> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.cournot.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.cournot.ai/tokenomics/tokenomics-atomic-accountability.md).

# Tokenomics: Atomic Accountability

The Cournot network token acts as "Truth Collateral", enforcing atomic accountability for each role within the SOP. Rather than a single stake pool, token bonds are mapped directly to specific roles, ensuring precise accountability and risk isolation.

### Why opML Makes Token Economics Work

Traditional multi-node consensus models face a fundamental tension: verification requires N nodes to re-run inference independently, making security costs scale linearly with the number of validators. This means either high costs (many validators) or weak security (few validators).

Cournot's opML-based verification resolves this tension:

* **Fraud is provable**: Because zkTLS proves evidence authenticity and opML enables deterministic inference replay, any malicious behavior produces a cryptographic proof of fault — not a subjective judgment.
* **Slashing is objective**: When a Sentinel submits a valid fraud proof via opML bisection, the on-chain contract can verify the single divergent computation step. Slashing is triggered by math, not by votes.
* **One honest node is enough**: The entire security model requires only one honest Sentinel watching. This means the protocol doesn't need to incentivize a large validator set — it only needs to ensure that at least one Sentinel is economically motivated to check.
* **Cheating is unprofitable**: The expected value of cheating is negative: the probability of a single honest Sentinel catching fraud is high, and the slashing penalty exceeds any possible gain.

This makes token staking economically credible at a fraction of the cost of multi-node consensus systems.

### Role-Based Staking

|      **Role**     |          **Stake**         |            **Slashing Condition**           |        **Verification Method**        |
| :---------------: | :------------------------: | :-----------------------------------------: | :-----------------------------------: |
|   **Collector**   |      Source Integrity      |    Invalid zkTLS proofs or stale evidence   |  zkTLS proof verification (on-chain)  |
|    **Auditor**    |      Logical Coherence     | Reasoning fallacies or violated constraints |   opML replay + bisection (on-chain)  |
|     **Judge**     |      Schema Compliance     |   Non-deterministic or malformed verdicts   | Deterministic schema check (on-chain) |
|  **Anchor Node**  | Infrastructure Grand Stake |     TEE attestation failure or downtime     |    Remote attestation verification    |
| **Sentinel Node** |       Challenge Bond       |    False challenge (invalid fraud proof)    |     On-chain bisection resolution     |

Errors in one function do not penalize participants in other roles. Each stake is isolated to its specific responsibility. Critically, every slashing condition is backed by an objective, on-chain-verifiable proof, either a zkTLS proof for evidence faults or an opML bisection result for reasoning faults. No human judgment or voting is required.

### Strategy Mining

Developers can create optimized resolution workflow NFTs (**Strategy NFTs**) as tradeable assets. When nodes use these strategies to resolve markets, creators receive micro-royalties in the network token, establishing a **decentralized marketplace for reasoning logic**.

This creates an incentive flywheel:

* Better strategies → higher resolution success → more usage → more royalties
* Competition drives strategy quality upward over time

### Dual-Engine Reward System

Two parallel incentive paths support the architecture:

* **Anchor Yield**: Predictable, salary-like compensation for high-performance infrastructure operators. Ensures network reliability and uptime. Anchor Nodes stake heavily and earn consistently, their incentive is to run honest inference because opML makes cheating provably detectable.
* **Sentinel Bounties**: Whistleblower-model rewards for security participants. Sentinel Nodes earn substantial rewards only when they successfully submit valid fraud proofs via opML challenges. The one-honest-node guarantee means even a single well-funded Sentinel provides full network security, making the bounty pool highly concentrated and attractive.

### The Economic Loop

<figure><img src="/files/IlHx4GWHkH33mx7I2zU1" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Because zkTLS and opML make both evidence faults and reasoning faults objectively provable on-chain, the token economics are grounded in cryptographic guarantees rather than social consensus. This is what gives the Cournot token its utility as Truth Collateral, it is not a governance token requiring subjective votes, but a performance bond verified by math.