$402 Protocol Specification

Version: 3.0.0Status: Living Document

Overview

$402 is a protocol for tokenized attention markets. Every participant mints their own token, creating a market for their time and content. The protocol harnesses viral memecoin dynamics to bootstrap the creator economy—every domain becomes a shareholder company, every path becomes a tradable asset.

The Progression

  1. Content Tokenization (v1-v2): Turn URL paths into shareholder businesses
  2. Personal Tokenization (v3): Turn individuals into attention markets

Core Principles

  • 01Everyone has a token - Your token is your attention market
  • 02Fixed supply - 1 billion tokens per person (no minting/burning)
  • 03Time-based access - Tokens purchase connection time (1 token = 1 second default)
  • 04Creator-controlled float - You decide how many tokens to sell
  • 05Social bootstrapping - Friends invest in friends

Token Economics

Supply Model

Per-person supply: 1,000,000,000 No minting after genesis No burning - tokens circulate

Access Pricing

Base rate: 1 token = 1 second Configurable: 1-100 tokens/sec Multicast: Same rate, split

The Economic Flow

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ BUYER SELLER CREATOR │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │──── Cash ─────────────→│ │ │ │ │←─── $CREATOR tokens ───│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │──── $CREATOR tokens (to connect) ──────────→│ │ │ │←─── Content/Call/Stream ───────────────────│ │ │ │ │ Result: Creator has CASH (from sales) + TOKENS (returned) │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Creator Float Control

StrategyToken FloatPriceResult
ExclusiveLowHighPremium access
AccessibleHighLowMass audience
BalancedMediumMarketOrganic

Social Scaling

I value my friend
I buy MORE tokens than I need
I stake tokens (earn revenue)
I complete KYC (trust anchor)
Network grows through real relationships

Why This Works

  • Aligned incentives - Supporting friends = profit
  • Natural liquidity - Social circles base markets
  • Trust bootstrapping - KYC where trust exists
  • Anti-spam - Connecting costs tokens
  • No platform rent - Peer-to-peer settlement

Legal Compliance & Liability

Corporate Register vs Token Ownership

The company has liability and must produce a confirmation statement each year showing an up-to-date register of members. However, Members can trade tokens that act as a claim on their shares without permission.

So while the confirmation statement may say Alice holds Title, she may have already sold her interest to Bob, who has already sold it to Charlie. The confirmation statement says Alice owns the share on the register, but that is still legally compliant, even though the reality is that Charlie holds the asset. As long as each individual pays their own taxes, they are compliant too.

BSV Implementation

Why BSV? It is the only chain capable of micropayments at the scale required for 1 token/second streaming.

RequirementBSVETH/Others
1 token/sec cost<0.001¢ fees$0.50+ fees
SettlementInstantBlock times
ScalabilityUnboundedGas limits

On-chain (BSV)

  • Token genesis (1bn supply)
  • Large transfers
  • Staking/unstaking
  • Dividend distributions
  • KYC attestations

Off-chain (Gossip)

  • Connection handshakes
  • Micro-transfers during calls
  • Real-time balance updates
  • Periodic settlement

BRC Standards Alignment

$402 is built on the modern Bitcoin SV stack, adhering to established standards (BRCs) to ensure maximum interoperability with wallets, indexers, and other peer-to-peer services.

BRC-105
Payment Handshake
Normative 402 challenge/response flow using headers.
BRC-104
HTTP Auth
Secure mutual authentication for gated content sessions.
BRC-103
Identity
Peer-to-peer certificate exchange and identity proof.
BRC-100
Wallet Interface
Universal integration with compliant wallet providers.
BRC-24
Lookup Overlays
Scalable indexing and viral content discovery.
BRC-22
Topic Managers
Protocol-specific content propagation logic.

Ticket Stamp Chains: The Indexer Solution

Tickets accumulate cryptographic stamps as they're validated and used, creating a trust layer that solves the indexer incentive problem through pure Bitcoin economics.

The Problem

  • 1. Validation costs indexers resources
  • 2. If creators keep 100%, indexers starve
  • 3. System needs speed, speed needs indexers

The Solution

95/5 Split

Creators keep 95%. Indexers earn 5% fee for every stamp (validation). Market forces prioritize viral content naturally. No bootstrap token required.

Trust Accumulation

0 Stamps
Base Price
100 Stamps
+30% Trust
1000 Stamps
+100% Viral Hit

Stamps ARE the proof of work

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