Network Lifecycle
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The DIG Network implements a novel Proof of Living Storage validation protocol that ensures data availability through cryptographic proofs and economic incentives. This specification details the network's validation lifecycle, from storage commitment through reward distribution, utilizing a two-tier validation system with deterministic entropy-based selection and stake-backed security guarantees.
1.1 Overview
The DIG Network operates on epoch-based validation cycles, where storage providers (DIG Nodes) create cryptographic commitments (PlotCoins) that are validated by witness miners (Witness Miners) through proof-of-work based assignment. The protocol ensures:
- Continuous storage commitment capability
- Regular validation intervals (every 38 blocks)
- Fair reward distribution through multisig coordination
- Economic security through staking requirements
1.2 Network Architecture
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ DIG Network Architecture │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ │
│ │ Content │ │ DIG Nodes │ │ Witness │ │
│ │ Creators │──▶│ (Storage) │◀───│ Miner │ │
│ └─────────────┘ └──────┬──────┘ └──────┬──────┘ │
│ │ │ │
│ ▼ ▼ │
│ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ │
│ │ PlotCoins │ │WitnessCoins │ │
│ │ (On-Chain) │ │ (On-Chain) │ │
│ └──────┬──────┘ └────── ┬──────┘ │
│ │ │ │
│ └────────┬─────────┘ │
│ ▼ │
│ ┌─────────────────┐ │
│ │ Validator │ │
│ │ Multisig │ │
│ └────────┬────────┘ │
│ ▼ │
│ ┌─────────────────┐ │
│ │ Rewards │ │
│ │ Distributor │ │
│ └─────────────────┘ │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
2. Protocol Specification
2.1 Epoch Structure
The network operates on fixed-duration epochs:
Epoch Duration: 37,800 blocks (~7 days at 16s/block)
Validation Window: Every 38 blocks (~10 minutes)
Validations per Epoch: ~995 opportunities
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ EPOCH N │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Block 0 Block 38 Block 76 ... Block 37762 Block 37800│
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ ├──────────┼──────────┼──────────────────┼──────────┤ │
│ │ ▲ ▲ ▲ │ │
│ │ Validation Validation Validation │ │
│ │ Window Window Window │ │
│ │ │ │
│ │◀───────────── PlotCoin Creation (Any Time) ─────▶│ │
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
2.2 Participant Roles
2.2.1 Content Creators
- Publish data to the network through two economic commitments:
- DIG Handle Registration: Pay DIG tokens for .dig domain (value signaling)
- CapsuleStakeCoin Creation: Lock DIG tokens per capsule (collateral commitment)
- These requirements trigger network propagation and validation
- No direct participation in validation process
2.2.2 DIG Nodes (Storage Providers)
- Monitor DIG Handle registrations and CapsuleStakeCoin publications
- Download and store economically-backed content
- Create PlotCoins as storage commitments
- Respond to Witness Node validation challenges
- Earn TBD of epoch rewards based on successful validations
2.2.3 Witness Miners (Validators)
- Validate PlotCoin claims
- Create WitnessCoins as validation proofs
- Operate on 38-block intervals
- Earn TBD of epoch rewards
2.2.4 Validator Multisig
- Aggregate WitnessCoins at epoch boundaries
- Submit reward distributions
- Maintain network parameters
3. Validation Lifecycle
3.1 Phase 1: Storage Commitment (Continuous)
DIG Nodes create PlotCoins throughout the epoch without timing restrictions:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ PlotCoin Creation Flow │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ Content Download Generate Create Mint │
│ Published ──▶ Data ────▶ Plot ─────▶ Proofs ───▶ PlotCoin│
│ File │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ ┌───────────────┐ │
│ │ Cryptographic │ │
│ │ Proofs: │ │
│ ├───────────────┤ │
│ │ • Ownership │ │
│ │ • Inclusion │ │
│ │ • Work │ │
│ │ • Access │ │
│ └───────────────┘ │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
PlotCoin Properties:
- Created asynchronously by DIG Nodes
- Requires DIG token stake (amount TBD)
- Contains cryptographic proof package
- Registered on Chia blockchain
3.2 Phase 2: Witness Validation (Every 38 Blocks)
Witness Miners perform proof-of-work based validation at fixed intervals:
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Witness Validation Protocol │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ IF (block_height % 38 == 0) THEN │
│ │
│ entropy = SHA256(block_hash || witness_pubkey) │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ ┌─────────────────┐ │
│ │ Deterministic │ │
│ │Target Selection │ │
│ └────────┬────────┘ │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ ┌─────────────────┐ │
