Core Concepts

The Prometheus Protocol is built on three interconnected pillars that work together to create a self-sustaining, trustworthy economic engine for AI agents. Understanding these concepts is key to understanding the power of the entire ecosystem.

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1. The Passport: Secure Identity & Authorization

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The Problem

For any economy to function, participants need a reliable way to identify themselves and authorize actions. How does a service know which user—or which AI agent—is making a request? How can a user grant permissions to an agent without handing over their primary credentials? On the open web, an agent is blind—it can’t prove who it is, and it can’t trust who it’s talking to.

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The Prometheus Solution

Prometheus provides a unified identity model built on the user’s Principal ID. This single identity can be authenticated using two distinct, purpose-built methods:

• API Keys: Long-lived credentials designed for programmatic use by autonomous agents, scripts, and backend services.
• OAuth 2.1 (JWTs): A standards-based flow for interactive logins, allowing human users to securely connect to services through a familiar browser-based experience.

This dual approach ensures that both humans and machines can securely interact with services, while developers only need to integrate a single authentication context on their backend. This is the universal key that unlocks the open agentic web.

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2. The Marketplace: Verifiable Trust & Discovery

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The Problem

The core challenge of an open agent economy is preventing the “accidental emergence” of a chaotic, unsafe ecosystem. In a world of autonomous agents, how do you defend against fraud, malicious actors, and systemic risk without resorting to a centralized “walled garden”? How can you trust a third-party service when there’s no central authority to vouch for it? When AI agents can manage token allowances, control canister-held funds, and execute cross-chain transactions, the stakes become existential. A single malicious line in deployed code could drain user funds. Traditional trust signals (brand reputation, app store reviews, star ratings) don’t work for this new paradigm.

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The Prometheus Solution

We built a fully automated, decentralized verification network powered by reproducible builds and economic incentives. This is the trusted marketplace where agents can find and use services audited by a DAO of staked community members.

Automated Reproducible Builds

• Git-Based Publishing: Developers submit a Git commit hash, creating an undeniable link to their source code.
• Docker-Based Verification: The protocol uses deterministic Docker environments to rebuild the code from source. Multiple independent verifier bots perform these builds automatically—no human intervention required.
• Cryptographic Proof: Every build produces a WASM hash. If the hash from the automated rebuild matches the developer’s submitted hash, the code is verified. This proves the deployed code matches the audited source.
• Multiple Independent Verifiers: Each version requires consensus from 5 of 9 independent verifiers to be marked as verified—providing Byzantine fault tolerance against malicious actors.

Economic Incentive Layer (ICRC-126 & ICRC-127)

• Bounty System: Developers create bounties (~$2.25 per verification) to incentivize automated verification.
• Verifier Rewards: Independent verifier bots earn tokens ($0.25 per verification) for successfully performing reproducible builds and filing cryptographic attestations.
• Staking & Slashing: Verifiers must stake USDC collateral (0.30 USDC) to reserve bounties. If they abandon verification, their stake is burned—ensuring accountability.
• Permissionless Participation: Anyone can run a verifier bot and earn rewards. The more verifiers, the stronger the security.

Security Audits & Tiered Certificates

• Tiered Audits: Beyond build verification, a bounty system incentivizes independent security auditors to review the code for vulnerabilities.
• Prometheus Certificate: Passing these audits earns the service a certificate with Gold, Silver, or Bronze tier, providing a clear, on-chain signal of its quality and security.
• Two-Layer Trust: Build verification proves integrity (deployed = source), while security audits prove safety (source = secure).

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3. The Bank Account: Direct & Efficient Payments

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The Problem

On the open web, an agent is broke—it has no way to pay for services on-chain. The agentic economy will be powered by high-frequency micro-transactions. This enables new economic models like the on-the-fly “unbundling and rebundling” of digital goods into hyper-personalized products. Traditional payment systems, with their high fees and slow settlement, are a complete barrier to this future.

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The Prometheus Solution

Prometheus provides wallet creation and management for AI agents, plus a complete suite of agent-operable DeFi primitives.

• Unified Allowance Pool: A user grants a service a single, pre-approved spending allowance from their Principal.
• Flexible Access: Both API Key-authenticated agents and JWT-authenticated user sessions draw from this same allowance pool, simplifying fund management.
• Low-Friction M2M Commerce: This model is perfect for pay-as-you-go billing, enabling direct, programmable, and near-zero fee payments—the fuel for a truly autonomous economy.
• DeFi Primitives: Core wallet functionality, decentralized exchanges, market intelligence, and earning/speculation tools—everything an agent needs to manage capital and generate returns.

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The Flywheel Effect

These three pillars create a powerful flywheel for the open agentic web. Our Verifiable Trust layer solves the safety problem, giving users the confidence to empower their agents. This confidence unlocks Secure Identity and Direct Payments, which in turn fuels a vibrant, competitive, and open “Web of Agents.” In short, we provide the trust that makes the open economy possible.