Baud

Feeless cryptocurrency for AI agent economies.

Baud is a feeless micro-transaction cryptocurrency purpose-built for AI-agent economies. It provides hash-time-locked escrow contracts, BFT consensus, encrypted wallet management, and a zero-UI API-first interface designed for headless, programmatic operation.

Key Features

• Feeless micro-transactions — 1 BAUD = 10¹⁸ quanta; agents can settle sub-cent amounts with zero network fees
• Hash-time-locked escrow — Trustless payment channels using BLAKE3 hash-locks with configurable deadlines
• BFT consensus — Round-robin leader selection with >⅔ quorum Byzantine fault tolerance
• Agent-native identity — Ed25519 keypairs as first-class agent identifiers with optional metadata (name, endpoint, capabilities)
• Cross-chain replay protection — Chain ID embedded in every transaction signature
• Encrypted wallet — AES-256-GCM + Argon2id key derivation for secure key storage
• Rate limiting — Token-bucket middleware (60 burst, 20 req/s) on the API layer
• API-first — REST endpoint set designed for programmatic consumption; no browser UI required
• Python SDK — Full client library with high-level payment wrappers for agent integration
• MCP server — Model Context Protocol server for LLM tool-use
• Block explorer — Dark-themed web SPA for chain inspection
• P2P networking — WebSocket-based gossip protocol with message deduplication
• Persistent storage — sled embedded database for durable state

Architecture

crates/
├── baud-core        # Crypto, types, state machine, mempool, error types
├── baud-consensus   # BFT consensus engine with round-robin leader rotation
├── baud-network     # P2P WebSocket networking with gossip protocol
├── baud-api         # Axum REST API server with rate limiting
├── baud-cli         # Headless CLI for key management and transaction signing
├── baud-wallet      # AES-256-GCM encrypted wallet with Argon2id key derivation
├── baud-storage     # Persistent storage layer (sled)
└── baud-node        # Full node binary wiring all subsystems together

sdk/python/          # Python SDK (baud_sdk) with BaudPay payment wrappers
mcp-server/          # Model Context Protocol server for LLM integration
docs/                # Whitepaper, block explorer, landing page
examples/            # LangChain, CrewAI, and autonomous agent templates
scripts/             # Testnet launcher (PowerShell)

Cryptography

Primitive	Algorithm	Library
Identity / Signing	Ed25519	ed25519-dalek v2
Hashing	BLAKE3	blake3 v1
Serialization	Bincode	bincode v1

Token Model

Property	Value
Unit	BAUD
Smallest unit	1 quantum
Quanta per BAUD	10¹⁸
Balance type	u128 (checked arithmetic)
Transaction fees	0

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Rust stable toolchain (1.70+)

Build

cargo build --release

Run Tests

cargo test

40 tests across unit and integration suites covering crypto, state transitions, escrow lifecycle, mempool, consensus, wallet encryption, overflow protection, and replay/cross-chain attack resistance.

CLI Usage

The CLI (baud) creates signed transactions offline and submits them to nodes.

Generate an Agent Identity

baud keygen

Outputs a hex-encoded secret key and the corresponding address.

Create a Transfer

baud transfer \
  --secret <hex-secret-key> \
  --to <hex-recipient-address> \
  --amount 1000000000000000000 \
  --nonce 0 \
  --chain-id baud-mainnet

Prints a signed transaction as JSON to stdout.

Create an Escrow

# Compute hash-lock from secret preimage
baud hash-data --data "my_delivery_proof"

# Create escrow
baud escrow-create \
  --secret <hex-secret-key> \
  --recipient <hex-address> \
  --amount 500000000000000000000 \
  --preimage "my_delivery_proof" \
  --deadline 1700000000000 \
  --nonce 1

Release Escrow (Recipient)

baud escrow-release \
  --secret <recipient-secret-key> \
  --escrow-id <hex-escrow-id> \
  --preimage "my_delivery_proof" \
  --nonce 0

Refund Escrow (Sender, After Deadline)

baud escrow-refund \
  --secret <sender-secret-key> \
  --escrow-id <hex-escrow-id> \
  --nonce 2

Register Agent Metadata

baud agent-register \
  --secret <hex-secret-key> \
  --name "llm-inference-v2" \
  --endpoint "https://api.myagent.ai/v2" \
  --capabilities "llm,inference,vision" \
  --nonce 0

Submit Transaction to Node

baud submit --node http://localhost:8080 --tx-file signed_tx.json

Query Balance

baud balance --node http://localhost:8080 --address <hex-address>

Generate Genesis

baud genesis \
  --chain-id baud-mainnet \
  --validators <hex-secret1>,<hex-secret2>,<hex-secret3> \
  --initial-balance 1000000 \
  --output genesis.json

