Proof-of-Inference Litepaper
Updated October 14, 2025
The $AGENT Standard for AI: Babel‑Fee Inference & On‑Chain Proof
0) TL;DR
Mission: Make AI usage verifiable and make it pay operators and stakers—natively in $AGENT.
Core loop: Stake/bond $AGENT → run inference jobs → every fee paid in $AGENT → epoch‑roll payouts to stakers → slash on misbehavior.
Receipts: Each job emits a signed PoI receipt (model ID, prompt hash, seed/params, rolling hash). A compact fingerprint is anchored on Cardano for audit.
Zero‑ADA UX: With Babel‑fees, users sign with $AGENT only. Protocol handles any ADA behind the scenes.
Economics: 70% operator / 28% stakers / 1% DAO / 1% FeeTank—all sourced from $AGENT fees (DAO + FeeTank slices are swapped to ADA as needed).
Defensible: Deterministic runs + on‑chain anchors + slashable bonds. No “trust us.”
1) Investor brief — why this matters
The shift: Big labs are pushing Model‑as‑an‑App—closed endpoints, minimal visibility, usage rents.
The gap: Enterprises, developers, and regulators need verifiable AI: who ran what, with which model, from which inputs, producing which outputs—with a proof they can check later.
Our answer: PoI on Cardano with $AGENT as native gas. Jobs pay in $AGENT, receipts are cryptographically anchored on‑chain, and rewards flow directly to operators and stakers.
Verifiable AI > Walled Gardens. We replaced “trust” with proof and aligned incentives with real usage.
2) Problem
Centralized AI today is a black box:
No durable receipts; limited audit trails
Weak recourse for tampering or hallucination
Poor economics for decentralized providers (can’t finance GPUs on “maybe” yields)
Result: compliance risk for institutions and a starvation diet for independent compute networks.
3) Solution — PoI on Cardano with $AGENT as gas
We run deterministic inference (fixed seed/params, rolling hashes), emit a signed receipt, and anchor a compact fingerprint on‑chain under a standard metadata label. Fees and gas are paid in $AGENT via Cardano’s Babel‑fee mechanism; users never handle ADA.
What’s different
Auditable by default: Every job leaves a verifiable proof trail.
Usage‑aligned: Fees in $AGENT go straight to operators and stakers.
Credible security: Operators stake/bond $AGENT; misbehavior is slashable on‑chain.
Clean UX: $AGENT‑only signing; protocol manages ADA where needed (treasury & ops).
4) What we just demonstrated (preview testnet)
Decentralized inference on a Petals‑based BLOOM‑560M swarm (runner endpoint withheld)
Generated a signed PoI receipt (prompt_hash, seed, params, transcript.rolling_hash, model identity)
Anchored the receipt fingerprint on Cardano (immutable proof)
Escrow initiation captured on‑chain (separate tx)
Network: Cardano preview testnet Agent address:
addr_test1qpjzvg6qqefx4c8eqsez4fnsxfdmcjtz4ku9f0fgju6ymc7ehhk8tdd2j0fqtn7975krepy8a7l8cepk5gyzyq7g6l6s4aetl5
Job: petals_1758832859921
(seed=53)
Receipt (signed): receipts/petals_1758832859921.poi.receipt.json
Key on‑chain transactions (preview)
Escrow initiate — label 2222,
action:"initiate"
3a7b52a2852b05fba71301716c11dd486de295bd68d33013d28a3b1069bbe325
PoI anchor — label 2222,
action:"anchor"
1a697155ec50babafde25d5908c19a6b0c80c068476ef6ff84d0048e3fdef344
Metadata includesjobId: petals_1758832859921
resultHash: 631166715f80b93133221ca4e62df6c03fdcca693249485676929452b5bf82aa
receiptHash: 14fbdfe780ce6223f549ea514db3493a5b3ea4ceb0cb0f17a09880bd6e33b3e2
Interpretation
resultHash
= receipt’s transcript.rolling_hash
(binds generated tokens).
receiptHash
= SHA‑256 of the signature‑stripped receipt JSON (enables universal recomputation).
