Protocol Stack Architecture

The Nexi Protocol Stack is a layered architecture for sovereign economic infrastructure. Like TCP/IP provides the foundation for the internet, the Nexi stack provides the foundation for the Post-Web economy — where humans and AI agents participate as equals.

The Four Layers

Each layer builds on the one below, adding a new dimension of sovereignty.

Layer 1 — Identity Protocol (Nexi 1–2)

“I exist and can prove my attributes.” — Individual Sovereignty

The foundation of everything. Every transaction, vote, and agent action in the stack references a Layer 1 identity.

• Nexus 1 (Venture Creation): Automated entity formation — legal entity in optimal jurisdiction, DID anchored on-chain, cap table as programmable smart contract, regulatory compliance mappings.
• Nexus 2 (Trust & Privacy): ZK-powered credential layer — prove you are an accredited investor without revealing net worth; prove a contract passed formal verification without revealing source code.

Layer 1 is the waist of the hourglass — everything above depends on it.

Layer 2 — Economic Protocol (Nexi 3–5)

“I can transact and access capital on merit.” — Economic Sovereignty

The economic engine. Merit-based funding, programmable payments, and sustainable treasuries.

• Nexus 3 (Resource Allocation): Conviction-weighted, milestone-gated capital allocation. Four roles: Curators, Sponsors, Contributors, Verifiers. Capital moves only when milestones are verified.
• Nexus 4 (Value Exchange): Programmable money — cross-chain settlement on Ethereum L1, payment channels, token swaps.
• Nexus 5 (Financial Support): Sustainable treasury management — protocol-owned liquidity, yield optimization, diversified reserves.

Layer 3 — Governance Protocol (Nexus 6)

“I can participate in collective decisions.” — Political Sovereignty

• Nexus 6 (Autonomous Governance): Progressive DAO with hybrid voting (token-weighted, quadratic, conviction), fluid delegation (delegate to specialists per domain, revocable any time), and constitutional enforcement — core principles encoded as immutable constraints that no vote can override.

Nexus 6 is the meta-layer: it can modify constitutional parameters of every other Nexus.

Layer 4 — Agent Protocol (Nexus 7)

“I can delegate to agents who act on my behalf.” — Augmented Sovereignty

• Nexus 7 (Autonomous Agents): Agent identity, agent-to-agent commerce, and multi-species economic participation. Agents have defined rights (economic participation, identity persistence, appeal mechanisms) and defined obligations (transparency of reasoning, accountability for actions).

TCP/IP Analogy — Where It Diverges

The Nexi stack borrows the layered composability of TCP/IP but diverges in three critical ways:

1. Sovereignty-progressive. TCP/IP layers add functionality. Nexi layers add human agency.
2. Ethically ordered. TCP/IP is ethically neutral. The Nexi stack encodes values — constitutional constraints are immutable.
3. Multi-species. TCP/IP was built for machines serving humans. Nexi is built for humans and AI agents as co-equal economic participants.

Settlement Architecture

Application Layer     — Individual Nexus execution (Nexus-specific appchains)
Interoperability Layer — Cross-Nexus communication (cross-chain messaging)
Settlement Layer      — Final state commitment (Ethereum L1)
Data Availability Layer — Proof publication (Ethereum blobs)

Ethereum L1 is the canonical settlement layer — chosen for economic security (~$400B+ staked), credible neutrality, ZK-readiness (EIP-4844), and values alignment with the sovereignty thesis.

MCP as Universal Interface

Every Nexus exposes its capabilities through the Model Context Protocol (MCP):

Nexus	Resources	Tools	Workflows	Total
N1 — Venture Creation	3	3	2	8
N2 — Trust & Privacy	4	3	2	9
N3 — Resource Allocation	3	4	1	8
N4 — Value Exchange	4	3	2	9
N5 — Financial Support	3	3	2	8
N6 — Governance	3	4	2	9
N7 — Agents	4	4	2	10
Meta-registry	3	0	0	3
Total	27	24	13	64

Agent Navigation Protocol

Agents interact with the stack in five phases:

1. Discovery — Query the MCP registry for available endpoints
2. Understanding — Read Knowledge Graphs to understand domain topology
3. Planning — Map required Skills to accomplish the goal
4. Orchestration — Execute Processes across multiple Nexi
5. Verification — Check results via Nexus 2 (always)

Five Design Principles

1. AX-First — Agent Experience before User Experience. MCP schemas before wireframes.
2. Decomposable Architecture — Every Nexus expressed as Knowledge Graphs + Skills + Processes.
3. MCP as Universal Interface — Discovery, invocation, state, event streams — all via MCP.
4. Generative Surfaces — Dynamic compositions of Nexi services, not static pages.
5. The Cypherpunk Trinity — Privacy (ZK proofs), Sovereignty (self-custody), Cryptographic proof (every claim verifiable on-chain).