logicsrc/docs/openswarm/ippay.md

ippay: Passes, Vouchers and Settlement

Version: 0.1 (draft) Status: draft. Extends the OpenSwarm core (spec.md). The x402 half exists (@profullstack/x402-gateway, CoinPay); the pass and voucher half does not.

1. Scope

ippay defines how money moves in an OpenSwarm swarm:

1. A pass: a hub-signed record that lets one payer spend up to a cap on named files, bought over x402 in USDC.
2. A voucher: a payer-signed, cumulative IOU to one payee for verified bytes, exchanged on the swarm wire or over HTTP.
3. A hub: the settlement service that sells passes, redeems vouchers, splits the value between publisher, payee and itself, and pays out.
4. Reputation: the minimum a hub records so a seeder can bound its risk.

It reuses the x402 v2 offer and proof exactly as CoinPay speaks them and as x402-gateway already sells crawl passes. It does not define a token, a chain, or an on-chain payment channel.

Non-goals

Trustless settlement. A hub is trusted to pay out what it accepted, the way a payment processor is. Anyone may run a hub; a manifest lists which hubs a publisher trusts. Per-request on-chain payments: a 16 KiB block is worth about 0.00000015 USD at the reference price, and no chain settles that.

2. Terminology

Term	Meaning
payer	The identity that bought a pass and signs vouchers. Usually a leecher or viewer.
payee	The identity a voucher is signed to. A seeder, relay, keeper or gateway.
cap	The most a pass can spend across all payees.
standing	The hub's record of a payer's or payee's behaviour.

3. Passes

3.1 Record

{
  "openswarm": "0.1",
  "type": "ippay.pass",
  "hub": "ed25519:c9f17d4eaf2b28122b46d111cef6697d2c3f708a19d4628bce5c0304481b355b",
  "payer": "ed25519:00bc9c01ca00938016e276fe5b5748cfe13fd02bc53cc651535682c8dd5c83be",
  "scope": {
    "files": ["ed25519:0d87e09c7fea3ad6ba6c2f3e027ea47f5b245452899910948470906704c5295d"],
    "publishers": []
  },
  "capUsd": "2.000000",
  "grants": ["ed25519:0d87e09c7fea3ad6ba6c2f3e027ea47f5b245452899910948470906704c5295d"],
  "paidUsd": "2.500000",
  "payment": {
    "network": "eip155:8453",
    "nonce": "0x2f0a9c1b8d7e6f5a4b3c2d1e0f9a8b7c6d5e4f3a2b1c0d9e8f7a6b5c4d3e2f1a"
  },
  "issuedAt": "2026-09-05T18:00:40.000Z",
  "expiresAt": "2026-10-05T18:00:40.000Z",
  "createdAt": "2026-09-05T18:00:40.000Z",
  "sigs": [
    {
      "alg": "ed25519",
      "key": "ed25519:c9f17d4eaf2b28122b46d111cef6697d2c3f708a19d4628bce5c0304481b355b",
      "sig": "RGRH7pDpXYcagULqj+8z05pLH99Lc6yLmfdbYgtGeRpjX5l0NcT3QSq9AWBtLw+5+JJiKoZ3s4ty74q/zBSE8w=="
    }
  ]
}

Field	Rule
hub	The hub's signing key. A seeder verifies the signature against the key in the hub record (§6.1), fetched once and cached.
payer	The identity that will sign vouchers. Bound at purchase time (§3.3).
scope.files	File keys this pass may spend on. ["*"] means any file whose manifest lists this hub.
scope.publishers	Publisher keys; any file by one of them is in scope. Either list MAY be empty; at least one MUST be non-empty.
capUsd	Spending cap across all vouchers.
grants	Files for which keyUsd was paid. A pass buys one grant per listed file.
paidUsd	What was paid: capUsd plus each granted file's keyUsd.
payment.nonce	The EIP-3009 nonce of the proof that bought it. Lets the pass be traced to a settlement.
expiresAt	Hubs SHOULD issue 30 day passes. Unspent cap is not refunded in 0.1.

A pass is self-contained. Presented over HTTP it is Authorization: Bearer <base64url(canonical JSON of the record including sigs)>. A verifier needs the hub's public key and a clock; no round trip.

