📖Overview of the Protocol Stack

A modular system aligning identity, compute, and incentives.

The ArtisanAI protocol is structured as a vertically layered architecture, with each layer responsible for a distinct but interlinked function in the decentralized creative workflow. This modular approach enables scalability, composability, and protocol-level enforceability, allowing creative operations to remain permissionless, programmable, and financially transparent.

Identity Layer

At the base of the Artisan stack lies a wallet-native authentication system. Unlike traditional Web2 platforms that require email/password registration or OAuth dependencies, ArtisanAI relies solely on cryptographic keypairs associated with non-custodial wallets (e.g., Phantom, MetaMask, Backpack). This approach provides:

• Sovereign identity without third-party intermediaries

• Persistent user mapping across models, content, and reputation

• DAO-native participation in protocol governance from day zero

The identity layer serves not only as a login mechanism but as the anchor for attribution, access control, and reputation accrual.

Attribution Layer

At the core of creative legitimacy lies the Attribution Layer, which is responsible for registering, verifying, and managing the provenance of generated content and deployed models. This layer ensures that every creative unit — whether original or derivative — has traceable lineage and irrefutable authorship.

When an asset is created or uploaded, it is:

• Hashed deterministically to produce a content fingerprint

• Linked to the creator’s wallet via smart contract

• Stamped with a protocol-level metadata schema, including prompt, input type, model used, and timestamp

• Indexed within a decentralized content registry for discovery and curation

Execution Layer

The Execution Layer routes prompt or task requests to the appropriate AI model, manages compute processes, and logs inference results, ensuring the execution environment is not bottlenecked by proprietary compute systems but remains permissionless and creator-configurable.

• Models can be deployed by any user, licensed for private or public use

• Tasks are routed dynamically based on availability, priority tier, and metered cost

• Execution logs are anchored on-chain for auditability and provenance extension

• The layer supports multiple model formats (transformers, diffusion, LLMs, etc.), enabling multi-modal interaction

Incentive Layer

In ArtisanAI, value generation and value distribution are tightly coupled. The Incentive Layer operationalizes the $ART token as a multi-role utility and reward medium across the protocol.

Key functions include:

• Compute Metering: Every execution is denominated in $ART based on resource consumption

• Reward Allocation: Creators, model deployers, and curators earn $ART through usage, remixing, or social interaction

• Staking & Discovery: Users can stake $ART to boost visibility of content or models, creating a curation-as-infrastructure mechanism

• Access Gating: Exclusive models, storage layers, or DAO proposals can require $ART holdings or usage