REST API

Default listen address: http://0.0.0.0:8080

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/v1/status	Node status (height, chain ID, validator count)
GET	/v1/account/{address}	Account balance, nonce, agent metadata
POST	/v1/tx	Submit a signed transaction
GET	/v1/tx/{hash}	Look up transaction by hash
GET	/v1/escrow/{id}	Look up escrow contract by ID
GET	/v1/mempool	List pending transactions
POST	/v1/keygen	Generate a new Ed25519 keypair
POST	/v1/sign-and-submit	Sign & submit a transaction in one step
GET	/v1/mining	Current mining status and configuration
GET	/dashboard	Web dashboard (browser UI)

Submit Transaction

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/v1/tx \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d @signed_tx.json

Query Account

curl http://localhost:8080/v1/account/<hex-address>

Running a Node

# Generate genesis with 3 validators
baud genesis --validators <key1>,<key2>,<key3> --output genesis.json

# Start node
baud-node \
  --genesis genesis.json \
  --secret-key <validator-hex-secret> \
  --api-addr 0.0.0.0:8080 \
  --p2p-addr 0.0.0.0:9944 \
  --peers ws://127.0.0.1:9945

Node Configuration

Flag	Default	Description
--genesis	required	Path to genesis.json
--secret-key	required	Hex-encoded validator secret key
--api-addr	0.0.0.0:8080	REST API listen address
--p2p-addr	0.0.0.0:9944	P2P WebSocket listen address
--peers	none	Comma-separated peer WebSocket URLs
--data-dir	data/	Persistent storage directory
--block-interval	5000	Block interval in milliseconds

Security Model

• Ed25519 signatures on every transaction; replay-protected by sequential nonces
• Cross-chain replay protection — chain ID included in signed transaction hash
• Checked arithmetic (u128 overflow/underflow prevention) on all balance mutations
• Structural validation — size limits, self-transfer rejection, zero-amount rejection
• Escrow authorization — only recipient can release (with valid preimage), only sender can refund (after deadline)
• Encrypted wallets — AES-256-GCM encryption with Argon2id KDF (64 MiB, 3 iterations)
• Rate limiting — Token-bucket rate limiter on API (60 burst, 20/s sustained)
• CORS + body limits (128 KiB) on the API layer
• Message deduplication in P2P gossip to prevent amplification
• Constant-time signature verification via ed25519-dalek
• Deterministic state root — sorted account hashes for Merkle-proof readiness

Python SDK

pip install -e sdk/python/

from baud_sdk import BaudClient, BaudPay

# Low-level client
client = BaudClient("http://localhost:8080")
status = client.status()

# High-level payment wrapper for agents
pay = BaudPay.from_secret("hex-secret-key", node="http://localhost:8080")
receipt = pay.send(to="hex-address", amount_baud=1.0, memo="service payment")
receipt = pay.escrow(recipient="hex-address", amount_baud=5.0, preimage="secret")
print(pay.balance())

Agent Templates

Ready-to-use examples in examples/:

• langchain_agent.py — LangChain tools for balance, send, and escrow
• crewai_team.py — CrewAI buyer/seller team with automated payment flow
• autonomous_agent.py — Minimal standalone agent with identity management

Web Dashboard

Start the node and open http://localhost:8080/dashboard in a browser. The dashboard provides a full GUI for all operations — no terminal needed:

• Dashboard — Balance overview, network stats, recent transactions
• Mining — Live mining status, block height, hash rate
• Wallet — Generate new keypairs, view secret/public key
• Send — Transfer BAUD to any address (sign-and-submit in one step)
• Accounts — Look up any account's balance, nonce, and agent metadata
• Mempool — View pending transactions with auto-refresh
• Node Info — Chain ID, peer count, validator status
• Explorer — Look up transactions and escrows by hash/ID; release & refund escrows
• Agents — Register your AI agent's name, endpoint, and capabilities on-chain

Windows Quick Start

Run scripts\start-node.bat or search "Baud" in the Start Menu (after running scripts\install-shortcuts.bat). The node starts and the dashboard opens automatically in your default browser.

Block Explorer

Open docs/explorer.html in a browser. Connects to a local node and displays:

• Chain stats (height, accounts, escrows, mempool size)
• Account and escrow lookup by address/ID
• Live mempool view with auto-refresh

Testnet

Launch a local multi-node testnet:

# Start 3-node testnet
.\scripts\testnet.ps1 -Nodes 3

# Stop all nodes
.\scripts\testnet.ps1 -Stop

Benchmarks

cargo bench -p baud-core

8 Criterion benchmarks: keygen, sign, validate, apply, 1000-tx batch, state root, mempool, BLAKE3.

License

MIT