economic architecture
version 0.1 · updated 2026-04-18 · status: published
Economic Architecture
Specifies the economic architecture of the Aevia protocol: which treasuries hold cUSDC, who controls each, how funds move between them, and which invariants MUST hold at all times. It is the third leg of the three-document stool that grounds the protocol's not-a-securities-offering posture; the other two are RFC-4 (AUP) and RFC-5 (Persistence Pool).
The core design commitment is that the Persistence Pool is non-discretionary. Aevia LLC pre-funds it during bootstrap and thereafter has no claim on the balance; disbursements are programmatic per RFC-5. This is the technical instantiation of the separation principle at the economic layer: content persistence is a public good funded by creator flows and operated by the protocol; editorial services are a private good sold by Aevia LLC for a fee. Collapsing these two would destroy both the Howey defense and Provider Nodes' incentive to treat Pool commitments as credible.
All compensation is denominated in cUSDC on Base L2. No native token exists. No treasury holds speculative assets. This is deliberate: a volatile settlement asset would distort creator budgeting, Provider Node operating economics, and Council governance incentives, and would collapse the Howey defense that /providers and RFC-5 rely on.
4 treasuries
- PersistencePool — protocol-exclusive. Inflow: LLC bootstrap (one-way), Credit Pulse. Outflow: Provider Node payouts via settlement (RFC-5). LLC MUST NOT withdraw.
- LLCTreasury — Gnosis Safe 2-of-3, 100% Aevia LLC-controlled. Inflow: relayer fees, aggregator fees, aevia.video take-rate, boost LLC share, enterprise. Outflow: payroll, infra, operations.
- CreatorEscrow — non-custodial intra-tx splitter. MUST NOT hold balance between transactions. Routes tips/subs/boosts to creator wallet + LLC take + pool fraction, all atomic.
- CouncilFund — Gnosis Safe council-only, ≥7-of-12 signers. Inflow: 1% of every boost + LLC bootstrap. Outflow: council stipends, audits, trust-ledger publication. LLC MUST NOT withdraw.
The on-chain transfer matrix is in §3.6 — every permitted flow enumerated; any transfer not in the matrix is a bright-line violation.
boost router
Non-custodial splitter contract that receives cUSDC to amplify a specific content item and divides atomically across four recipients. It is the primary Credit Pulse inflow to the Pool at steady state.
Default split (Council-governable):
- creator: 5 000 bps (50%)
- pool: 3 000 bps (30%)
- llc: 1 900 bps (19%)
- council: 100 bps (1%)
Mandatory gate (MUST): a boost MUST revert if R(c) ≥ θ_feed (RFC-6). Content excluded by the AUP from the feed MUST NOT receive paid amplification. This is the architectural instantiation of the AUP at the amplification layer.
function boost(bytes32 manifestHash, uint256 amount) external;
invariants (bright lines)
12 MUST invariants. Enforced in contract where possible, in multisig policy where not. The most critical:
- INV-1/2: LLC MUST NOT withdraw from Persistence Pool; bootstrap is one-way with no clawback.
- INV-3/4: LLC MUST NOT withdraw from CouncilFund; council-governable parameters MUST NOT be LLC-unilateral.
- INV-5/6: CreatorEscrow and BoostRouter MUST NOT hold balance between transactions.
- INV-7/8: treasuries MUST hold only cUSDC; protocol MUST NOT issue a native token.
- INV-9: every transfer MUST emit an on-chain auditable event.
- INV-10: aggregator settlement MUST have ≥72h contestation window before funds become claimable.
- INV-11: BoostRouter MUST gate on R(c) < θ_feed.
- INV-12: R(c) ≥ θ_subsidy MUST NOT generate Credit Pulse inflow to the Pool.
This page renders a summary of RFC-8. The full normative text (1043 lines with complete BoostRouter Solidity interface, detailed transfer matrix, all 6 operator fees enumerated, security considerations covering aggregator capture / boost spam / governance capture / Howey reinterpretation / take-rate races, implementation reference with event signatures + bootstrap sequence) is at:
docs/protocol-spec/8-economic-architecture.md →