Skip to content
@aethelred-foundation

Aethelred Foundation

README.md

Aethelred

Website Protocol Documentation Discord AIPs License

Whitepaper Tokenomics Security Status Go Rust Solidity Cosmos SDK CometBFT PQC

Protocol CI Security Scans Contracts CI Rust CI Status: Testnet v1.0


Aethelred is a sovereign Layer 1 for regulated and high-assurance AI workloads.
It combines deterministic settlement, Proof-of-Useful-Work, confidential execution, zkML verification,
and Digital Seals so enterprises, operators, and auditors can verify what ran, where it ran, and how it was anchored on-chain.


Protocol Snapshot

Parameter Current Public Posture
Native token AETHEL
Total supply 10,000,000,000 AETHEL fixed at genesis
Post-genesis inflation 0%
Settlement engine Cosmos SDK v0.50 + CometBFT v0.38 with ABCI++ vote extensions
Consensus model Proof-of-Useful-Work with governed verification paths
Evidence artifact Digital Seals
Core token utility Staking, protocol fees, slashing collateral, governance, verified-compute settlement
Verification model Governed hybrid path across confidential execution and proof verification
Confidential-compute posture Intel SGX, AMD SEV-SNP, AWS Nitro, Azure Confidential VMs, Google Confidential VMs, NVIDIA confidential-computing paths
Disclosure rule Launch, float, valuation, fundraising, and counterparty claims publish only after canonical approval
Performance rule Public performance claims publish only from verified benchmark packs

How It Works

AI Job Submitted -> VRF Scheduler -> Validator TEE Execution
                  -> zkML / verification artifacts produced
                  -> 2/3 consensus via ABCI++ vote extensions
                  -> Digital Seal minted and settled on-chain

Aethelred turns execution trust into protocol-verifiable evidence. Instead of asking users to trust screenshots, logs, or vendor narratives, the protocol binds execution evidence, verification evidence, and settlement context into portable Digital Seals.

Why Aethelred

Proof-of-Useful-Work

Validator work is tied to useful AI-related execution and verification flows rather than empty hash puzzles. The protocol is designed around verifiable compute and auditable settlement, not generic throughput marketing.

Digital Seals

Digital Seals bind workload identity, evidence, measurements, outputs, and settlement context into a portable artifact that enterprise, audit, and interoperability workflows can independently verify.

Governed Disclosure

Architecture, fixed supply, zero inflation, and operator surfaces are public. Launch float, pricing, valuation, fundraising, and named commercial counterparties stay withheld until approved through canonical disclosure flows.

Hybrid Verification

The public trust posture centers on confidential execution plus independently checkable verification. High-assurance paths fail closed rather than silently degrading to simulation.

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                         Applications & SDKs                             │
│     TypeScript · Python · Go · Rust · CLI · APIs · Verifier apps        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                          REST / gRPC / WebSocket                        │
├───────────────────┬───────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┤
│     x/pouw        │     x/seal        │           x/verify              │
│  PoUW scheduling  │  Digital Seals    │    TEE + zkML verification      │
│  Jobs + rewards   │  Evidence layer   │    Proof orchestration          │
│  VRF election     │  Audit trail      │    Circuit breakers             │
├───────────────────┴───────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────┤
│              Cosmos SDK v0.50 + CometBFT (ABCI++ vote extensions)       │
├──────────┬────────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────────────────────┤
│  WASM VM │  PQC Engine    │  Bridge      │  Encrypted mempool           │
│ (Wasmer) │ (ML-DSA /      │ (IBC + EVM   │ (anti-frontrunning,          │
│          │  ML-KEM)       │  relay)      │  threshold encryption)       │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Public Parameters

Network and Verification

Parameter Current Public Posture Notes
Settlement engine Cosmos SDK v0.50 + CometBFT v0.38 ABCI++ vote extensions are part of the public architecture
Consensus design Proof-of-Useful-Work Public design links verified AI computation with settlement
Scheduler VRF-based assignment Publicly described as verifiable random job routing
Vote path ABCI++ vote extensions Public architecture surface
Seal settlement 2/3 BFT agreement path Public README describes 2/3 consensus before seal minting
Evidence portability Digital Seals Portable evidence object for enterprise, audit, and interoperability workflows
Encrypted mempool Present Anti-frontrunning / threshold-encryption posture is public
Vector data plane Verified Vector Vault data plane Public whitepaper description for vector architecture
Interoperability IBC + EVM bridge surfaces Publicly documented bridge and relay posture