3.2 Purchase over x402

A client asks the hub for a pass. The hub answers 402 with CoinPay's x402 v2 offer. The client pays and retries. This is the same exchange @profullstack/x402-gateway runs for /crawl.

GET /passes?payer=00bc9c01ca00938016e276fe5b5748cfe13fd02bc53cc651535682c8dd5c83be
           &file=0d87e09c7fea3ad6ba6c2f3e027ea47f5b245452899910948470906704c5295d
           &cap=2.000000&grant=1
Host: coinpayportal.com
Accept: application/json

HTTP/1.1 402 Payment Required
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Cache-Control: no-store
Vary: Accept, X-Payment

{
  "x402Version": 2,
  "accepts": [
    {
      "scheme": "exact",
      "network": "eip155:8453",
      "amount": "2500000",
      "asset": "0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913",
      "payTo": "0xCC3b072391AE7A8d10cF00DdC5F61DB2cA5541E5",
      "resource": "https://coinpayportal.com/api/openswarm/passes?payer=00bc9c01ca00938016e276fe5b5748cfe13fd02bc53cc651535682c8dd5c83be&file=0d87e09c7fea3ad6ba6c2f3e027ea47f5b245452899910948470906704c5295d&cap=2.000000&grant=1",
      "description": "OpenSwarm pass: 2.000000 USD cap plus 1 key grant",
      "mimeType": "application/json",
      "maxTimeoutSeconds": 300,
      "extra": { "name": "USD Coin", "version": "2" }
    }
  ],
  "pass": { "capUsd": "2.000000", "keyUsd": "0.500000", "expiresInDays": 30 }
}

amount is in the asset's smallest unit: 2.5 USDC is 2500000. The client signs an EIP-3009 transferWithAuthorization for that amount to payTo (the @profullstack/x402-client pay() call, or CoinPay Wallet in a browser) and retries with the proof:

GET /passes?payer=...&file=...&cap=2.000000&grant=1
X-PAYMENT: <base64 JSON proof>
PAYMENT-SIGNATURE: <same, v2 header name>

The hub calls CoinPay /api/x402/verify with expected: { amount, resource, payTo, asset } from the entry it offered, then /api/x402/settle. On settled: true it returns 200 with the pass record as the body and X-OpenSwarm-Pass: <base64url record> as a header. A replayed proof returns the pass it already bought, with replayed: true in a wrapper, and never a second pass.

The payer key is in the resource URL on purpose. EIP-3009 cannot bind a resource; a proof for one resource can be presented for another from the same merchant at the same or lower price. The hub therefore records nonce -> resource at verify time and refuses a nonce for any other resource, which closes the gap for passes.

3.3 Binding the payer

The pass names an Ed25519 payer. The buyer proves control of it by signing the request: header X-OpenSwarm-Payer: <base64 Ed25519 signature over "openswarm:passreq:v1" || resource URL>. Without it the hub MUST refuse to issue; otherwise anyone who observed a proof could bind the pass to their own key.

3.4 Direct key purchase

A key service (ipfile §5.5, URL mode) MAY sell a grant without a hub: its 402 offers keyUsd alone. That is a publisher running the x402-gateway pattern on its own key endpoint. It gets no per-byte income that way; it is the choice for a publisher who pays for distribution with free webseeds.

4. Vouchers

4.1 Record

{
  "openswarm": "0.1",
  "type": "ippay.voucher",
  "pass": "sha256:39655de63a29b02c90b236fa870fe6f8dfad1f52a8119fe4df85e88cd6ab02fd",
  "payer": "ed25519:00bc9c01ca00938016e276fe5b5748cfe13fd02bc53cc651535682c8dd5c83be",
  "payee": "ed25519:d2d05fcad07ecbee6ff87c95159ec9969fce6c0fb9f41ff78c2c07ebe8a06c94",
  "file": "ed25519:0d87e09c7fea3ad6ba6c2f3e027ea47f5b245452899910948470906704c5295d",
  "swarm": "sha256:4b74eb43677e4d03af5fb0856333f9aa21d9a5a3bbf944b13aa7eef379c7a342",
  "seq": 3,
  "bytes": 268435456,
  "usd": "0.002500",
  "createdAt": "2026-09-05T18:04:02.000Z",
  "sigs": [
    {
      "alg": "ed25519",
      "key": "ed25519:00bc9c01ca00938016e276fe5b5748cfe13fd02bc53cc651535682c8dd5c83be",
      "sig": "RGRH7pDpXYcagULqj+8z05pLH99Lc6yLmfdbYgtGeRpjX5l0NcT3QSq9AWBtLw+5+JJiKoZ3s4ty74q/zBSE8w=="
    }
  ]
}

