ProtoLedger

The Money Standard for Distributed Ledgers

3.0 · Apache-2.0 · active

ProtoLedger is an open specification that defines what a distributed ledger must achieve to function as money — not merely as a database or speculation vehicle. It organises the criteria into two independent scored axes (Layer A and Layer B) and one disclosure axis (Layer C).

Published under the Apache-2.0 licence. Anyone may fork it, build scoring tools on top of it, or challenge a score with on-chain evidence.

ProtoLedger Core 3.0

Full specification: two-axis scoring framework, 16 scored properties, 6 disclosure axes, readiness tiers, and the challenge process.

Apache-2.0

Read specification → Whitepaper (citable)

Layer A — Monetary Fitness

Seven properties that determine whether a ledger can function as money. The mean of an asset's Layer A scores is its M value.

A1 Acceptability & Liquidity
A2 Value Stability
A3 Usability & Safety
A4 Portability & Divisibility
A5 Fungibility
A6 Recognizability
A7 Cost Efficiency

Layer B — System Soundness

Nine properties that determine whether a ledger is a trustworthy, censorship-resistant system. The mean of an asset's Layer B scores is its S value.

B1 Supply Integrity
B2 Settlement Assurance
B3 Resilience & Liveness
B4 No Single Point of Control
B5 Rule Auditability
B6 Forward Security Margin
B7 No Invisible Rent
B8 Capture-Resistant Rule-Change
B9 Resource Proportionality

Layer C — Disclosures

Six axes that describe design choices. Disclosed without scoring — each position is valid. Used as filters in the Terminal.

privacy_posture Privacy Posture
identity_model Identity Model
issuance_ethic Issuance Ethic
consensus_cost Consensus Cost
governance_model Governance Model
autonomy_accountability Autonomy Accountability

Score Gates

Gates are warning badges — they never hide real scores. A gate fires when a critical threshold is not met.

  • A1 < 7 — Not money-in-use: acceptability is below the threshold for monetary function.
  • B1 < 7 or B2 < 7 — Not a sound system: critical infrastructure properties unmet.
  • B3 < 7 — Censorship-Resistant archetype only: censorship-resistance threshold unmet.
ProtoLedger Index → Terminal (interactive ranking) → Challenge process → Scoring methodology →
v1 archive: The original ten-principle framework (ProtoLedger v1) is preserved at protoledger/principles/. The current standard is the two-axis framework above.