Performance and Benchmark Parameters

Parameter Current Public Posture Notes
Block time Benchmark-gated Internal targets exist, but public timing claims require verified benchmark packs
Finality timing Benchmark-gated Deterministic CometBFT finality is public; exact public numbers are withheld pending review
Transfer throughput Benchmark-gated Public docs intentionally withhold throughput claims until verification
Compute throughput Benchmark-gated Depends on workload mix, proof paths, and hardware profile
Inference latency Benchmark-gated Public claims require reviewed benchmark evidence
TEE attestation latency Benchmark-gated Latency claims are not public facts until verified
ZK proof latency Benchmark-gated Proof-speed claims remain gated pending benchmark review
Concurrent jobs per prover Governed Capacity depends on operator class and benchmark validation
Max jobs per block Governed Release-config and governance controlled, not asserted as a fixed public metric here

Token and Economics

Parameter Current Public Posture Notes
Ticker AETHEL Public
Total supply 10,000,000,000 fixed at genesis Public
Inflation 0% post-genesis Public
Genesis mint model Fixed supply minted at genesis Public
Denomination model uaethel with 6 decimals on Cosmos L1; 18-decimal representation in EVM and Rust environments Public technical denomination model
Utility roles Staking, validator participation, fees, slashing collateral, governance, settlement support Public
Burn posture Qualitatively public Fees can be partially burned; exact public curve is not published
Supply expansion boundary Hard-cap protected Public docs state supply cannot exceed the cap without code and governance change
Treasury / ecosystem coordination Governed Publicly acknowledged as controlled under governance

Allocation and Release Parameters

Parameter Family Current Public Posture Notes
Compute / PoUW rewards Public category, exact sizing withheld Release metrics publish only through the canonical token source pack
Ecosystem / builder programs Public category, exact sizing withheld Program existence is public; exact amounts remain disclosure-gated
Contributor / team releases Governed Exact unlock schedules are not public facts on the org overview
Investor / financing buckets Withheld pending canonical release Pricing, round structure, and fundraising metrics are not public protocol facts
Public launch float Withheld pending canonical release Launch float and circulating baseline publish only after approval
Price / valuation / FDV Withheld pending canonical release Not treated as protocol facts on the org overview
Counterparty names Executed-only disclosure Exchanges, market makers, and similar counterparties are named only after executed status and approval
Performance-linked commercial claims Benchmark-gated Verified benchmark packs are required before publication

Consensus and Validator Parameters

Parameter Current Public Posture Notes
Leader selection VRF-based Publicly described in the protocol architecture
Stake / compute weighting Governed Public docs describe PoUW and VRF, but do not lock a public weighting table on the org overview
Active validator set (testnet) 50 Current testnet runbook parameter
Active validator set (mainnet) Governed Final production sizing is release-controlled
Min stake (testnet) 1,000 tAETHEL Current testnet runbook parameter
Min stake (mainnet) 100,000 AETHEL Current mainnet runbook parameter
Unbonding (testnet / mainnet) 1 day / 21 days Current runbook parameters
Uptime requirement (testnet / mainnet) 80% / 95% Current runbook parameters
Double-sign slash 50% Publicly documented in runbooks
Simulated proofs Allowed on testnet / forbidden on mainnet Current runbook posture
Compliance plane Disabled on testnet / enabled on mainnet Current runbook posture

Node Classes and Operator Surfaces

Node Class Current Public Posture Notes
Standard Validator Public operator class Consensus, block proposal, and light verification
Compute Prover Public operator class AI inference, proof generation, and heavy confidential-compute workloads
Sentry / failover surfaces Required for mainnet ops posture Detailed topology remains in runbooks, not in the org overview
HSM posture Mainnet-required operator control Explicitly part of current mainnet operations guidance
Hardware truth source Runbooks + hardware docs The org overview should summarize, while detailed SKUs live in operator docs