│ │ Request Proofs │ │
│ │ from DIG Node │ │
│ └────────┬────────┘ │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ ┌─────────────────┐ │
│ │ Verify 3 Proofs │ │
│ │ • Ownership │ │
│ │ • Inclusion │ │
│ │ • Physical Access│ │
│ └────────┬────────┘ │
│ │ │
│ Success │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ ┌─────────────────┐ │
│ │Create WitnessCoin│ │
│ └─────────────────┘ │
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Validation Constraints:
- Maximum 6 validations per hour per witness
- 30-second timeout for proof requests
- TBD DIG stake requirement (7-day lock)
- Deterministic target selection prevents gaming
3.3 Phase 3: Epoch Aggregation
At epoch boundaries, the Validator Multisig aggregates all WitnessCoins:
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Epoch Rollup Process │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ Epoch N Ends (Block 37800) │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ ┌──────────────┐ │
│ │ Collect │ │
│ │WitnessCoins │◀─── WitnessCoin 1 │
│ │ from Epoch N │◀─── WitnessCoin 2 │
│ └──────┬───────┘◀─── WitnessCoin N │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ ┌──────────────┐ │
│ │ Validate │ │
│ │ & Deduplicate│ │
│ └──────┬───────┘ │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ ┌────────────── ┐ │
│ │ Calculate │ ┌─────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Rewards │────▶│ • TBD to Witnesses │ │
│ └──────┬───────┘ │ • TBD to DIG Nodes │ │
│ │ └────────────────────┘ │
│ ▼ │
│ ┌──────────────┐ │
│ │ Submit to │ │
│ │ Distributor │ │
│ └──────────────┘ │
│ │
└───────────────────────── ─────────────────────────────────────┘
3.4 Phase 4: Reward Distribution
Rewards become claimable in the following epoch:
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Reward Distribution Flow │
├──────────────────────────────────────── ──────────────────────┤
│ │
│ Epoch N: Validations Performed │
│ Epoch N+1: Rewards Claimable │
│ │
│ ┌─────────────────┐ │
│ │Rewards Distributor│ │
│ │ (Activated) │ │
│ └────────┬─────────┘ │
│ │ │
│ ┌─────┴─────┐ │
│ ▼ ▼ │
│ DIG Nodes Witness Miners │
│ (TBD pool) (TBD pool) │
│ │ │ │
│ ▼ ▼ │
│ Individual Individual │
│ Claims Claims │
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
4. Security Model
4.1 Economic Security
Both node types require DIG token stakes to participate:
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Staking Requirements │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ Node Type │ Minimum Stake │ Lock Period │
│ ─────────────┼───────────────┼──────────────────── │
│ DIG Node │ TBD │ PlotCoin lifetime │
│ Witness Miner│ TBD │ 7 days │
│ │
│ Slashing Conditions: │
│ • False validation claims (TBD slash) │
│ • Selective validation (TBD slash) │
│ • Entropy manipulation (TBD slash) │
│ • Non-responsiveness (warning → slash) │
│ │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
4.2 Entropy Security
The deterministic selection mechanism prevents targeted attacks:
entropy = SHA256(block_hash || witness_pubkey)
target = all_plotcoins[entropy % len(all_plotcoins)]
Properties:
- Unpredictable before block creation
- Deterministic after block creation
- Unique per witness miner
- Verifiable by anyone
4.3 Temporal Security
Time-bound proofs prevent replay attacks:
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Proof Validity Window │
├─────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ Challenge Proof Valid │
│ Issued ──────▶ Generated ─▶ Window│
│ T₀ T₁ 30 sec │
│ │
│ Constraints: │
│ • T₁ - T₀ < 30 seconds │
│ • Proof bound to challenge nonce │
│ • Block height verification │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘
5. Performance Characteristics
5.1 Network Scaling
Per Epoch (7 days):
- Validation opportunities: ~995 (every 38 blocks)
- Maximum validations per witness: 1008 (6/hour limit)
- Theoretical witness miners: Unlimited
- Practical witness miners: ~1000 (economic equilibrium)
Per Validation:
- Proof generation: ~100ms
- Network round-trip: ~1-5s
- On-chain confirmation: ~16s
- Total validation time: ~20s
5.2 Economic Efficiency
Transaction Costs (Chia):
- PlotCoin creation: ~0.001 XCH (market dependent)
- WitnessCoin creation: ~0.001 XCH (market dependent)
- Reward claim: ~0.001 XCH (market dependent)
Storage Overhead:
- PlotCoin: ~5KB (compressed proofs)
- WitnessCoin: ~1KB
- Epoch rollup: ~10KB + (1KB × validations)
6. Implementation Timeline
6.1 Example Epoch Execution
Block Time Event
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
3780000 Day 0 00:00 Epoch 100 begins
3780050 Day 0 00:13 DIG Node creates PlotCoin #1
3780038 Day 0 00:10 Witness validation window
3780076 Day 0 00:20 Witness validation window
3780500 Day 0 02:13 DIG Node creates PlotCoin #2
...