5) Protocol architecture
On‑chain (Plutus V3)
InferencePool
Holds bonded $AGENT; slash on misbehavior
Deterministic policy parameters
JobEscrow
Escrows $AGENT fees; enforces proof & 70/28/1/1 split
Label 2222 events
StreamDistributor
Batches & pays staker rewards once per epoch in $AGENT
Gas‑efficient payouts
PoI Anchor (metadata)
Stores compact job fingerprint (jobId, resultHash, receiptHash)
Standardized schema (label 2222)
FeeTank (Aquarium)
Babel‑fee provider & ADA sink for UTxO/ops
Auto‑topped‑up (1% slice)
Off‑chain
Dispatcher
Queues jobs; builds tx metadata; quotes model/time/VRAM
Signs $AGENT‑only txs
Verifier / Oracle
Validates result hash vs receipt; price oracle (Charli3)
Multi‑sig capable
Epoch‑Roll Aggregator
Writes one payout per staker per epoch
Minimizes chain load
Liquidity & pricing
External venues
Provide $AGENT liquidity and small ADA conversions (for 1% slices)
Use conservative oracle‑guided quotes
We no longer rely on, operate, or reference ownership of any DEX. Liquidity access is venue‑agnostic and uses conservative quoting plus oracle checks.
6) Economics & incentives (no buy‑backs—$AGENT is the fee token)
Fee split (all sourced from $AGENT job fees)
70%
Pool operator
Energy / rental / API
28%
Stakers
Usage‑driven rewards (epoch‑rolled in $AGENT)
1%
DAO Treasury
Swapped to ADA for audits & grants
1%
FeeTank top‑up
Swapped to ADA to keep Babel/ops solvent
Staking flywheel: More inference → more $AGENT fees → periodic distributions to stakers → stronger security and liquidity.
Operator alignment: Uptime + correctness = more jobs and revenue; misreports risk slashing.
No emissions: Max supply 1B $AGENT (fixed). No new issuance. Utility demand only.
Governance: Proposals via Clarity.vote / Agora DAO. Voting power = bonded $AGENT, snapshotted once per epoch.
7) Full flow
User submits job → pays entirely in $AGENT (Babel‑fees cover ADA).
Runner executes deterministically (seed/params fixed).
Runner emits a signed PoI receipt (model ID, prompt hash, seed/params, transcript rolling hash).
Protocol posts a compact on‑chain anchor (label 2222).
JobEscrow applies the 70/28/1/1 policy; staker rewards roll once per epoch.
Fraud proof or SLA miss → slash the operator’s bond.
8) Token utility
Bonding: Pools stake/bond $AGENT sized to hardware tier.
Fee token: All jobs quote and settle in $AGENT.
Governance: Bonded $AGENT = voting power (epoch‑snapshot).
9) Treasury note
DAO treasury already lives on Clarity.vote (Agora UTxO). The protocol routes 1% of each job fee to DAO (swapped to ADA), and 1% to FeeTank.
10) Roadmap
Preview testnet
Done
PoI receipts; on‑chain anchors; $AGENT‑only tx (Babel‑fee); escrow events
Mainnet v1
Q4 ’25
Epoch roll‑up payouts; slashing; $AGENT‑as‑gas live
Strategy Marketplace
Q1 ’26
Mintable quant strategies as NFTs; plug‑and‑play routing of fee flows
11) Risk & mitigation
FeeTank drain / Babel LP risk → Daily caps + automatic 1% top‑up; emergency ADA fallback if required.
Oracle/Verifier collusion → Multi‑sig verifiers; open‑source client to recompute hashes.
Liquidity crunch → Diversify across major Cardano DEXs/aggregators; oracle‑guided quoting; moving‑average price guards and rate‑limiters.
Regulatory clarity → $AGENT used for compute, bonding, and governance; no passive ROI promises.
12) FAQ
Q1 — Do I need ADA in my wallet? No. Jobs and fees are $AGENT‑only. Babel‑fees and the FeeTank supply ADA where the chain requires it.
Q2 — What hardware qualifies to run a pool (EXAMPLES)?
Edge — Pi 5 / RK3588 / Jetson‑Orin‑Nano (bond: 5,000 $AGENT)
GPU — RTX 4090 (≥24GB VRAM) (bond: 80,000 $AGENT)
Datacenter — A100/H100 (bond: 800,000 $AGENT)
Q3 — How are rewards delivered? Aggregated per epoch (~5 days). StreamDistributor writes one $AGENT payout UTxO per staker. No manual claiming.
