Proof of Response

TL;DR

This paper introduces a mechanism enabling network participants to obtain provable responses or proofs of connection failures within a known time bound, supporting applications like decentralized storage and AI agents.

Contribution

It presents a novel mechanism that provides provable responses, failure proofs, and streaming payments, enhancing trust and reliability in decentralized networks.

Findings

Mechanism guarantees response or proof within bounded time.

Supports applications like decentralized storage and AI.

Includes streaming payments for extended delays.

Abstract

We present a mechanism that for a network of participants allows one participant of the network (Alice) to request some data from another participant (Bob) and either receive a response from Bob within a known-in-advance, bounded time b, or receive a proof that at least one edge on the way to Bob was broken within b, or receive a streaming payment proportional to time passed beyond b during which neither was received. This mechanism allows for building downstream applications that require provable responses from other participants, such as decentralized storage solutions, decentralized AI agents, and more.