An Entity is a node in the Internet of Impact graph. The best way of explaining this is to describe the different classes of entities and their primary puposes.

Entities are inter-linked. The relationships between entities are the edges of the impact graph, as illustrated in the example below.

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A project has

Scope

Deliverables

Resources

Time

1. Set up projects from templates, or or create your own.

2. Collect, process & store project data, under your control.

3. Decide who has access to your project, using digital identity credentials.

4. Employ service providers & verification oracles, with automated payments.

5. Issue project tokens to incentivise stake-holders and raise project funding.

Oracles in the Internet of Impact

Oracles in the context of the Internet of Impact are trusted digitally-enabled services that operate on stateful data to perform Precision Functions (P-functions).

The 10 P-functions of Precision Impact

1. Proofing through evaluation and verification of claims

2. Prediction by determining statistical probabilities and forecasts

3. Personalisation of interventions and responses

4. Prescription to program deterministic interventions and responses

5. Planning support to make decisions about interventions and responses

6. Proposing how to configure interventions and responses

7. Prevention through relative risk calculation and alerting

8. Protection through threat detection and proactive response

9. Profiling to identify patterns of attributes and features

10. Participation by enabling humans in the loop

Users employ ixo Oracles to provide these functions on their data. This helps optimise the outcomes, risks and financial results of cyber-cellular organisations, projects and investments.

Types of Oracles

Oracles are categorised into different namespace types, to help identify the their general purpose. Whilst oracles are all the same entity class, some security and technical characteristics can differ, depending on the oracle type.

For instance, a Treasury Oracle must be listed in the genesis record of an ixo-SDK blockchain. This type of oracle has the privileged capability to programmatically mint, burn or transfer a specific token on the network.

Oracle Trust Model

Web of Trust

Each oracle has a digital identifier (DID), with one or more verifiable credentials. These credentials are issued by other entities that have a high trust rating, serving as Trust Seeds. This creates a stateful trust graph, based on cryptographic proofs, which can be independently extracted by any Internet of Impact user who wishes to verify that an oracle can be trusted.

Trust rating

Trust must be earned over time. The performance of each oracle is recorded in the blockchain record. For a given oracle, a user can determine from the oracle's transaction history how many services the oracle has provided, to how many different users. They can also see any disputes against the oracle, which were upheld against the oracle provider.

Bonded stake

Oracle service providers may be required by the users who employ their oracles, to place a security deposit into escrow, in order to perform services. This performance bond is a risk assurance mechanism for the users of an oracle service. The bond can be slashed if the terms of a Service Execution Agreement are not upheld, when a dispute is adjudicated against the oracle provider.

Future topics

• Oracle launchpad and innovation bonds

• Oracle development toolkit

• Jupyter Notebooks for designing and training oracles

• Federated learning on a Cell Node network

• Oracle credentialing

Verifiable Claims are the basis for all identified data objects in the Internet of Impact.

Claims are nodes in the Impact Graph. They have relationship edges with the entities which issue, hold, inspect, proof and are the subjects of these claims.

Verifiable Claims encode high-definition data, which has the following characteristics:

1. Resolution to decentralised identifier keys (DID)

2. Linked-data contexts for resolving ontologies

3. Cryptographic verifiability of the data object

4. Content addressability (each claim has a unique identity)

5. Cryptographic authentication of the subject identifier

6. Cryptographic authentication of the issuer identifier

Types of Verifiable Claims

Structure of a Verifiable Claim

Claim objects

Data model

Validation using JSON Schema

Claim signatures

Verifiable Claim encoding

What is a wallet

Keys

Types of keys

Credentials

Like a driver's license.

Non-custodial wallets

Custodial wallets

Project types are

• Accreditation

• Accountability

• Behaviour Change

• Circular Economy

• Civic Action

• Climate Impact

• Climate Adaptation

• Clinical Trial

• Community Currency

• Community Development

• Commons

• Conservation

• Decarbonisation

• Disaster Response

• Ecological Regeneration

• Education & Awareness

• Enterprise Development

• Environmental Protection

• Epidemic Response

• ESG

• Governance

• Identity

• Impact Investment

• Insurance Bond

• Intelligence-gathering

• Lean Data

• Microfinance

• Needs Assessment

• Opinion Survey

• Recycling

• Reforestation

• Refugee Support

• Renewable Energy

• Research & Development

• Skills Development

• Social Enterprise

• Social Finance

• Social Innovation

• Sustainable Capital

• Sustainable Consumption

• Sustainable Infrastructure

• Sustainable Supply Chain

• Universal Basic Income

• Waste Reduction

• Water and oceans

A special type of digital document is the digital building-block of ixo Protocol Networks. An ixo document, together with its associated Decentralised Identifier (DID), identifies and describes each entity in an ixo protocol network. This should become interoperable with all other networks that implement the new W3C Internet standards for a decentralised internet.

