UPDATED AND RELEASED: 05 DECEMBER 2024
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Please be advised that the information provided in this publication is intended solely for informational purposes and does not constitute an investment prospectus, financial advice, or any form of legally binding contractual agreement between you, the network that will be known as ‘Autonomi’ or any associated the team, company and/or foundation connected to the network. For avoidance of doubt this includes the SAFE Network and the SAFE (Network) Foundation, which will become known as ‘Autonomi’ and ‘Autonomi Foundation’. respectively.
This publication is not intended to offer, solicit, or recommend the buying, selling, or holding of tokens or any other financial instruments.
This publication does not include any “forward-looking statements” as defined by applicable securities laws. Any statements about future events, scenarios, or otherwise speculative information are given for illustrative purposes and should not be interpreted as alluding to nor providing any guarantee of future performance or outcome. You should not place undue reliance on statements or including, but not limited to, current views and plans of ‘The Network’ as of the date of publication.
Purchasing cryptocurrencies or other tokens involves a high level of risk and should only be considered by those who can afford to sustain a loss of their entire purchase. It is crucial that prospective buyers carry out their own independent due diligence, including consulting with qualified financial advisors, legal advisors, and tax professionals, before deciding to purchase anything related to the network hereby referred to as ‘Autonomi’.
A network token sale may be subject to local laws and regulations. It is your responsibility to determine the legal standing of those tokens in your jurisdiction and for you to comply with all relevant laws and regulations prior to making an investment. By accessing or using this publication, you acknowledge and agree to the terms set forth in this disclaimer and assume full responsibility for any and all associated risks. The Foundation and any associated network partners disclaim all liability for any loss or damage of any kind that may arise directly or indirectly from the use of, or reliance on, any information contained in this publication.
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There have been some additions/updates made to this paper that relate to the launch of Autonomi and its early years, these are specifically connected to the rewards (incentives) that are earned (and used) by those supporting/using The Network. The fundamentals of The Network remain unchanged.
For ease of navigation, and to enable accurate tracking of all V2 updates, all non highlight text in black/grey, is original (taken directly from White Paper 1.0), all text highlighted in blue is new content, i.e. updated sections and information. Please note: new charts are only signposted via a blue highlighted heading/title and while some new mathematical formulas are on a plain background they are all ‘topped and tailed’ with highlighted (blue) text.
Autonomi is a data and communications network that, through its underlying protocols, is able to provide users with a distributed, decentralized, and encrypted layer of the internet, you can think of it like a ‘Layer 0’. In essence it is a decentralized, autonomous network, running on everyday devices, offering self-encryption, quantum-safe security and lifetime storage. Autonomi is able to combine the spare capacity of connected devices, anything from old consumer PCs on desks and small devices like Raspberry Pis to leftover racks in a data centre - to create a new form of globally accessible infrastructure, that can be utilized by anyone.
Autonomi allows users to securely store data, communicate, access knowledge, build businesses, run services, and create new futures without the intervention of any middlemen or gatekeepers.
The Network aims to give people autonomy over their digital lives, allowing them to participate in the connected economy, regardless of their location, status, or access to capital. It has been designed to enable mass collaboration between human beings, between machines, and between human beings and machines - critically, without the distorting effects of endemic data insecurity, siloing of knowledge, inefficient markets, and limited accessibility.
In order to do this, and accomplish it in a way suitable for human ‘scaled’ use, Autonomi has been built from the first principle of secure and private data, and in such a way that the performance of The Network scales with size. Not only is data de-duplicated and redundantly replicated, but it's quantum-proof encrypted, before it even leaves an end user's computer. That means that no personal information ever touches the internet, and neither does any information relating to how, where, or when you choose to access it.
When you use The Network to store some data it is split into ‘chunks’. Each chunk is securely encrypted with a set of credentials that are only known by the creator—who has the keys to unlock the data and reassemble it into information again.
These credentials never touch the internet.
Data ‘chunks’ are then sent to The Network, duplicated several times for extra security, and dispersed evenly and randomly across the globe, along with a map of where they are and how to reassemble them. Once again this is securely encrypted and only accessible to the holder of the keys.
The encrypted data chunks are held by a multitude of everyday devices, called nodes, these all offer a small portion of their spare, under-utilised capacity, to securely hold a small collection of encrypted data chunks, serving them back to their owner when asked.
Nodes in The Network are independent but work together in cooperation. Each has a randomly determined location in The Network, and from this location, monitors the health and behaviour of neighbouring nodes it connects to. Nodes check and double-check each other's ability to keep on holding and serving data.
They cooperate based on a set of rules and incentives that reward good behaviour but shun the bad; quickly dropping uncooperative nodes from The Network
Each piece of data stored is looked after by a small number of nodes called a close group, a group which only exists for that specific data. This allows nodes to act independently, but together to form a strong autonomous global network, capable of storing and retaining data in perpetuity.
As nodes come and go, as devices are turned on or off, this redundant data is replicated again and shuffled to new nodes that must perform the same task.
Nodes are rewarded for holding data, and offering their spare capacity for the collective good. In the early years payment will be made in Autonomi Network Token (an ERC20 standard token), but after the first stages of scale, adoption and growth a Native token will be introduced to The Network to act as a novel medium of exchange.
When someone (a person or a collective) uploads data they pay a fee to do so. The fee is a one-time charge; once paid (at point of upload) the data is stored for the lifetime of The Network. It will always be free for the owner to access and download, it is perpetual data.
While perpetual data is an attractive proposition in an age of spiralling ongoing costs, it is also essential if the data owner is to have true sovereignty, autonomy, and control over the data they own: you cannot be blocked from it and you cannot lose access to it.
That frees owners of data (whether they’re individuals, collectives or organisations) from ongoing charges by cloud providers as well as aspects such as contract renegotiations, truth of source and terms of access (and use).