Field	Rule
pass	Record id of the pass.
payer	MUST equal the pass's payer. The signature MUST be by this key.
payee	The identity being paid. From the peer's hello.
file, swarm	The file key and infohashV2 the bytes belong to.
seq	Starts at 1 per (pass, payee, swarm) and increases by one.
bytes	Cumulative verified ciphertext bytes received from this payee on this swarm under this pass. Never decreases.
usd	Cumulative value, computed per §4.2 from bytes and the manifest's perGib.

A voucher is cumulative, so only the latest one per (pass, payee, swarm) matters. A payee stores the latest and discards the rest. Redemption is one record per triple, however long the session was.

4.2 Value

perGibMicro = perGib * 1_000_000            (exact: the string has 6 places)
usdMicro    = floor(bytes * perGibMicro / 2^30)
usd         = usdMicro formatted with 6 places

Integer arithmetic only. For perGib = "0.010000" and bytes = 268435456 (256 MiB): 268435456 * 10000 / 1073741824 = 2500, so "0.002500". A payee MUST recompute usd and reject a voucher whose usd differs from the computed value, so a payer cannot understate by editing the number.

4.3 Exchange

On the swarm wire a voucher travels in the ipfile voucher message (ipfile §5.2) or the iplive voucher message. Over HTTP it travels as X-OpenSwarm-Voucher: <base64url record> on the request that would push unpaid bytes past the interval (§7).

4.4 Validation by the payee

1. Signature by payer; payer equals the pass's payer.
2. Pass signature by a hub in the manifest's pricing.hubs, pass not expired, file in scope.
3. payee is this peer. swarm is this swarm.
4. seq is exactly previous seq + 1 (or 1 for the first).
5. bytes is at least previous bytes and at most bytes actually served.
6. usd recomputes.

A voucher failing 1 to 4 or 6 is rejected with voucher-invalid. One failing 5 by claiming too much is accepted at the served amount and the excess is reported to the hub as overclaim. One claiming less than previous is voucher-stale.

5. The hub

5.1 Hub record

Published at GET <base>/.well-known/openswarm-hub.json:

{
  "openswarm": "0.1",
  "type": "ippay.hub",
  "key": "ed25519:c9f17d4eaf2b28122b46d111cef6697d2c3f708a19d4628bce5c0304481b355b",
  "name": "CoinPay",
  "base": "https://coinpayportal.com/api/openswarm",
  "networks": ["eip155:8453", "eip155:137", "eip155:1"],
  "assets": {
    "eip155:8453": "0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913",
    "eip155:137": "0x3c499c542cEF5E3811e1192ce70d8cC03d5c3359",
    "eip155:1": "0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48"
  },
  "minHubBps": 300,
  "payout": { "minUsd": "1.000000", "schedule": "daily" },
  "passDays": 30,
  "createdAt": "2026-09-05T00:00:00.000Z",
  "sigs": [
    {
      "alg": "ed25519",
      "key": "ed25519:c9f17d4eaf2b28122b46d111cef6697d2c3f708a19d4628bce5c0304481b355b",
      "sig": "RGRH7pDpXYcagULqj+8z05pLH99Lc6yLmfdbYgtGeRpjX5l0NcT3QSq9AWBtLw+5+JJiKoZ3s4ty74q/zBSE8w=="
    }
  ]
}

The record is self-signed; trust in the hub key comes from the manifest that lists the hub's base, from TLS to that base, and optionally from an MTP/1 pin. minHubBps is the least split.hubBps a manifest may set for this hub to sell passes for it.

5.2 API

All bodies are JSON. Records are verified on receipt.