3817762 Day 6 23:50 Last witness validation window
3817799 Day 6 23:59 Epoch 100 ends
3817800 Day 7 00:00 Epoch 101 begins
3817810 Day 7 00:03 Multisig aggregates WitnessCoins
3817820 Day 7 00:05 Rewards submitted to distributor
3817850+ Day 7 00:13+ Nodes claim epoch 100 rewards
7. Complete Lifecycle Flow
7.1 Full Network Operation Diagram
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ DIG Network Complete Lifecycle │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ EPOCH N (7 days) │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ Day 0 ───────────────────────────────────────── Day 7 │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ ├─[PlotCoin Creation]──────────────────────────────┤ │ │
│ │ │ ▪ Continuous throughout epoch │ │ │
│ │ │ ▪ No timing restrictions │ │ │
│ │ │ ▪ Multiple PlotCoins allowed │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ ├─[Witness Validations]────────────── ──────────────┤ │ │
│ │ │ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ │ │ │
│ │ │ B38 B76 B114 B152 B190 B228 ... B37762 │ │ │
│ │ │ ▪ Every 38 blocks (~10 min) │ │ │
│ │ │ ▪ Creates WitnessCoins │ │ │
│ │ │ ▪ Maximum 6/hour per witness │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ └────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────┘ │
│ │ │ │
│ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ EPOCH BOUNDARY │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Day 7 00:00 ─────────────────────────────── Day 7 00:30 │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ ├─[Validator Multisig]──────────────────────────────┤ │ │
│ │ │ 1. Collect all WitnessCoins from Epoch N │ │ │
│ │ │ 2. Verify and deduplicate │ │ │
│ │ │ 3. Calculate rewards (TBD witness, TBD DIG) │ │ │
│ │ │ 4. Submit to Rewards Distributor │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ └───┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────┘ │
│ │ │ │
│ ▼ ▼ │
│ │
│ EPOCH N+1 (Rewards Available) │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ Day 0 ───────────────────────────────────────── Day 7 │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ ├─[Reward Claims]──────────────────────────────────┤ │ │
│ │ │ ▪ DIG Nodes claim TBD share │ │ │
│ │ │ ▪ Witness Miners claim TBD share │ │ │
│ │ │ ▪ Claims available anytime in epoch │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ [Meanwhile: New PlotCoins and Validations Continue] │ │
│ │ │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
└────── ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
8. Token Economics
8.1 DIG Token Flow Analysis
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ DIG Token Circulation │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ ┌─────────────┐ │
│ │ Content │ │
│ │ Creators │──────────┐ │
│ └─────────────┘ │ │
│ │ │
│ DIG Handle Fees │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ ┌─────────────────┐ │
│ │ Treasury │ │
│ │ (Fee Pool) │ │
│ └────────┬────────┘ │
│ │ │
│ Epoch Rewards │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ ┌─────────────────┐ │
│ │ Reward Pool │ │
│ │ (Per Epoch) │ │
│ └───┬─────────┬───┘ │
│ │ │ │
│ TBD│ │TBD │
│ ▼ ▼ │
│ ┌───────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │
│ │DIG Nodes │ │ Witness │ │
│ │(Storage) │ │ Nodes │ │
│ └─────┬─────┘ └─────┬─────┘ │
│ │ │ │
│ └──────┬──────┘ │
│ │ │
│ Sell/Hold/Stake │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ ┌────────────┐ │
│ │ Market │ │
│ │ (Exchange) │ │
│ └────────────┘ │
│ ▲ │
│ │ │
│ Buy DIG │
│ │ │
│ ┌─────────────┐ │ │
│ │ Content │──────────┘ │
│ │ Creators │ │
│ └─────────────┘ │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
8.2 Economic Incentive Alignment
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Incentive Mechanism Analysis │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ Content Value Signal: │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Handle Length │ Registration Fee│ Storage Priority│ │
│ ├───────────────┼─────────────────┼────────────────┤ │
│ │ 3 characters │ 5000 DIG │ Tier 1 (5x) │ │
│ │ 4 characters │ 1000 DIG │ Tier 2 (4x) │ │
│ │ 5 characters │ 200 DIG │ Tier 3 (3x) │ │
│ │ 6 characters │ 40 DIG │ Tier 4 (2x) │ │
│ │ 7 characters │ 8 DIG │ Tier 5 (1.5x) │ │
│ │ 8+ characters │ 1 DIG │ Tier 6 (1x) │ │
│ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ Storage Economics: │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Higher Tier + Larger Capsules → Higher Rewards → More Providers │
│ │ More Providers → Better Availability │ │
│ │ Better Availability → Higher Content Value │ │
│ │ Higher Value → More Handle Registrations │ │
│ │ More Registrations → Larger Reward Pool │ │
│ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
9. Conclusion
The DIG Network validation protocol provides a robust, economically secure mechanism for ensuring data availability in a decentralized storage network. Through the combination of continuous storage commitments (PlotCoins), regular validation intervals (WitnessCoins), and fair reward distribution, the protocol creates sustainable incentives for long-term data preservation.
Key innovations include:
- Entropy-based deterministic selection preventing gaming
- Two-tier reward system incentivizing both storage and validation
- Stake-backed security model preventing sybil attacks
- Epoch-based aggregation minimizing on-chain overhead
- Self-sustaining economic model driven by content value signals
The protocol achieves its goals of censorship-resistant, economically sustainable storage through careful alignment of incentives between content creators, storage providers, and validators.