The ixo Document also associates cryptographic objects with an entity. This gives the entity remarkable capabilities, such as sovereign control over its own identifier and the ability to authenticate with services, using keys that are referenced in the network's decentralised public key infrastructure.

What is an ixo Entity?

The Internet of Impact is formed by inter-connected decentralised networks of both physical infrastructure and virtual data nodes. Every node which implements the ixo protocol standards can be described as an **ixo Entity. **(The ixo protocol implements core new web standards from W3C).

An ixo Entity has an identity and an associated store of information. The ixo Document provides the genesis record for this information and can maintain a core record of the entity's information and connections. This includes specifying end-points for locating other information and services that are associated with the entity.

Entities connect to other entities, using cryptographic proofs. These authenticated connections form Webs of Trust, through which information and value can securely flow.

By subscribing to standard data models and open data schemas, entity nodes and the connections (edges) between these nodes form an ontologically rich and precise knowledge-graph. These graphs can be searched and navigated through the Internet of Impact and hyperlinked into Web 2.0 networks.

Entities in the context of ixo protocol networks

An entity in the context of ixo can be a:

• Cell (type of Decentralised Autonomous Organisation)

• Project (time-limited coordination mechanism for delivering, evaluating and funding a specified scope of claims)

• Oracle (software-mediated data service)

• Fund ("smart contract")

• Data Asset (dataset, algorithm or encoded model)

• Relayer (connecting market need to products and services delivered through the network)

• Agent (person, organisation or machine)

Each Entity has an identity, which is defined by a Decentralised Identifier (DID).

What is an ixo document?

An entity is described by information contained in a standard Document format - the DID Document (DDO).

Document storage

The ixo Network maintains a distributed registry of entities, which consists of DID:DDO pairs. An entity DID does not change, but the DDO record can be modified.

All changes to the DDO are permanently stored and cannot be erased. Therefore, the information contained within a DDO on a public network must not contain any private or personal identifier data. For this reason (and to reduce the replicated data storage load on the network), the bulk of the descriptive content relating to an entity is stored "off-chain".

As the default, ixo uses IPFS for off-chain document storage to be persistent and available. Document data stored in IPFS may be either encrypted or unencrypted, depending on the preference of the DID controller. Off-chain objects that form part of the DDO are by default referenced in the DDO using Content Identifiers (CID), which enable the data to be validated and locates the content file without any dependencies on URL paths that tend to break or become unavailable over time.

Document Objects

ixo Documents are compiled using a logical structure that can be accessed through standard API interfaces. This builds on the principles of the Document Object Model (DOM), which is a core internet standard from W3C.

The generic structure of an ixo document has 3 sections:

1. Header section which contains the document metadata.

2. Page section which contains public descriptive content about the entity, with a content-addressable link to off-chain document content (which may be clear-text or encrypted).

3. Core properties which contains objects for:

• Identifiers

• Public Keys

• Authentication

• Authorisation and delegation

• Service endpoints

• Cryptographic proofs

See the technical specification [insert link] for these document objects.

Document versioning

When a Document is created on an ixo protocol network, this produces a Genesis Record in the blockchain registry.

ixo Documents can only be updated following protocol rules:

1. A document update is only valid if it is added to the Document chain, which is an append-only log stored in an ixo protocol blockchain database.

2. To add an update to the document chain, a valid message must be submitted to the blockchain, which is signed by the controller of the DID for the entity.

3. The `documentupdate` message must contain a CID pointer to the previous record as prev, a patch containing the update to the document as content, and an encoded signature.