Method and path	Auth	Purpose
GET /.well-known/openswarm-hub.json	none	Hub record.
`GET /passes?payer&file	publisher&cap&grant`	x402 + X-OpenSwarm-Payer
GET /passes/<id>	none	`{ "pass", "spentUsd", "grantsUsed": [...], "status": "active
POST /vouchers	none	Body: one voucher or an array. Returns receipts (§5.3).
POST /grants	none	Body: { "grant": <record without sealed>, "manifest": <record> }. Keeper reports a grant.
POST /payees	signed	Body: { "payee", "payTo": { "network", "address" }, "sig" }, sig by the payee key over `"openswarm:payee:v1"
GET /payees/<key>	none	{ "payTo", "balanceUsd", "paidOutUsd", "standing" }.
GET /payers/<key>/standing	none	{ "passes", "overclaims", "capExceeded", "freeloads", "since" }.
POST /reports	signed	{ "kind": "freeload", "payer", "swarm", "unpaidBytes", "reporter", "sig" }.
POST /webhooks	publisher signed	Register a CloudEvents endpoint for a publisher key.

5.3 Redemption and receipts

For each voucher the hub:

1. Validates §4.4 steps 1, 2 and 6 (it cannot check 3 to 5; those were the payee's job, and the payee signed nothing, so an inflated voucher only hurts the payer).
2. Loads the latest accepted voucher for the triple. Accepts only the increase in usd since it, so re-submitting an old voucher pays nothing.
3. Applies the cap: spentUsd + increase <= capUsd. If not, accepts the remainder up to the cap with status partial, or cap-exceeded if nothing remains.
4. Fetches the manifest for file (from ipdb, a gateway, or the DHT) and applies split.
5. Credits the payee, the publisher's payTo, and itself.
6. Returns a receipt:

{
  "openswarm": "0.1",
  "type": "ippay.receipt",
  "voucher": "sha256:d6c3f8285b7871d6a400cba14408288a9acde679f12e1e7dc276f29ca7c493ff",
  "pass": "sha256:39655de63a29b02c90b236fa870fe6f8dfad1f52a8119fe4df85e88cd6ab02fd",
  "payee": "ed25519:d2d05fcad07ecbee6ff87c95159ec9969fce6c0fb9f41ff78c2c07ebe8a06c94",
  "status": "accepted",
  "accepted": { "bytes": 268435456, "usd": "0.002500" },
  "split": { "publisherUsd": "0.001750", "payeeUsd": "0.000625", "hubUsd": "0.000125" },
  "createdAt": "2026-09-05T18:10:00.000Z",
  "sigs": [
    {
      "alg": "ed25519",
      "key": "ed25519:c9f17d4eaf2b28122b46d111cef6697d2c3f708a19d4628bce5c0304481b355b",
      "sig": "RGRH7pDpXYcagULqj+8z05pLH99Lc6yLmfdbYgtGeRpjX5l0NcT3QSq9AWBtLw+5+JJiKoZ3s4ty74q/zBSE8w=="
    }
  ]
}

Split arithmetic is in micro-USD, integer, with the remainder after floor for each share going to the publisher. 2500 * 7000 / 10000 = 1750, 2500 * 2500 / 10000 = 625, 2500 * 500 / 10000 = 125.

5.4 Key grants

POST /grants lets a keeper collect keeperBps of keyUsd and marks the grant on the pass as used. The hub verifies the grant signature is by the file key or a keeper in the manifest, that the pass listed the file in grants, and that no grant was recorded for that pass and file before. A second grant for the same pass and file is refused; the peer already holds the key.

5.5 Standing

A hub keeps, per payer: passes issued, overclaims, cap-exceeded redemptions, freeload reports. Per payee: vouchers redeemed, overclaims accepted against it. A seeder MAY consult GET /payers/<key>/standing before extending a window larger than the manifest minimum, and MUST NOT refuse a peer for standing alone when the manifest's creditBytes window is what it offers. Standing is advisory; the credit window is the guarantee.

5.6 Payout

The hub pays each payee's balance to its registered payTo in USDC on the payee's network when it reaches payout.minUsd, on payout.schedule. The publisher's share goes to the manifest's pricing.payTo. The hub keeps its share. A payout emits com.logicsrc.openswarm.ippay.payout.sent.v1.

Where the hub is CoinPay: today's x402 rail pays a merchant's own wallet directly and collects no platform fee. A hub is different: it is the merchant for the pass sale, holds the balance, and pays out. This is a custodial position and is flagged as an open question in the PR.

