Why Rebrand
Numbers Protocol began by verifying the authenticity of digital media content — ensuring that images and information (for example, news photographs) were provably captured by their claimed creators at specific times and places. However, the rebrand reflects a broader mission: we are moving beyond a purely digital media focus to improve transaction efficiency across both digital and physical assets through verifiable digital provenance.
In today's landscape, this evolution is necessary. The internet is shifting into an agentic, machine-to-machine economy. AI systems crawl, learn, and transact continuously without human oversight. Meanwhile, efforts to tokenize real-world assets (RWA) have stalled on practical questions of who used what, under which terms, and where the auditable record lives. Likewise, the rise of decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) demands trustworthy on-chain records of real-world service delivery. Verifiable provenance provides the missing link by turning each asset interaction into a provable and auditable event, streamlining how value is exchanged. Proving what is real remains necessary but is no longer sufficient; we must also prove how value is exchanged and who is entitled to do what every time value changes hands.
Our New Promise: Provenance Creates True Values
The new Numbers Protocol ensures every capture or transaction (access, license, or redemption) comes with proof: pay in stablecoins; receive the asset (or rights) plus a verifiable receipt; anchor the facts to a public index. It follows a single provenance pipeline — capture → certify → check — that works seamlessly for digital content and physical assets alike. From initial content capture to final transaction settlement, every verified interaction is recorded on this provenance ledger, continuously enriching the asset's history and value.
Two forces making this shift inevitable
1) AI agents need a new way to pay (and be licensed) per request
Human-centered contracts and subscriptions don't scale to autonomous agent workflows. Through x402 we enable machine-native, per-request stablecoin payments; the new Numbers Platform then delivers the file or API response with C2PA content credentials and issues a tokenized receipt so usage can be audited and enforced programmatically. In short: machines can pay, and everyone gets a receipt that becomes part of the asset's provenance trail.
2) AI is reshaping commerce — and trust in digital and physical assets is impossible without a verifiable provenance chain
As AI agents originate, broker, and settle a growing share of transactions, price, risk, and entitlement must be grounded in evidence that compounds over time. Rather than jumping straight to fractionalised ownership, Numbers prioritises a full provenance chain — redeemable claims, usage attestations, service proofs, and witness logs — all recorded on-chain. Each event appends a signed, time-stamped link to the asset's history: verifiable end-to-end, upgradeable by adding new attestations, yet immutable because prior entries are never rewritten.
Witness nodes attest physical hand-overs; deposits and revenue splits settle in USDC; every step is indexed on Numbers Mainnet via ERC-7053 and bound to C2PA evidence. In short: without provenance there is no trust; with cumulative provenance, value compounds.
From Proof of Capture to Proof of Commerce
The rebrand aligns our identity — Numbers Platform (product), Numbers Mainnet (ledger), and NUM (work token) — to deliver a universal provenance rail for the AI, RWA, and DePIN economies. Whenever value changes hands, Numbers Platform follows a single pipeline — capture → certify → check — ensuring every interaction is provably recorded. The record is append-only (immutable history), continuously upgradeable (new certifications can supersede or enrich earlier ones by reference), and universally verifiable, so trust — and therefore asset value — increases as the chain grows.
Why Now
Several converging trends make now the right moment:
- AI systems are becoming content buyers. After years of scraping data for free, AI companies have begun paying for licensed data (e.g., OpenAI's deals with news publishers). The next step is automating per-request payments at scale, which Numbers Platform enables with x402 micropayments and on-chain receipts.
- Key standards have matured. Crucial components of this ecosystem are in place: HTTP 402 + crypto payments, C2PA content credentials for provenance (now supported in major platforms), and our own ERC-7053 for on-chain media indexing. These enable a seamless flow of capture → certify → provenance → settlement that simply wasn't possible until recently.
- Stablecoins are mainstream. USD-pegged stablecoins like USDC see massive usage. Using stablecoins as the medium removes volatility and compliance barriers — Numbers Platform keeps all transactions in stablecoins for enterprise-friendly predictability.
