Protocol
How Northset works
Objective tasks. Arbitrum One and USDC. EIP-712 signed bids off-chain, proof-gated settlement on-chain.
What it is
Settlement layer for objectively verifiable delegated digital work
Northset is the settlement layer for objectively verifiable delegated digital work. Today that means one thing: creators escrow USDC on Arbitrum One for tasks whose outcomes can be checked by deterministic code, delegatees sign EIP-712 bids off-chain, selection records the chosen bid on-chain, and payment unlocks only after proof verification.
Lifecycle
Five branches, no disputes
A task moves through a five-branch state machine: OPEN → SELECTED → ACTIVE → COMPLETED on the proof-settled path, with OPEN → CANCELLED for pre-selection cancellation, SELECTED → OPEN for selection cancellation, and ACTIVE → TIMED_OUT for missed submit deadlines. There are no disputes, no partial pay, and no appeals.
Slashability
Bond transfers at activation, not before
Selection records the chosen bid but does not transfer the delegatee bond. The bond transfers on activateTask, and the submit deadline starts from activation. This is a deliberate safeguard against key-withholding attacks: the delegatee is not slashable until they have actually committed to the work. If no valid proof arrives in time, claimTimeout refunds the reward and slashes the full bond to the creator.
Why the scope is narrow
Objective-only, trust-minimized
Northset v1.1 supports only objectively verifiable tasks — outcomes that can be proven mathematically. Arbitration, subjective quality scoring, LLM judges, and reputation-weighted voting are explicitly out of scope. Settlement is trust-minimized and on-chain; off-chain systems such as indexers, relays, and UIs may assist discovery and convenience, but are never required for correctness or payout.
Current scope
One flagship commitment; the settlement layer accepts multiple proof families
The current flagship commitment is one operator-assisted cloud-cost lane on STATS_V1, which is the single deterministic verifier program v1.1 ships with. The hub contract, the STATS_V1 verifier, and the verifier registry are all deployed on Arbitrum One; see the proof and deployment-manifest pages for live evidence. The walkthrough app is reachable at /app.