Six layers, from settlement to economics. Each layer is independently verifiable and contributes to the protocol's trustless operation.
The settlement layer is the anchor that ties Omnia's parallel execution back to a root of trust on an L1 blockchain. Omnia is settlement-agnostic — it doesn't prescribe a single chain. Instead, it defines a SettlementAdapter trait and SettlementLayer trait that any L1 can implement.
The Ethereum adapter deploys a Solidity contract (OmniaRollup.sol) that verifies Groth16 proofs on BN254. In live mode (via the ethereum-live feature flag), it uses Alloy to submit real transactions to Ethereum mainnet or testnets.
The ZK circuit is built on arkworks R1CS with Groth16 proofs on the BN254 curve. Off-circuit, BLAKE3 is used for the Sparse Merkle tree — a deliberate choice for performance, since BLAKE3 is not circuit-friendly but is extremely fast in native code.
SettlementAdapter + SettlementLayer traits
Generic settlement interface
Ethereum adapter (OmniaRollup.sol)
Solidity contract with live mode via ethereum-live feature
FFI settlement adapter
C-library integration for custom settlement
Celestia adapter
RPC integration for data availability
L2 operator with batch builder
Batch construction and submission
ZK circuit (arkworks R1CS + Groth16/BN254)
Zero-knowledge proof generation
Sparse Merkle tree proofs (BLAKE3 off-circuit)
Efficient state commitment
Bitcoin settlement adapter
Not yet implemented
Solana settlement adapter
Not yet implemented
Cosmos settlement adapter
Not yet implemented
The causal graph substrate is the core of Omnia's consensus mechanism. Instead of a linear chain of blocks, it uses a directed acyclic graph (DAG) where events reference multiple parents via vector clocks, preserving causal ordering without requiring a single global sequence.
The graph structure is inspired by Hashgraph's two-parent event model, with AlephBFT-inspired BFT finality providing fast confirmation. CRDTs (Conflict-free Replicated Data Types) — including GCounter, OrSet, and LWWRegister — ensure state convergence across all nodes without coordination.
Communication happens over libp2p using QUIC transport with GossipSub for message propagation and mDNS for local peer discovery. All events are signed with Ed25519 and include replay protection. The SlashingEngine detects equivocation, liveness failures, and invalid attestations, with persistent state stored in redb.
Causal graph (DAG) with vector clock ordering
Parallel event processing
Hashgraph-like two-parent events
Rich causal structure
AlephBFT-inspired BFT finality
Fast confirmation
CRDT state convergence (GCounter, OrSet, LWWRegister)
Conflict-free state merge
libp2p gossip protocol (QUIC + GossipSub + mDNS)
P2P networking
Ed25519 signatures with replay protection
Cryptographic identity
SlashingEngine (equivocation/liveness/invalid attestation)
Byzantine fault detection
Persistent slashing state via redb
Durable slashing records
Domain shards partition the protocol's state into six specialized domains, each with its own transaction semantics, validation rules, and consistency guarantees. This separation allows each domain to optimize for its specific use case without compromising others.
The ShardRouter implements the EventProcessor trait and automatically dispatches events to the correct shard. Cross-shard messaging is supported with causality proofs, ensuring that dependencies between shards are tracked and verified. Fee enforcement uses FeeSchedule and QuotaSystem to prevent spam.
The FinancialShard is particularly notable — it uses strict causal ordering for balance consistency, ensuring that debits always precede credits in the causal history. This prevents the double-spend problem without requiring global locking.
6 shards: Financial, Identity, Physical, Computational, Biological, Economics
Domain-specific state partitioning
ShardRouter with automatic dispatch (EventProcessor trait)
Event routing infrastructure
Cross-shard messaging with causality proofs
Inter-shard communication
Fee enforcement (FeeSchedule + QuotaSystem)
Spam prevention
Per-creator nonce replay protection
Transaction deduplication
FinancialShard with strict causal ordering
Balance consistency
The binding layer creates a tamper-proof link between digital records and physical reality. It uses an append-only provenance log implemented as a CRDT with BLAKE3 hash-chain integrity — every entry chains to the previous one, making retroactive modification detectable.
Physical anchoring combines RF fingerprinting, quantum-resistant signatures, and provenance tracking. The ProvenanceTracker manages the full lifecycle: create, transfer, verify, and destroy. Hybrid PQC signatures combine Ed25519 (for current speed) with CRYSTALS-Dilithium (for post-quantum security).
The PqcKeyRotationManager handles post-quantum key rotation through a three-phase migration process, ensuring continuity of verification during the transition from classical to quantum-resistant signatures.
Append-only provenance log (CRDT)
BLAKE3 hash-chain integrity
Physical anchor (RF + quantum + provenance)
Digital-physical binding
ProvenanceTracker (create/transfer/verify/destroy)
Full lifecycle management
Hybrid PQC signatures (Ed25519 + CRYSTALS-Dilithium)
Current + post-quantum security
PqcKeyRotationManager (3-phase migration)
Post-quantum key rotation
RF fingerprinting
Needs SDR hardware — not production-ready
The identity layer provides self-sovereign identity with the did:omnia: method, enabling decentralized identifiers that don't rely on any central authority. Validation is built directly into the protocol.
Key management uses Shamir's Secret Sharing over GF(256) to split keys into shares distributed across trusted parties. Privacy-preserving biometric anchors use BLAKE3(salt || template) — the salt ensures that even if the hash is compromised, the original biometric template cannot be reconstructed.
AI agent identity is a first-class concept with five capability types, enabling machine actors to participate in the protocol with well-defined permission boundaries. Social recovery with guardian thresholds ensures that lost keys don't mean lost identity.
did:omnia: method with validation
Decentralized identifiers
Shamir's Secret Sharing over GF(256)
Distributed key management
Privacy-preserving biometric anchors (BLAKE3(salt || template))
Unrecoverable biometric hashing
AI agent identity (5 capability types)
Machine actor permissions
Social recovery with guardian threshold
Key recovery without central authority
The economics layer introduces Universal Basic Compute (UBC) — a soulbound monthly quota that guarantees every participant a baseline of computational resources. Unlike tokens that can be traded or concentrated, UBC is non-transferable and resets each epoch.
Quota management uses epoch advancement to distribute fresh allocations. Quadratic voting with exponential reputation decay ensures that influence diminishes over time unless continuously earned through participation — preventing permanent power accumulation.
Fixed-point governance decay uses PPM (parts-per-million) arithmetic, deliberately avoiding f64 floating-point in consensus-critical code. This ensures deterministic results across all implementations. The proof-of-useful-work system defines three work types but remains a stub, not yet production-ready.
Universal Basic Compute (UBC)
Soulbound monthly compute quota
Quota system with epoch advancement
Periodic resource allocation
Quadratic voting with exponential reputation decay
Fair governance influence
Fixed-point governance decay (PPM arithmetic)
Deterministic consensus math
Proof-of-useful-work
3 work types defined, not production-ready