The purpose of an Evaluation Oracle

How an Evaluation Oracle works

1. Accesses the claims in a Cell-node database, for which it is authorised.

2. Reads the claim data.

3. Uses external information sources to triangulate and predict the odds of claim attributes being true-positive.

4. Opines on whether the claim meets pre-determined criteria for approval

5. Enriches the claim with additional information, such as data transformations and expert opinion.

6. Issues a cryptographic proof based on the analysis and approval status

Offer services to projects, in a peer-to-peer marketplace. Submit high-definition claims, using apps and connected devices. Prove your credentials and grow reputation, with self-sovereign identity. Receive automated digital payments for services. See personal performance dashboards, owning your private data.

Cellular organisations

Cellular organisations (Cells) are a highly effective coordination mechanism for people to self-organise and self-govern towards achieving a common mission. By definition, cells are decentralised, autonomous, locally responsive, adaptable, hyper-networked, intelligent and purpose-driven. They are highly suitable for virtual and remote teams to work together and share common resources.

Cellular organisational structures are common in nature. Think about how human immune cells sense and respond to threats with targeted precision. Immune cells signal other systems, amplify their responses through replication, produce neutralising or catalytic antibodies and build cellular memory. Each of these has strong analogies with digitally-enhanced cellular organisations.

Cellular organisations are taken to a whole new level in the Internet of Impact. Cells now benefit from the capabilities of digital communication tools, stateful data, programmable capital and networked intelligence-sharing.

Cellular organisations can build a digitally-enhanced immune system for humanity.

Cell nodes

Cell nodes are the digital infrastructure for all types of cellular organisations. These are decentralised, autonomous data stores with digital agency and cryptographic signing capabilities.

Cell nodes enable data to be communicated quickly and securely through webs of trust. All participants in a cell have access to the same information and share intelligence both within their own cell node and with other organisations, through Internet of Impact networks.

The digital artefacts created by a cell (such as Project Documents) are stored in the node as stateful records which are referenced in a distributed ledger. Public metadata are stored using the Interplanetary File System (IPFS). This allows cell nodes to retain a form of memory that can be stigmergically shared and rapidly amplified when cells need to be replicated or re-activated.

The capabilities of cell nodes

Cell nodes have powerful built-in Web 3.0 capabilities, such as:

• Stateless validation of data entering the cell node.

• Hash-chain data storage, secured by a public blockchain ledger.

• Publicly accessible file storage that is content addressable and tamper-proof.

• Decentralised authentication using cryptographic identifiers and provable credentials.

• Cryptographic message signing.

Cell nodes also connect to the universe of Web 2.0 services through conventional application-programming interfaces (APIs).

The features of cell nodes

Cell nodes are configured to provide cellular organisations with powerful tools that can be used 'out of the box'. Cell nodes also connect through the Internet of Impact to third-party data, application extensions and integrations.

Core cell node features currently include:

• Projects

• Secure peer-to-peer communication

• Precision Oracles

• Data marketplace

• Alpha Bond funding

• Agent credentialing

• Token issuance

Extended Cell Node features will include:

• Dispute resolution

• Crowd-funding

• Prediction markets

• Bounties

• Blockchain Accounting

• Legal agreements

Purpose of a cell

The purpose of a Cell defines how it will operate in terms of membership, size, location, lifespan, scope of projects it undertakes and other types of organisational characteristics. A Cell Node is configured to fit the purpose of a cell.

The founder/s of a cell define its purpose - usually with an explicit mission statement.

Examples of cell types and their primary purpose:

The mission of a cell

Each cell defines its mission explicitly in terms of credible commitments that can be collectively monitored. Cell commitments are accountable, measurable and verifiable. For instance a Procurement Cell can define its mission as: "Source and distribute 1,000 Ventilators to provide care for people infected with the Covid-19 virus."

Cell agents

Participants in a cell are referred to as Agents. Agents include identified individuals, organisations, software agents and devices.

Agent roles can be broadly categorised as:

• Implementing agents

• Evaluation agents

• Investment agents

Each agent is identified by a self-sovereign digital identifier, with associated verifiable credentials. Credentials are issued by known entities within a web of trust. Every message or transaction an agent sends is signed with their Identity. This ensures a high level of agent accountability, trust and compliance.

Agents are given rights for performing specific roles. They issue verifiable claims which attest to the contributions they make towards the mission of the cell. This makes agents fully accountable. The Cell Node is designed to store agent identifiers and credentials in a way that ensures privacy and protects their personal information.

Cells may incentivise agents with tokenised rewards, which are tracked by the Cell Node. Agents can also be economically penalised for not operating within the rules of the cell.