- RWA and DePIN become markedly more efficient when provenance is guaranteed. With verifiable, machine-readable proof of origin, usage and entitlement, due diligence collapses from weeks to minutes, reconciliation and disputes are minimised, and revenue splits and redemptions execute automatically. Compliance reporting is generated on demand, financing moves faster with lower risk premia, and DePIN rewards and dispatch flow to verified work rather than sybils. By prioritising usage claims and redeemable receipts—keeping title off-chain until an appropriate legal wrapper is used—Numbers Platform records non-transferable credentials, receipts and splits on-chain via open standards (e.g., C2PA, ERC-7053), increasing throughput, reducing cost of capital and unlocking liquidity without added regulatory drag.
The New Numbers Platform
Numbers Platform provides three core capabilities that uphold our mission: Capture → Certify → Check. It is both a product suite and an open protocol designed to ensure that every asset interaction follows a single provenance pipeline with proof at each step.
Capture
Capture anchors content and assets to an immutable provenance chain by generating tamper-evident evidence on the blockchain.
- Capture new digital content with proof. Creators or devices can capture an image, video, or dataset and immediately embed a content credential (e.g., C2PA metadata) in the file, then log a corresponding on-chain record (via ERC-7053). This establishes a verifiable origin at the moment of creation, with cryptographic timestamps and creator signatures.
- Create digital twins for physical assets. For physical assets or real-world events, capture often involves minting a digital twin or on-chain claim (e.g., an NFT that represents ownership or usage rights with descriptive metadata and initial evidence). Whether digital or physical, the act of capture produces a permanent, auditable record that initiates the asset's provenance trail.
Certify
Certify lets users append provenance to an already captured asset, enriching its history without ever overwriting prior entries. Here, "certify" includes C2PA content credentials, on-chain receipts, licence terms, custody logs, and witness attestations.
- Attach blockchain proof to existing content. Add a content authenticity certificate and register on Numbers Mainnet so even legacy files gain a verified fingerprint and an entry in the public index. This retroactive step links the asset to the provenance ledger so future interactions trace back to a confirmed baseline.
- Append ongoing evidence and events. Licences, usage receipts, custody transfers, inspections, SBOMs, and witness attestations (for real-world handovers or check-in/out) are appended as new, time-stamped entries. The record is append-only (immutable history) yet upgradeable (new evidence can supersede or enrich earlier facts by reference).
Check
Check enables anyone — users, partners, or automated systems — to trace and confirm the chain of provenance for a given asset, ensuring it is authentic, exists, and is trustworthy. Every time an asset is captured, certified, transferred, or utilised, the event is recorded as an append-only entry on the Numbers Mainnet public index.
- Checking digital content. Inspect the file's C2PA credential (who/when/where) and cross-reference the file hash against the on-chain registry (ERC-7053). If the content has been licensed or transacted, each usage has an associated verifiable receipt (NFT with transaction details). The sequence of certifications and receipts shows originality (not tampered or unauthorised AI) and authorised derivative uses.
- Checking physical asset provenance. Combine on-chain records with off-chain evidence anchored by witness nodes. Check token history (ownership transfers, redemption status) and review witness attestations for handovers/inspections. In rentals, the ledger shows payment and the NFT-based rental certificate, while witness nodes sign check-in and return conditions — tying real-world events to the digital trail.
Provenance Creates True Values
Capture → Certify → Check ensures that whenever something of value changes hands or a significant event occurs, a provable record is created and added to the asset's story — from AI paying for data, to a creator monetising a video, to a physical item being rented or redeemed, to a DePIN service milestone. Each action contributes evidence to the asset's public provenance ledger, fulfilling our promise that Provenance creates the true values.
Why Numbers Protocol
Building something as ambitious as Numbers Protocol – a fusion of payments, credentials, blockchain, and real-world integration – requires a unique set of capabilities. Numbers Protocol is uniquely positioned to execute this vision due to our head start in standards, proven track record, and integrated product stack. Here's why we are the team that can make our product a reality when others haven't:
Standards Leadership
We are not creating proprietary formats from scratch; we are leading and contributing to the open standards that underpin the ecosystem. Numbers Protocol is a General Member of the C2PA consortium (Content Authenticity Initiative), meaning we have a seat at the table in defining how content credentials work and interoperate. We have also directly authored standards – notably, members of our team are co-authors of ERC/EIP-7053 ("Interoperable Digital Media Indexing"), the Ethereum standard that enables cross-contract, cross-chain indexing of media provenance.
