copyleft
samplerLux Research with Patent ReservationPatent-protected
sdkBSD-3-ClausePublic
securitiesApache-2.0Public
sessionBSD-3-ClausePublic
snapshotsBSD-3-ClausePublic
stackBSD-3-ClausePublic
stakingLux Research with Patent ReservationPatent-protected
standardBSD-3-ClausePublic
stateLux Genesis License v1.0Patent-protected (genesis-data carve-out)
sysBSD-3-ClausePublic
teleportBSD-3-ClausePublic
thresholdLux Ecosystem v1.2Patent-protected
timerBSD-3-ClausePublic
tlsBSD-3-ClausePublic
tokensBSD-3-ClausePublic
traceBSD-3-ClausePublic
tuiBSD-3-ClausePublic
uni-v2-subgraphGPL-3.0 (inherited from Uniswap)Public, copyleft
uni-v3-subgraphGPL-3.0 (inherited from Uniswap)Public, copyleft
uni-v4-subgraphGPL-3.0 (inherited from Uniswap)Public, copyleft
universeBSD-3-ClausePublic
upgradeBSD-3-ClausePublic
utilsBSD-3-ClausePublic
utxoBSD-3-ClausePublic
validatorsBSD-3-ClausePublic
versionBSD-3-ClausePublic
vmLux Research with Patent ReservationPatent-protected
walletLux Ecosystem v1.2Patent-protected
wallet-foundationLux Ecosystem v1.2Patent-protected
warpLux Ecosystem v1.2Patent-protected
webBSD-3-ClausePublic
xwalletMITPublic
zapBSD (Lux Industries Inc.)Public
zapdbApache-2.0Public
zmqBSD (vendored from go-zeromq)Public
zwingBSD-3-ClausePublic

Repositories not listed above either have no LICENSE file (treat as all-rights-reserved, contact licensing@lux.network) or are vendored upstream forks where the inherited LICENSE is the binding artifact.

Vendored upstream forks (do not relicense)

coreth, evm, evmgpu carry LGPL-3.0 because they originate from go-ethereum. explore carries GPL-3.0 from Blockscout. safe-* carry GPL-3.0 from Safe (Gnosis). uni-v*-subgraph carry GPL-3.0 from Uniswap. czmq carries MPL-2.0 from upstream. None of these will be relicensed — the LICENSE is what governs use. The forward-looking replacements live in luxcpp/* (e.g. luxcpp/cevm is Apache-2.0 and is the going-forward EVM kernel; the LGPL evm repo will be retired as luxcpp/cevm reaches feature parity).

Extraction status (lux-private/*)

lux-private/* is the closed-source private GitHub organization that holds the production performance moat. It is currently being bootstrapped. The following are slated for extraction out of the public surface and into lux-private/* once the org is provisioned and the responsible engineers are added as members. Until extraction completes, the binding license is whatever the public repo's LICENSE declares.

SourceWhat movesTargetStatus
luxfi/dexProduction matching enginelux-private/dex-enginePending org bootstrap
luxfi/fpgaFPGA bitstreams + RTLlux-private/fpgaPending org bootstrap
luxcpp/cuda/*Already proprietary; will mirror to lux-private/cudalux-private/cudaPending org bootstrap
luxcpp/lux-cuda, luxcpp/lux-metal, luxcpp/lux-webgpu (no LICENSE)GPU kernel sourceslux-private/gpu-kernelsPending org bootstrap

Treat anything in lux-private/* as commercial-only. There is no public read access. There is no implied license. Use is governed exclusively by a signed commercial agreement.

Commercial licensing

Tier / LicenseContact
Lux Ecosystem License v1.2 (Eco)licensing@lux.network
Lux Research License with Patent Reservationoss@lux.network
Lux Genesis License v1.0licensing@lux.network
Private moat (C++/CUDA/Metal/MLX/FPGA)licensing@lux.network

Every public repository carries a top-level LICENSING.md pointing back to this document for context. The LICENSE file in each repo is the binding artifact. This page is documentation, not a license.

See also

Go SDK

Complete reference for the Lux Network Go SDK

Open-Core Enterprise Edition

How Lux ships proprietary enterprise bits on top of an open-source core — industry patterns, where Lux lands, and the build / runtime mechanics.

On this page

The three tiersRuntime gate vs license tierWhat this strategy is and is notWhat you can do without a commercial licenseRepository classificationVendored upstream forks (do not relicense)Extraction status (lux-private/*)Commercial licensingSee also