Execution, Proof, and Integration Parameters

Parameter Current Public Posture Notes
TEE backends Intel SGX, AMD SEV-SNP, AWS Nitro, Azure Confidential VMs, Google Confidential VMs, NVIDIA confidential-computing paths Public
Proof systems Groth16, PLONK, EZKL, Halo2, STARK Public
Post-quantum posture ML-DSA-65 + ML-KEM-768 default transport profile Public
SDK languages TypeScript, Python, Go, Rust Public
Integration surfaces PyTorch, TensorFlow / Keras, Hugging Face, LangChain, FastAPI, Next.js, Docker, Kubernetes Helm Public website and SDK docs
Model / proof compilation surface ONNX-to-EZKL path when enabled in registry workflow Public proof-surface description
API surfaces REST, gRPC, WebSocket, CLI Public

Bridge and Settlement Parameters

Parameter Current Public Posture Notes
IBC surface Public Core interoperability path
Ethereum bridge Public EVM bridge surface is part of the core monorepo
Stablecoin routing posture Circle CCTP V2 plus TEE issuer mint for non-CCTP assets Public site posture
Liquidity model Zero-liquidity-pool institutional routing Public materials explicitly avoid an AMM / LP custody bridge framing
Issuer / settlement partner roster Not publicly listed Current site posture withholds live issuer and custodian rosters
Counterparty disclosure Executed-only Public naming follows approval and executed status

Security, Audit, and Delivery Parameters

Parameter Current Public Posture Notes
Internal security review 27 findings remediated and verified Public audit tracker
Internal full audit v2 36 findings closed Public audit tracker
External consultant VRF review Completed Critical RS-01 closed
External audit scopes In progress Consensus / vote extensions and Ethereum contracts scopes remain active
Security scan posture Public CI gate gosec, trivy, gitleaks, slither, govulncheck, cargo-audit, npm audit
Testnet posture Operational readiness program Whitepaper explicitly frames public testnet as readiness, not marketing
Mainnet gate Blocked until required signed external scopes complete Public audit tracker

Testnet vs Mainnet Operating Parameters

Parameter Testnet Mainnet
Tokens have value No Yes
HSM required No Yes
Sentry nodes required No Yes (2+)
Failover node required No Yes
Min stake 1,000 tAETHEL 100,000 AETHEL
Unbonding 1 day 21 days
Uptime requirement 80% 95%
Simulated proofs Allowed Forbidden
Compliance plane Disabled Enabled

Core Repositories

Repo Description
aethelred Canonical monorepo for the protocol, security baselines, and release provenance
AIPs Aethelred Improvement Proposals
terraqura Carbon-credit workflow application

Flagship Surfaces

Surface Description
aethelred.org Corporate, governance, and disclosure surface
aethelred.io Protocol, builders, and developer-facing surface
Whitepaper Current public canonical draft
Tokenomics Current public canonical draft
Audit Status Security and audit tracking

Operator and Launch Guidance

This overview intentionally keeps full parameter coverage while separating confirmed public metrics from governed, benchmark-gated, and disclosure-gated categories so the org page stays detailed without drifting away from the current canonical docs.

Pinned Loading

  1. aethelred aethelred Public

    Canonical monorepo for the Aethelred protocol, security baselines, and public release provenance.

    Rust 2

  2. contracts contracts Public

    Production Solidity contracts for bridging, token, governance, and verification surfaces.

    Solidity 3

  3. AIPs AIPs Public

    Aethelred Improvement Proposals for protocol governance and standards.

    1

  4. aethelred-sdk-ts aethelred-sdk-ts Public

    Official TypeScript and JavaScript SDK for the Aethelred network.

    TypeScript 1

  5. vscode-aethelred vscode-aethelred Public

    Official VS Code extension for Aethelred development workflows.

    TypeScript 2

Repositories

Showing 10 of 16 repositories
View all repositories

People

This organization has no public members. You must be a member to see who’s a part of this organization.

Top languages

Loading…

Most used topics

Loading…