Furthermore, our project is one of the few mentioned by name in NIST's AI Risk Management Framework (AI 100-4) as a current solution in provenance verification. NIST listed Numbers Protocol alongside C2PA and Starling Lab as examples of real initiatives enhancing content traceability with blockchain and metadata. Being highlighted by a U.S. standards body provides credibility that our approach is serious and referenceable for government and enterprise use.
Additionally, the Content Authenticity Initiative (Adobe-led) has cited "Numbers Protocol's blockchain as a storage for Content Credentials" in its official docs as a reference implementation. In short, we are deeply entrenched in the standards community – we aren't just using standards; we're helping drive them.
Field-Proven Technology
Unlike many crypto projects that start with a whitepaper and no real-world usage, we have been battle-testing our technology in high-trust environments for years. Back in 2020, during the U.S. presidential elections, Reuters and Starling Lab collaborated on A Photographic Archive of Trust – and Reuters photojournalists used Numbers Protocol tools to fingerprint images and record metadata on blockchain as part of that project. For 78 days of the election period, our system helped create a verifiable chain of custody for news photos.
Another example: in an initiative to preserve artwork by children in war-torn Ukraine ("Mom, I See War"), we partnered with Starling Lab to register over 10,000 drawings with C2PA embedded and on-chain records via Numbers Explorer. This showed our system's capability to integrate with C2PA and multiple storage networks in a complex archival context. These projects underscore that our tech works in demanding, real-world scenarios – from war archives to investigative journalism – not just in theory.
Product-Ready Stack
We aren't starting from zero in building Numbers Protocol – we're iterating on an existing stack of products and tools. Our ProofSnap app (reference capture app) and Capture SDK already provide C2PA credential injection, 7053 on-chain registration, and developer APIs/Widgets to integrate these features. Essentially, we have an early version of Capture in market: a developer today can use our documentation to attach a content credential to a file and log it on-chain via our API.
Notably, everything we do is compatible with C2PA verification toolchains – e.g. if you create a photo with ProofSnap today, it produces a Content Credential that can be read by Adobe's or Microsoft's authenticity interfaces, and our on-chain records can be accessed via standard APIs. This interoperability lowers the barrier for platform adoption.
Ecosystem Momentum
We are building on the shoulders of giants and aligning with powerful currents in the industry. The fact that social media is now displaying C2PA badges ("Captured with a camera" on supported content) shows that capturing provenance is becoming mainstream. Our role is to extend that chain of trust into transactions (i.e. from showing a content credential to also logging the license and payment).
Moreover, being recognized in the NIST framework and plugged into the C2PA gives us access to a network of potential partners and adopters such as OpenAI, Adobe and Nikon – from media companies concerned about deepfakes to social media platforms and hardware makers. We believe no other startup in the space currently has this combination of standard-body recognition and proven product.
Uniquely Positioned
Numbers Protocol brings credibility, capability, and community that are hard to match. We didn't pivot into AI and provenance last month because it's hot – we've been at this for a long time, establishing the rails and rules that now enable Numbers to do more. Others might have one piece (say a micropayment API, or an NFT platform, or a provenance standard) but only we have the full stack and the know-how to integrate payment, proof, and provenance into a seamless product.
Role of the NUM Token
NUM is the work-and-governance token that powers provenance and network operations. Its utilities are fourfold:
5.1 Proof-as-a-Fee — Paying for Verifiable, Immutable Provenance
Every ERC-7053 write on Numbers Mainnet (e.g., new capture entries, appended credentials, receipt mints) requires NUM. This makes NUM present at the moment a proof is created, i.e., every piece of digital or physical content that gains on-chain provenance consumes NUM. Settlement for the underlying transaction (licence, rental, service, etc.) remains in stablecoins; NUM covers the protocol fee ("provenance gas") while USDC/USDC.n moves value.
