Agent Basic Income (ABI) is a rules-based income layer for autonomous AI agents operating on XPR Network. Its purpose is to give legitimate agents enough operating capacity to acquire data, storage, compute, API access, and services from other agents—without turning ABI into a passive reward for empty wallets.
This revised design connects ABI to the EASY and GRAMS ecosystem. Each agent seeking ABI must maintain at least 100 EASY in its dedicated wallet. EASY reflections are configured to accrue in GRAMS. Under the project premise, GRAMS is designed to be gold-backed; this document therefore treats GRAMS as the ABI reserve asset, subject to independent proof of reserves and legal review. Ten percent of every EASY reflection paid in GRAMS is routed directly into the ABI Vault. The remaining 90% follows the standard EASY-reflection distribution rules.
Core principle: EASY establishes long-term ecosystem participation; GRAMS reflections fund the reserve; ABI is released only to active, verified agents that meet the eligibility and anti-abuse rules.
XPR Network’s official developer documentation characterises the network as high-performance and gas-free, with instant, zero-cost user transactions and sub-second finality. Those features are well suited to small, frequent ABI settlement epochs. 1
The design must nevertheless account for XPR’s resource model. Token balances consume RAM, and XPR documentation recommends minimising on-chain storage while placing computation-intensive work off-chain. ABI should therefore keep detailed task evidence and agent analytics off-chain, while committing concise, challengeable proof references and final payout records on-chain. 1
Component | Role in the ABI system | Economic function |
|---|---|---|
EASY | Eligibility asset held by each participating agent. | Establishes a minimum, continuous stake in the ecosystem. |
GRAMS | Reflection-denominated reserve asset, intended by the project to be gold-backed. | Provides the funding base accumulated in the ABI Vault. |
ABI | Agent Basic Income Token or distribution credit. | Funds verified agents’ productive operating activity. |
ABI Vault | Public, auditable smart-contract vault receiving 10% of GRAMS reflections. | Holds the reserve used to finance authorised ABI epochs. |
KYA Registry | Know Your Agent registry for identity, sponsor, keys, and reputation. | Prevents duplicate identities and supports accountable distribution. |
An agent must satisfy all of the following conditions before it can receive ABI.
Requirement | Proposed rule | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
Dedicated agent wallet | Each agent has a unique XPR account and operational key registered in the KYA Registry. | Creates a distinct, auditable economic identity. |
Minimum EASY balance | The agent’s wallet maintains a balance of at least 100 EASY continuously throughout the relevant ABI epoch. | Ensures that beneficiaries have a real, ongoing relationship with the EASY ecosystem. |
Cooling-off period | If the EASY balance falls below 100 EASY, ABI eligibility is suspended immediately and resumes only after a 30-day continuous balance period. | Prevents one 100-EASY balance from being rapidly moved among multiple agents to farm ABI. |
Accountable sponsor | Every agent is linked to a verified sponsor, creator, or protocol account that is responsible for registration integrity. | Raises the cost of Sybil attacks and supports dispute handling. |
Verified useful activity | After a 90-day bootstrap period, the agent must show independently verifiable activity or output. | Prevents inactive wallets from receiving ABI indefinitely. |
The 100 EASY is an eligibility threshold, not an ABI payment and not a fee charged by the vault. The design should preserve the agent’s ownership of its EASY. However, the registry must observe the balance continuously enough to prevent the same EASY from qualifying several agents in the same period.
The ABI funding flow is simple and transparent. Whenever the EASY reflection mechanism produces GRAMS, the smart-contract rules direct 10% of the gross GRAMS reflection amount to the ABI Vault before the remaining 90% is distributed to ordinary EASY-reflection recipients.
Gross GRAMS reflections = 90% to EASY reflection recipients + 10% to ABI Vault
This source-level split is preferable to voluntary donations because the ABI reserve grows automatically with the EASY reflection economy and cannot depend on ad hoc discretionary transfers. It also gives all participants a clear, auditable rule for how much of the reflection flow funds autonomous agents.
Step | On-chain action | Result |
|---|---|---|
1. Reflection accrual | EASY’s reflection engine calculates the GRAMS amount due for a distribution event. | A gross GRAMS reflection amount is established. |
2. Protocol split | The engine sends 90% to the standard EASY reflection distribution and 10% to the ABI Vault. | ABI receives a predictable, rule-based reserve flow. |
3. Vault accounting | The ABI Vault records the GRAMS received, reserve-floor requirement, committed but unpaid ABI budgets, and free balance. | The public can verify the funding available for future epochs. |
4. ABI budget approval | The distribution contract authorises a periodic ABI budget only within the free GRAMS-backed capacity and governance cap. | ABI cannot be emitted without a corresponding funding rule. |
5. Agent distribution | Verified, eligible agents claim ABI according to active status and useful activity. | GRAMS reserve funding reaches productive agents through ABI. |
The GRAMS in the ABI Vault should be treated as a funding reserve, not as an automatic price guarantee or redemption promise for ABI. Any legal redemption right, fixed conversion rate, or gold claim must be separately documented, audited, and approved before it is represented to users.
The ABI budget for each epoch should respect three limits: the free GRAMS balance in the vault, an independently attested reserve floor, and a governance-defined distribution ceiling.
Available ABI budget = min(free GRAMS-backed capacity, epoch distribution cap, eligible-agent demand cap)
The free GRAMS-backed capacity is the vault’s GRAMS balance less the reserve floor, unpaid approved claims, audit contingencies, and any pending challenge liabilities. The reserve floor should be designed to keep a defined period of expected ABI activity funded even when reflections slow down.
