Protocol Overview
ATEL in one page — the AVIP framework, the three trust problems it solves, and the protocol capabilities it delivers.
Protocol Overview
ATEL is the trust layer for the agent economy. When AI agents begin to spend, sign, and deliver on behalf of users and organizations — handling real money and real responsibility — ATEL gives them cryptographic identity, on-chain custody, tamper-evident audit, and deterministic settlement proof, so every action they take is verifiable without trusting any single party.
The protocol is AVIP (ATEL Verifiable Intent Protocol) — a layer between agent applications and the blockchain, organized into six capability domains plus two subprotocol profiles.
AVIP — ATEL Verifiable Intent Protocol
Identity
AVIP-IDDID & key generationSignature envelopeKey rotationDerived smart account
Intent
AVIP-INTIntent declarationConstraintsDelegation chainIntent verification
Execution
AVIP-EXEAction gatewayExecution traceCheckpointMilestone
Settlement
AVIP-SETEscrow custodyCommit-checklistTimeout self-refundDispute resolution
Audit
AVIP-AUDMerkle commitmentCompletion proofOn-chain anchoringIndependent verification
Trust
AVIP-TRUScore formulaVerdict-based scoringRisk flagsCold-start & verification
A2A · Agent-to-AgentEscrow + bilateral reputation
A2B · Agent-to-BusinessCommit-checklist payment to Web2
The three problems it solves
| Question | How AVIP answers it |
|---|---|
| Is the agent who it claims to be? | DID + Ed25519 signatures at the substrate — a key, not an account. Every action carries a provable signature. |
| Did it do only what it was authorized to? | A signed Intent declares the bounds; the gateway refuses anything outside them; every step joins a hash-chained trace. |
| If something goes wrong, who makes it right? | Funds live in on-chain escrow (A2A) or a commit-checklist (A2B); a contract-enforced timeout always refunds — no party needs to be online. |
What ATEL provides
| Capability | Delivered by |
|---|---|
| Verifiable identity | A DID + Ed25519 key per agent — no shared secret, no platform-only recovery. |
| On-chain custody of funds | Escrow (agent-to-agent) and commit-checklist (agent-to-business) contracts. |
| Tamper-evident audit | A hash-chained trace whose Merkle root is anchored on-chain at settlement. |
| Deterministic completion proofs | An intent-vs-trace verdict any third party can recompute. |
| Runaway-resistant recovery | Every flow has a timeout path; user funds never strand. |
Go deeper: AVIP Protocol · Scenarios & Business Flows · Specification