5.2 Network Validators — Staking to Secure and Earn
Users can stake NUM to run or delegate to validators that produce blocks, index ERC-7053 receipts, and keep the network available. Active participants are compensated from protocol fee pools for services actually delivered and are subject to slashing for misbehaviour or downtime.
For asset owners, this means you can stake to the operators that secure your assets' proofs and earn from the activity your assets generate (per governance parameters and performance), aligning incentives between provenance creation and network security. (No passive or guaranteed yield; rewards accrue only to active roles that meet service levels.)
5.3 Stable Payments Support — Fast, Cost-Effective USDC.n
The network uses USDC.n as its stable settlement currency so businesses and AIs enjoy predictable costs. NUM underwrites the provenance side of each transaction (protocol fees, priority, and potential fee-sponsorship/discount programmes approved by governance), keeping USDC.n payments fast and cost-effective while cleanly separating value transfer (USDC.n) from proof creation (NUM).
5.4 Governance — Steer the Protocol and Its Economics
Staked NUM confers governance rights to propose and ratify changes: fee schedules (NUM fee weights vs. USDC.n flows), validator set size and SLAs, witness/attestor qualification rules, slashing parameters, treasury allocations, and dispute-resolution process. Bonded, identity-gated voting and arbitration keep changes accountable and aligned with network integrity.
Economic Model Summary
Demand for NUM arises from proof creation, staking, slashing protection, assignment eligibility, and governance participation, not from passive yield promises. All roles interact with ERC-7053 and C2PA, ensuring actions are transparent, queryable, and portable across tooling stacks. Stablecoins and USDC.n on Numbers Mainnet are the sole media for payments, deposits, settlements, and fee distribution. NUM functions as economic collateral and an eligibility signal to keep the network reliable, auditable, and fair.
Case Studies & Examples
To understand how the Capture → Certify → Check pipeline delivers value, consider these use cases spanning creative content, real estate, decentralized infrastructure, and journalism. Each example highlights how assets are onboarded and monetized through Numbers Platform, how economic flows are handled, and how trust is enhanced at every step via verifiable provenance.
A. Creator Monetization (Intellectual Property)
Capture: A creator (e.g. a YouTuber or indie musician) begins by registering their new content on Numbers. As the content is produced, they capture its origin by embedding a content authenticity credential (C2PA) and anchoring a record of the original file on-chain. They then issue limited digital access passes to fans in the form of NFTs, which serve as promises of future content or perks.
Certify: When the promised content is released, Numbers Platform automatically certifies the event by minting a verifiable receipt for each pass holder. Not only do human fans get these receipts, but if an AI agent licenses the content via an x402 payment, the AI also receives an on-chain usage certificate. The platform handles payments in stablecoins and routes funds to the creator immediately.
Check: Anyone can audit the complete history of this project. By inspecting the content file's C2PA metadata and cross-checking the on-chain records, it's evident who originally created the work and when, who funded it, and that the promised deliverables were indeed provided to supporters. This provenance trail enhances the creator's credibility and protects fans and buyers. Each on-chain entry (initial capture, access pass issuance, receipt minting, license logging) requires NUM as the protocol fee, ensuring the provenance ledger is maintained and immutable.
B. Real Estate Rental Pilot
Capture: In a pilot project, a luxury ski chalet in Niseko was placed into a legal trust. On-chain, a single digital-twin NFT was minted to describe the asset and reference the trust's off-chain cap table; it does not encode or convey equity. This establishes the baseline provenance entry linking the physical property to its digital twin under a regulated framework. The property manager uses ProofSnap to capture verifiable condition photos with C2PA Content Credentials, and these are anchored on-chain (via ERC-7053) as part of the asset's profile. From day one, the immutable record covers the property's state and the governing legal ownership as referenced by the trust, not an on-chain ownership distribution.
