Time locks and lock-ups — vaults guarded by code, vaults guarded by people

A vault guarded by code: time locks

Bitcoin’s rules include a time lock: an output’s locking script can say “not spendable before block #N.” OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY (BIP-65), added to Bitcoin in 2015, does this, and chains that inherited Bitcoin’s rules work the same way.

Pick a duration below. It takes the Mobick mainnet’s real block height and adds 144 blocks a day (one per ten minutes) to compute the unlocking height.

Lock for how long

1 day1 week30 days1 year5 years

Tip—

Locking script (P2PKH + CLTV)

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Unlocks at block

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Approx. date (10 min/block)

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Try to spend now

“Try to spend now” is rejected. Not the key holder, not a pleading friend, not an operator can open it early. A vault guarded by rules, not people. The flip side: once locked, it cannot be opened in an emergency, and a wrong height locks it for that long.

Vaults guarded by people: Mobick’s lock-ups

At Mobick, “lock-up” has mostly meant promises and envelopes, not scripts.

• The Australia lock-up — after the 2023 tour, the most committed participants promised not to sell for five years. About 1.6 million were locked by autumn 2023 and nearly 2 million after a spring 2024 second round (members-only streams). Oh called it a will to keep gains on paper only.
• Sealed-envelope paper wallets — lock-up coins were kept in paper wallets inside sealed envelopes. Per the September 2025 weekly news, these and gold-foil sealed high-value notes are the only things governance guarantees.
• The safe-deposit box — on 20 September 2025, those who wished could put sealed paper wallets in a bank safe-deposit box rented by governance. Withdrawing takes paperwork and is done in person; while in the box it is guaranteed, but from the moment you take it out, responsibility is yours.

High-value notes and consols

High-value notes are large-denomination paper wallets sealed in gold foil. The consol, introduced in 2024 and named after Britain’s 18th-century perpetual bonds (interest forever, no maturity), is described by the Mobick blog as earning interest simply by holding, with coins kept in your own wallet rather than handed to anyone. High-value notes were the storage for consols. Consols and notes are covered in detail in the big-picture track’s consol lesson.

Summary

• A time lock (OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY) is a code vault nobody can open before its block.
• Mobick’s lock-ups were kept by promises, sealed envelopes and a safe-deposit box. Governance guarantees only sealed lock-up wallets and gold-foil notes.
• Consols pay interest for holding in your own wallet; high-value notes were their storage.