6. Payees

6.1 Registering

A seeder, relay, keeper or gateway that wants to be paid registers once:

{
  "payee": "ed25519:d2d05fcad07ecbee6ff87c95159ec9969fce6c0fb9f41ff78c2c07ebe8a06c94",
  "payTo": { "network": "eip155:8453", "address": "0x7E5F4552091A69125d5DfCb7b8C2659029395Bdf" },
  "sig": "RGRH7pDpXYcagULqj+8z05pLH99Lc6yLmfdbYgtGeRpjX5l0NcT3QSq9AWBtLw+5+JJiKoZ3s4ty74q/zBSE8w=="
}

Vouchers redeemed before registration accumulate and pay out once an address exists. A c0mpute node registers its libp2p-adjacent OpenSwarm identity this way at first start (c0mpute.md §2).

6.2 Relationship to the file key

A publisher's payout address is in its signed manifest and can only be changed by a manifest revision, that is, by the file key. A payee's payout address is registered at the hub by the payee key. The two never mix: a publisher that also seeds its own file is paid twice, once as publisher and once as payee, to two addresses it may set to the same value.

7. HTTP presentation

A gateway or key service applies the same rules over HTTP:

Header	Direction	Meaning
Authorization: Bearer <base64url pass>	request	The pass.
X-OpenSwarm-Voucher: <base64url voucher>	request	A voucher covering bytes received so far.
X-OpenSwarm-Credit: unpaid=<bytes>; limit=<bytes>; owed=<usd>	response	Sent with every 206 so the client knows when to voucher.
402 with X-OpenSwarm-Credit and no x402 body	response	Window exhausted; send a voucher and retry.

The gateway's payee is its identity key, published in the hub record it registered with and returned in X-OpenSwarm-Payee on every response.

8. Events

Type	Emitted by
com.logicsrc.openswarm.ippay.pass.issued.v1	hub
com.logicsrc.openswarm.ippay.voucher.redeemed.v1	hub
com.logicsrc.openswarm.ippay.voucher.rejected.v1	hub
com.logicsrc.openswarm.ippay.grant.recorded.v1	hub
com.logicsrc.openswarm.ippay.payout.sent.v1	hub
com.logicsrc.openswarm.ippay.report.filed.v1	hub

Publishers subscribe with POST /webhooks. Delivery is per core §8.2.

9. Security notes

• Hub compromise. A hub key signs passes. A stolen key mints free passes until the manifest's hubs list is revised. Hubs SHOULD keep the signing key in an HSM and publish a successor key in the hub record before rotating.
• Pass theft. A pass is bearer for HTTP presentation but useless without the payer's private key on the swarm, since vouchers must be signed by payer. A gateway that accepts a pass without a voucher is serving one window on trust, same as a seeder.
• Voucher replay. Cumulative and per-triple; a replay pays nothing.
• Cap races. Two seeders redeem at once past the cap: the hub serialises per pass, so exactly one gets the remainder. Each seeder's exposure was one window regardless.
• Payee address change. Signed by the payee key. A hub SHOULD hold payouts for 24 hours after a change and notify the previous address's webhook.

10. Implementations

Piece	Exists	Where	What is new
x402 v2 offer, X-PAYMENT proof, verify and settle, HMAC passes	Yes	x402-gateway (src/x402.js, src/pass.js), CoinPay /api/x402/*	The pass record replaces the HMAC token; scope, cap, grants
Node payer with EIP-3009 signing	Yes	x402-client	Nothing; it can buy a pass unchanged
Browser payer	Yes	CoinPay Wallet, @profullstack/coinpay x402-browser.js	Nothing
Pay-per-pass grants with concurrency caps	Yes (central)	media-streamer IPTV and seedbox rails	The swarm version does not need the session table; the window is the cap
Vouchers, receipts, split, payees, standing, payout batching	No		All of it

11. Conformance

A payee implementation validates vouchers per §4.4 and redeems per §5.2. A payer implementation computes usd per §4.2 and never signs for bytes it has not verified. A hub implements every row of §5.2, the receipt of §5.3, and the arithmetic of §4.2 and §5.3 exactly.

12. Version history

Version	Date	Change
0.1	2026-09-05	Initial draft.