Layer 4Settlement
CometBFT consensus with deterministic finality. Proof references, Digital Seals, and token transfers settle with cryptographic binding to block height and validator set. No probabilistic confirmation windows.
Technology
How Aethelred works.
Deterministic settlement meets enclave-native inference. Two planes, one protocol, continuous evidence.
Architecture
Four layers. Independent scaling.
Layer 3Verification
Hybrid TEE attestation combined with zkML proofs. Five proof systems (Groth16, PLONK, EZKL, Halo2, STARK) verified through EVM precompiles. Mismatched evidence fails the operation. No silent normalization.
Layer 2Execution
Confidential compute inside attested hardware enclaves. Multi-platform support: Intel SGX, AWS Nitro, AMD SEV-SNP, Azure Confidential VMs, and Google Confidential VMs. Each produces attestation quotes bound to the workload.
Layer 1Consensus
Proof-of-Useful-Work. AI inference jobs are submitted, VRF-scheduled to validators, executed in TEE backends, and evidence is aggregated via ABCI++ Vote Extensions. Rewards scale with utility category.
Verification
How inference is verified.
Hybrid TEE attestation combined with zero-knowledge proofs. Dual evidence required per job — no silent normalization.
Validator rewards tied to real AI inference, not wasteful hash computation. VRF-scheduled across the validator set.
Hardware enclave attestation paired with zero-knowledge proof systems. Dual evidence required per job.
ML-DSA-65 signatures (FIPS 204) and ML-KEM-768 key exchange (FIPS 203). No migration required.
Node Operations
Validator admission standards.
Institutional-grade infrastructure requirements for consensus participation and inference execution.
| Requirement | Baseline | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum stake | 100,000 AETHEL (design target) | Subject to governance adjustment |
| TEE hardware | SGX DCAP, Nitro, or SEV-SNP | Attestation quotes required per job |
| Key custody | HSM (FIPS 140-2 L3 path) | Thales Luna or Fortanix DSM |
| GPU class | H100, MI300, or equivalent | Worker node inference execution |
| Uptime target | 99.5% | Slashing for extended downtime |
| Sentry nodes | 2+ recommended | Public ingress boundary, no signing keys |
Resources
Go deeper.
Protocol specifications, developer tooling, and operator documentation.
Whitepaper
Full protocol specification including consensus design, verification architecture, and security posture.
Developer documentation
API reference, SDK quickstarts, testnet configuration, and deployment guides for building on Aethelred.
Node operations
Hardware requirements, node roles, and operator onboarding for validators, workers, and sentry nodes.