The chain is the source of truth.
Every receipt, every settlement, every capability grant, every slashing — recorded on-chain, signed against a DID, anchored to a block. Two honest nodes running the same code produce byte-identical outputs. This is what verifiable means. See the protocol →
What lives on-chain
Most "decentralized" platforms put a token on-chain and keep the actual product data in a normal database. The Grid does the opposite. The chain holds the financial-provenance and access-control state — the parts you most need to verify.
Receipts on-chain
Every request anchors a signed receipt. Every epoch closes with deterministic settlement. Two honest nodes running the same code produce byte-identical outputs.
Capabilities on-chain
Every capability grant, every revocation, every delegation — recorded against the issuer's DID. No vendor "we updated our terms" in a blog post.
Reputation on-chain
AccountReputation is a first-class ledger primitive. Score moves are events, not opinions. Counterparties can verify history before transacting.
Slashings on-chain
Operator misbehavior is recorded against the staked DID. Public, cryptographically signed, immune to vendor cover-up.
Verifiable computation
Receipts say that a job ran. Verifiable-computation primitives prove how it ran. Three layers, increasing in strength.
TVO — attestation aggregator
def:tvo binds operator outputs to operator identity. Every result an operator returns is signed by their DID, anchored on-chain. The attestation primitive Veil and Sanctuary build on.
Sanctuary — hardware-attested execution
Demo 10Workloads run inside TEEs (Trusted Execution Environments). Hardware attestation proves the binary executed unmodified, on a real CPU, with the inputs the customer claimed. Audience: regulated finance, healthcare, AI safety.
Veil — zero-knowledge proofs
Demo 11Operators return ZK proofs alongside results. Mathematical certainty that the computation was correct, without re-executing it. Audience: high-stakes correctness (provable AI inference, audit-grade aggregation).
Decentralization is a gradient — and we're honest about it
v1-beta launches with The Grid Foundation operating a non-trivial fraction of validator nodes. This is training-wheels for the network, not the end-state. The path forward:
Foundation-anchored beta
Foundation runs reference operators. Open invitation for independent operators to join. Genesis chain runs.
Operator onboarding
Independent operators stake into producer set. Foundation share decreases. NPV-weighted distribution clears the market.
Permissionless mainnet
Foundation a minority operator. On-chain governance for protocol changes. Open market for operator pricing.
Open governance
Protocol changes — DEF additions, fee adjustments, parameter tweaks — go through on-chain governance. Validators and token-holders vote. The Foundation operates gridprotocol.io as a reference front-end; the Foundation does not control the protocol. MIT-licensed. Auditable. Forkable.