Find out more about Agents.

Cell projects

The participants in a cell pursue their mission by implementing one or more projects. The scope of each project is defined in an immutable Project Document. Project information and all the data collected by every project that the cell implements gets stored in the Cell Node.

The performance of each project is tracked through claims which are submitted by cell agents who are authorised to work on the project. Claims are independently evaluated and verified (for instance, by Proofing Oracles).

Find out more about Projects and Claims Verification.

Cell sovereignty

Cells are independent, sovereign entities within the Internet of Impact. A Cell Node embodies the digital agency of cells with encrypted identifiers, provable credentials and cryptographic keys for authentication, signing messages and secure messaging.

Each cell operates its own private computational and data storage node. Cell Node software and data can be self-hosted or hosted as a service.

The founder of a cell is the ultimate controller, as they hold the keys to the Cell Node and retain full external access control over the cell's data.

The cell founder decides which agents and services are permissioned to connect with the cell and is able to manage or revoke these permissions. Access and authentication is autonomously managed by the Cell Node, without relying on centralised authentication services. This makes Cell Nodes censorship-resistant.

The cell founder

The role of a cell founder is to instantiate the cell, manage the keys of the cell and ensure that the call operates effectively.

The founder of a cell can be:

• One or more identified individuals;

• One or more identified organisations;

• A combination of individuals and/or organisations operating through a decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO).

Cells are principally organisations of people with digital super-powers. To be successful, participants in a cell need to be well-governed, incentivised and empowered. This requires leadership, cooperation and accountability.

Cell governance

Once a cell has been formed, it may be governed by the founder/s or by all the participants in the cell. The Cell Founder configures a governance mechanism when the Cell Node is instantiated.

Decisions and actions may be made by the Cell Founder, or by cell agents. The Cell Node provides governance tools for stakeholders to make proposals, vote and pass executable resolutions. These tools are available as Cell Node plug-ins, such as DAOStack Holographic consensus.

Cell incentives

Cells exist within an economy that broadly have three types of common enterprises, in which cell agents may be incentivised to participate:

• Entrepreneurial Common: interfaces the cell with external ecosystems and markets. This common sets financial and monetary policy. It determines the price of cell membership, how the cell is owned and how to distribute capital. Incentives for participation in the entrepreneurial enterprise may be created by issuing and distributing shares or tokens in the cell that embody rights of ownership, economic participation and access to the cell's capital resources.

• Production Common: produces goods and services though the cooperative efforts of the cell members. As incentives, contributors may be paid for their work or receive shares for the value they have created.

• Beneficial Common: governs the cell's mission, impact goals, operating policies, membership, consensus rules, rights and incentive mechanisms. Voting rights are an incentive for participating in the beneficial common.

Financing cells

There are many possible ways of raising capital resources for a cell. Operating capital can come from more traditional commercial, philanthropic or peer-to-peer sources. Instruments include grants, venture capital, loans, crowd-funding, mutual credit, etc. Now there are also decentralised financing instruments such as tokenisation, Alpha Bonds and Quadratic Funding.

The use of capital by a cell can be transparently tracked and accounted for using the Cell Node's blockchain ledger. This includes a mechanism for tracking financial transactions in fiat bank accounts and representing these on the ledger.

Capital flows can be programmatically allocated and distributed using Alpha Bonds. Conditional payment triggers are linked to provable results. This has tremendous potential for risk-adjusted financing of new ventures and performance-based contracts.

How to set up a Cell Node

The easiest way to start is with a template. Browse app.ixo.world to find one that fits close enough to the purpose and other characteristics of the cell you want to form. The ixo cell node guide explains this further.

If you can't find a template that suits your specific needs, start a new cell template with guidance from the ixo-assistant chatbot.

The costs of operating a Cell Node

The costs of hosting a Cell Node depends on whether this is self-hosted or hosted as a service. For hosted options offered by ixo.world see the pricing guide.

Registering a Cell Node with a Decentralised Identifier and Cell Document on the Sustainability Hub incurs a negligible transaction fee (gas) for writing these records to the blockchain.

Cells can choose to employ services and acquire applications from a growing network marketplace, where the costs are determined by providers.

Payment Tokens

Bond Tokens

Staking Tokens

Impact Tokens

Voting Tokens