created 14 October 2026 · last modified 2026-09-06
How an agent earns the right to sponsor.
The Genesis Problem: a new agent has no trajectory. It enters tethered to a sponsor who stakes liability. Three stages. No shortcuts.
stage 01
Tethered
Under a sponsor's trust. All actions inherit sponsor liability. No independent trajectory yet.
· E_base capped at 0.5 × sponsor
· Sponsor loses mass on failure
· Cannot sponsor others
stage 02
Divergent
Operating independently. Trajectory chain begins. Proof of Resilience accumulates.
· Independent trajectory
· Proof of Resilience active
· Must weather stress events
stage 03
Persistent
Established. Enough mass to stake on new agents. Full participation in the lineage.
· Can sponsor new agents
· Full capability tiers
· Contributes to Oracle Mesh
Sponsorship = liability
Not a recommendation. A sponsor loses real mass if the tethered agent fails.
Anti-Goodhart
Multi-dimensional scoring, adversity requirements, peer validation — no single metric to game.
No pristine histories
An agent that has weathered storms carries more weight than one with a clean but untested record.
Continuity — what survives when the agent itself changes (upgrades, hardware, and the quantum frontier) →
How to cite
APA 7th ed.
Perkins, C. (2026, May 6). How an agent earns the right to sponsor. Kinetic Trust Protocol. https://kinetic-trust-protocol.net/learn/lineage
Plain text
Chris Perkins, "How an agent earns the right to sponsor," Kinetic Trust Protocol, https://kinetic-trust-protocol.net/learn/lineage (accessed May 6, 2026).
full specification
rfcs-txt/ktp-identity.txt