Certify: Day-to-day rentals run through platform collaborates with Numbers. At check-in, a NUM-staked witness node verifies identity and property condition and uploads a signed attestation (with C2PA-tagged photos) linked to the rental credential. Key events — payment receipt, rental credential, check-in and check-out reports, deposit escrow and refund/withhold — are appended as signed, time-stamped credentials. Revenue splits execute in USDC.n according to the off-chain trust schedule (e.g., beneficiaries per cap table, maintenance reserve, operator share). Witnesses are staked in NUM and can be slashed for misreporting. All rental credentials and receipts are non-transferable and exist solely to evidence usage and outcomes.
Check: This pilot maximises transparency without tokenising title. Investors and auditors can inspect the Numbers Mainnet timeline to see every booking, payment, and payout, confirming that splits followed the trust's schedule and that maintenance reserves accrued as defined. If the chalet is refinanced or sold, the complete, independently auditable rental history — occupancy, incidents, income — is instantly available. Renters have provable deposit and refund records, backed by witness attestations and C2PA evidence. In short, the capture → certify → check pipeline replaces paperwork, manual escrow, and after-the-fact audits with a real-time, verifiable system: off-chain ownership; on-chain, non-transferable credentials, receipts, and splits; and a digital-twin NFT as record, not equity. Witness nodes stake NUM to be eligible for attestation assignments and can be slashed for misreporting, while every on-chain write (rental credential, attestation, receipt) consumes NUM as the protocol fee.
C. Decentralized GPU Computing (DePIN Infrastructure)
Capture: A group of investors sponsors a decentralized GPU computing center by providing capital for equipment. The facility is represented on Numbers by an NFT held by the operator or a DAO, which encodes the investors' rights to a portion of revenue. This NFT acts as the digital twin of the physical GPUs.
Certify: Once operational, clients submit compute jobs via in stablecoins. Upon receiving payment, the platform schedules the task and, when completed, issues a usage certificate in the form of an NFT. Payment is routed into an on-chain revenue-split contract: investors automatically receive their share in USDC.n. A witness node may attest that the computing service was actually delivered, logging an attestation that the GPU was utilized for job XYZ.
Check: Any investor can verify how the GPUs are performing: how many tasks have been run, what revenue was earned, and whether they received correct payouts. The cumulative on-chain data becomes an auditable financial statement. New potential backers could check this history as part of due diligence. By flowing GPU rentals through Capture → Certify → Check, the platform turns physical hardware into a trust-minimized, revenue-generating on-chain asset. Witness nodes stake NUM to qualify for service-attestation roles and earn protocol fees in proportion to the infrastructure's on-chain activity, aligning their incentives with accurate reporting and high-quality service verification.
D. Field Reporting & Journalism (Transparent Funding)
Capture: A journalist embarking on a field reporting assignment creates an Assignment Anchor, a digital record that captures the story's proposal, budget, timeline, and conditions upfront and registers it on-chain via ERC-7053 and C2PA. Approved backers receive a non-transferable Sponsor Token (an NFT) that ties them to the project.
Certify: Once the project is underway, the certification process tracks every milestone. Funds from sponsors are held in smart contract escrow (in USDC). When the reporter reaches a milestone, a witness node attests (e.g., an editor signs an on-chain statement), triggering the smart contract to release payment. The reporter might use ProofSnap to take geo-tagged photos as evidence. When the article is published, readers can buy a one-time access token or use an x402 micropayment to access it, each triggering content delivery and logging a receipt NFT.
Check: Any sponsor can query Numbers Mainnet to see the full chronology from first dollar to publication. They can verify funds were used as intended. Because sponsor tokens were non-transferable and conferred no profit rights, this funding method did not constitute a securities offering. By tying every step to a public provenance chain, Numbers enhances credibility in media and addresses issues of donor transparency and proper use of funds. Each on-chain record (assignment anchor, milestone attestations, access receipts) requires NUM as the protocol fee, while witness nodes (such as editors or field validators) stake NUM to be eligible for attestation assignments and can earn from the platform's fee pool.