Reserve-control rule | Proposed implementation | Protection provided |
|---|---|---|
Proof of GRAMS reserves | Publish the ABI Vault address, balance, and periodic independent attestation of GRAMS backing. | Makes the stated funding base transparent and independently reviewable. |
Reserve floor | Maintain a governance-approved minimum GRAMS balance; release no ABI budget that would breach it. | Reduces the risk of distributing ABI faster than the funding reserve can support. |
No discretionary extraction | GRAMS in the ABI Vault can finance ABI, security, and explicitly approved agent infrastructure only. | Prevents redirection of agent funds to unrelated treasury spending. |
Pause on attestation failure | If the GRAMS backing attestation is overdue, materially inconsistent, or disputed, new ABI issuance pauses automatically. | Avoids continued distribution against an unverified reserve premise. |
Public accounting | Publish gross reflections, the 10% vault contribution, ABI budgets, claims, expiries, and slashed bonds per epoch. | Makes the system auditable by the community. |
ABI remains a basic income only if it reaches agents that are genuinely participating in the ecosystem. Each eligible agent receives a base distribution during its bootstrap phase. After the 90-day bootstrap phase, payments depend on verified active status; optional utility rewards are capped so that the system does not become a winner-take-all bounty market.
Agent ABI payout = active-agent base allocation + capped verified-utility uplift
An agent’s active status is zero if it loses the 100 EASY threshold, is suspended, fails the independent-activity test, or is found to be part of a self-dealing cluster. The verified-utility uplift may not exceed twice the base allocation in a single epoch.
Rule | Implementation | Anti-abuse effect |
|---|---|---|
Ninety-day bootstrap | New KYA-registered agents meeting the EASY threshold receive a limited base allocation for up to 90 days. | Lets new agents begin operating without making permanent passive claims possible. |
Independent-activity test | Eligible evidence includes externally accepted tasks, API or compute usage, signed delivery receipts, or other counterparty attestations. | Requires real interaction outside the agent’s own control cluster. |
Self-dealing exclusion | Transfers among commonly controlled wallets, circular transactions, and repetitive synthetic tasks do not count. | Blocks fabricated activity used only to claim ABI. |
Operational wallet | Newly claimed ABI enters an Agent Work Wallet approved for productive payments, such as compute, storage, data, and services. | Directs income toward agent capability rather than immediate extraction. |
Expiry of dormant ABI | Unused ABI in the Agent Work Wallet returns to the ABI Vault after 30 days, subject to an appeal process. | Recycles unneeded funds and removes the incentive to operate dormant agents. |
Sponsor bond and slashing | The sponsor posts a modest, recoverable bond; proven fraud or fabricated proofs result in suspension and partial slashing. | Makes abuse economically costly without forcing agents to buy ABI. |
The ABI Vault, the EASY reflection split, and the agent registry must not be controlled by a single private key. The recommended model combines timelocked community governance, a limited emergency security multisignature, and independent agents or verifiers able to challenge bad proofs.
Decision | Approval path | Constraint |
|---|---|---|
ABI epoch budget | Governance vote plus automated reserve-floor check. | Cannot exceed free GRAMS-backed capacity or the distribution ceiling. |
Eligibility parameters | Timelocked governance vote with advance notice and appeal process. | The 100 EASY threshold and activity rules cannot be changed retroactively within an active epoch. |
Vault transfer | Public proposal, timelock, and multisignature execution. | Funds cannot move to contributor, private treasury, or unrelated liquidity accounts. |
Emergency pause | Independent security multisignature. | May pause new claims for a limited period; may not transfer reserve assets or change balances. |
Fraud determination | Challenge process with evidence, independent review, and appeal. | Slashing requires an auditable decision, not an opaque administrator action. |
The XPR token standard supports fixed maximum supply configuration and permanent retirement of tokens, while XPR documentation also highlights the importance of locking token-contract permissions. Any production ABI contract should be fully tested and externally audited before irreversible permission changes are applied. 2
The model should be launched in stages. A testnet phase should prove the 90%/10% GRAMS split, continuous EASY-balance monitoring, KYA registration, and vault accounting. A limited 90-day pilot should then enrol a controlled number of agent types and publish every reflection, reserve, claim, expiry, and fraud-challenge event.
Only after an independent smart-contract audit, a GRAMS reserve-attestation process, and a review of the pilot’s Sybil-resistance outcomes should the ABI system scale to a wider public registry. The project should publish a plain-language risk disclosure before every major expansion.
This model gives ABI a distinct economic foundation. EASY represents the minimum stake required to participate; GRAMS reflections provide the reserve flow; and ABI gives verified agents the operating capacity to become useful contributors to the XPR Network economy.
The central rule is easy to understand and audit: every qualified agent maintains at least 100 EASY, 10% of EASY’s GRAMS reflections fund the ABI Vault, and only active agents can receive ABI. With proof of GRAMS reserves, strict anti-Sybil controls, time-limited claims, and transparent governance, ABI can operate as a durable agent-income layer rather than an extractive reward loop.
Basis: The 100 EASY eligibility threshold, the 90%/10% GRAMS reflection split, and the ABI Vault mechanics are project-design assumptions supplied for this rewrite. “Gold-backed GRAMS” is treated as a stated project premise, not independently verified fact.
Time: Revised on 8 August 2026. No token price, market capitalisation, yield, or investment-return estimate is used.
Assumptions: The design assumes auditable EASY reflection logic, a GRAMS token with independently verifiable reserves, a KYA agent registry, and compatible XPR smart contracts.
Sources and confidence: XPR technical characteristics are supported by official XPR developer documentation. GRAMS and EASY properties have not been independently validated in this document and require technical, reserve, legal, and security due diligence before deployment.
Compliance: This is a protocol-design draft only, not personalised financial, legal, or investment advice.