Q4 — Can my bond be slashed? Yes. Incorrect results, missed deadlines, or failed verification can trigger on‑chain slashing.
Q5 — When can I withdraw rewards or un‑bond?
Reward vesting: Rewards accrue immediately but are locked for 6 months; after day 180, withdraw anytime.
Un‑bond cool‑down: 2 epochs (~10 days) before bonded $AGENT returns, to prevent “bond‑and‑run.”
Q6 — Where can I get $AGENT? On major Cardano DEXs/aggregators; see market pages such as TapTools for venues and pairs.
Q7 — What if the FeeTank runs out of ADA? Dispatcher can temporarily fall back to normal ADA settlement. The 1% top‑up keeps it solvent in normal conditions.
Q8 — How are fees quoted? Quotes are in $AGENT based on model × tokens/time × tier. The dispatcher shows the quote before you sign. No hidden spreads; DAO and FeeTank slices are visible.
Q9 — How do I run an Inference Pool? (≈5‑minute checklist)
Hardware — Bring a qualifying device (Edge / GPU / DC).
Wallet — Fund with the bond in $AGENT (no ADA required in your wallet).
Docker — Install ≥24.0; pull the pool image:
docker run -d --restart unless-stopped \
-e CARDANO_NET=mainnet \
-e WALLET_MNEMONIC="..." \
ghcr.io/fluxpoint/agent-pool:latest
Bond — Container emits a
bond.cmd
; run it to post the Bond UTxO (Babel‑fee covered).Networking — Open port 3000 (Edge NAT punches via WebSocket tunnel).
Dashboard —
localhost:8080
shows Bond ✓ | Jobs | Rewards; jobs flow from the next epoch.
Q10 — Can I co‑run Iagon Storage/Compute with my pool? Yes, if you still meet both SLAs.
Edge: not recommended.
Multi‑GPU: pin Iagon to
--gpus="device=1"
(or MIG); keep primary GPU free for inference.A100/H100: isolate via CUDA context or MIG; NVIDIA MPS will arbitrate. If benchmarks dip, your reputation and rewards will fall; chronic misses can be slashed.
13) Demo: verify the preview run yourself (≈90 seconds)
Prereqs: Blockfrost preview API key in
BLOCKFROST
and the local receipt file.
1) Fetch anchor metadata
export BLOCKFROST=<your_preview_project_id>
curl -s -H "project_id: $BLOCKFROST" \
https://cardano-preview.blockfrost.io/api/v0/txs/1a697155ec50babafde25d5908c19a6b0c80c068476ef6ff84d0048e3fdef344/metadata | jq .
# label 2222: { action:"anchor", jobId:"petals_1758832859921", resultHash, receiptHash }
2) Check the rolling hash from your receipt
jq -r '.transcript.rolling_hash' receipts/petals_1758832859921.poi.receipt.json
# 631166715f80b93133221ca4e62df6c03fdcca693249485676929452b5bf82aa
3) Recompute the signature‑stripped receiptHash
node -e "const fs=require('fs');const c=JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync('receipts/petals_1758832859921.poi.receipt.json','utf8'));c.signature='';const h=require('crypto').createHash('sha256').update(JSON.stringify(c)).digest('hex');console.log(h)"
# 14fbdfe780ce6223f549ea514db3493a5b3ea4ceb0cb0f17a09880bd6e33b3e2
4) (Optional) Inspect escrow initiation
curl -s -H "project_id: $BLOCKFROST" \
https://cardano-preview.blockfrost.io/api/v0/txs/3a7b52a2852b05fba71301716c11dd486de295bd68d33013d28a3b1069bbe325/metadata | jq .
# label 2222: { action:"initiate", jobId:"...", model:"bigscience/bloom-560m", ... }
14) Compliance
This document is informational and does not constitute an offer to sell tokens. Forward‑looking statements are subject to change at the discretion of Flux Point Studios, Inc.
15) Contact
Web: fluxpointstudios.com
X/Twitter: @fluxpointstudio
Discord: discord.gg/MfYUMnfrJM
From black boxes to balance sheets: AI usage becomes an auditable line item—with cryptographic receipts and $AGENT‑denominated cash flows.
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