Crypto Mining as a Payment System GitHub issue

• • Status
• • Overview
• • How It Works
• • Why Caspian Is a Good Fit
• • Use Cases
• • Open Questions
• • Relationship to Trust Policy

{"vibecode": {
    "doc": "crypto-mining-payments",
    "role": "speculative app concept: use Caspian's sandbox, trust policy, and blockchain integration as a platform for opt-in compute-time donations as payment for services",
    "key_concepts": ["compute_for_value", "sandboxed_mining", "blockchain_verification",
        "opt_in_user_consent", "puck_uno_agnostic"],
    "status": "brainstorm"
}}

Status GitHub issue

Future consideration. Not part of early versions.

Overview GitHub issue

Caspian's sandbox, trust policy, and blockchain integration make it a natural platform for a generalised opt-in compute payment system. Any two parties can use it: a user pays for a service by donating compute time; the recipient verifies and records the work on the blockchain.

This is not specific to puck.uno. Any site can offer it, accept it, or build on top of it using a standard Caspian library.

How It Works GitHub issue

1. A site offers something in exchange for compute time — a service, credits, a free tier, a charitable donation.
2. The user agrees explicitly. The mining session is clearly marked as such in the UI.
3. The Caspian runtime executes the mining library in a sandboxed environment for a defined duration. The sandbox enforces the time limit; the user's machine cannot be exploited beyond what was agreed.
4. The completed work is verified and recorded on the blockchain. Both parties can audit the transaction.
5. The site delivers whatever was promised.

Why Caspian Is a Good Fit GitHub issue

• Sandbox — secure, time-limited execution. Mining runs in a controlled environment with explicit permissions. The trust policy governs what the mining code is allowed to do.
• Timeouts — %timeout is already a first-class language feature. Mining sessions are naturally expressed as timed blocks.
• Blockchain — already part of the Puck ecoverse for object signing and trust. The same infrastructure can record and verify compute payments.
• Standard library — a single well-known mining library means users recognise and trust the interface. Sites do not roll their own.
• Transparency — any object intended for crypto mining must explicitly declare itself as such (see official docs). There is no hidden mining. Failure to properly identify a crypto mining object is an ethical violation.

Use Cases GitHub issue

• puck.uno services — pay for signed object publishing by donating compute time instead of money.
• Free tiers — SaaS products offer a free tier funded by optional mining sessions.
• Game credits — earn in-game currency by running a mining session.
• Charitable compute — donate CPU cycles to a cause (protein folding, climate modelling, etc.) in exchange for something.
• General payments — any two parties can exchange compute time for anything they agree on.

Open Questions GitHub issue

• What is actually mined? Pure proof-of-work hashing is verifiable but wasteful. Useful work (protein folding, AI training, rendering) is a better story but harder to standardise. Worth exploring both.
• Exchange rate — how much compute equals how much value? Needs to be defined and stable enough to be practical.
• Verification — how does the recipient confirm the work was done honestly and not faked? The blockchain handles recording but the proof-of-work mechanism needs design.
• Legal exposure — compute-for-payment has regulatory implications in some jurisdictions. Get legal advice before launching.
• Energy consumption — users should have visibility into how much power a session uses. May need a disclosure requirement.

Relationship to Trust Policy GitHub issue