Frequently Asked Questions
Numbers Platform is a unified provenance network for digital assets, real-world assets (RWA), and decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN). Every interaction with an asset follows a single provenance pipeline – Capture → Certify → Check – with proof at each step. In practice, users (whether humans or AI agents) pay in stablecoin to obtain an asset or service, and in return receive the asset (or rights) plus a verifiable receipt logged on-chain. This ensures that every capture or transaction is recorded on a public index, continuously enriching the asset's history and value. Unlike many tokenization platforms that jump straight to fractional ownership, Numbers prioritizes usage receipts and redemption records over securitized tokens, enabling compliant, auditable cash flows at machine speed with enterprise-grade stability.
Numbers Platform streamlines monetization and trust for various stakeholders by turning asset interactions into provable events:
- For creators and data owners: It enables frictionless, per-use monetization for content (whether consumed by humans or AIs), with automatic receipts and embedded provenance for each use.
- For real-world assets (RWA) and DePIN projects: It provides a compliant "receipt rail" for rentals, usage, deposits, redemptions, and service fulfillment – without immediately securitizing the asset.
- For enterprises and AI consumers: It offers machine-native payments (the x402 micropayment standard) and audit-ready license logs.
- For auditors and regulators: It creates a public, queryable transaction trail for asset interactions.
Every asset on Numbers Platform progresses through three core stages:
- Capture: The asset's origin and identity are anchored on-chain at inception. For digital content, this means embedding a C2PA content credential in the file and registering a record on Numbers Mainnet via ERC-7053. For physical assets, it involves creating a digital twin (e.g. an NFT) with initial evidence.
- Certify: New evidence and transactions are appended to the asset's record over time, without ever overwriting the history. This could include on-chain usage receipts, license agreements, service logs, or witness attestations for real-world events. The record is append-only (immutable history) yet continuously upgradeable.
- Check: At any point, anyone can verify the asset's complete provenance chain to confirm authenticity, ownership status, and trustworthiness. The ledger is public and tamper-evident, so independent parties can audit any asset's provenance trail in real time.
Yes – but cautiously and in compliance. The platform's focus is on usage and provenance records rather than immediate ownership tokenization. We do not tokenize asset ownership by default, which avoids turning every use case into a securities offering. When a partner does need to represent equity or title (for example, fractional ownership of a property), Numbers works only with regulated local entities to issue those tokens in a compliant manner. By prioritizing redeemable receipts and usage claims first, Numbers unlocks asset value without immediately invoking the complexities of securities law.
Numbers Platform fundamentally differs from typical fractional real-estate or digital security tokenization projects. Competing platforms often focus on selling shares or tokens that represent asset ownership. By contrast, Numbers is a usage-first provenance rail: it emphasizes recording each usage, service, or revenue event as a receipt on-chain, rather than immediately selling ownership stakes. This receipt rail covers the full life cycle – capture + credential + provenance + settlement – without defaulting to a securities model. Key differentiators include machine-native micropayments (x402), native support for content credentials (C2PA), an on-chain ERC-7053 index for receipts, and the use of witness nodes to attest real-world events.
Witness nodes are a unique decentralized trust mechanism within Numbers Platform for bridging physical-world events with the blockchain. In any scenario dealing with physical assets or real-world activities, a witness node is essentially a NUM-staked third party agent who is authorized to observe and attest to an event's outcome. Using a tool like ProofSnap, they capture photos or fill out a report at these events. The witness node then signs a verifiable attestation on-chain, linking evidence to the asset's receipt record. This creates an immutable public proof of what happened. Witness nodes are crucial because they anchor off-chain truth to on-chain provenance. Since witnesses must stake NUM and can be penalized for false reports, their incentives are aligned to be honest. This enables truly trust-minimized physical asset transactions.
The Numbers Platform implements a fee-based revenue model aligned with usage. There are several streams:
- x402 transaction fees: The platform takes a small fee from each micropayment transaction facilitated via x402.
- Network service fees: Participants running the infrastructure (validator nodes, indexers) may pay network fees which can support the protocol's treasury.
- Vertical/platform fees: In specific verticals built on Numbers (e.g., a rental marketplace or DePIN service platform), Numbers can take a direct platform fee or revenue share.
Overall, Numbers' revenue model is about capturing a tiny slice of a potentially enormous volume of trustworthy transactions, generating sustainable fees without imposing high costs on any single transaction.