Eternal Sentinel — Sovereign Trust Protocol

A decentralized Dead Man's Switch with Progressive Inheritance on Bitcoin L1, powered by OPNet.

Concept

Eternal Sentinel is a smart contract that acts as a Sovereign Trust — protecting Bitcoin legacies without lawyers, intermediaries, or centralized services. Instead of a simple all-or-nothing transfer, it uses a Progressive Inheritance Ladder that releases funds in controlled stages.

How It Works

The Heartbeat

The vault owner periodically "checks in" to prove they are still alive and in control. Each check-in resets the countdown timer measured in Bitcoin blocks.

The Inheritance Ladder

Tier	Trigger	Release	Purpose
Tier 1	6 months of silence (~26,280 blocks)	10% of vault	Immediate family expenses
Tier 2	12 months of silence (~52,560 blocks)	Remaining 90%	Full inheritance transfer

Security

• Only the vault owner can reset the heartbeat timer
• Beneficiary addresses are set and updateable by the owner while the vault is active
• Once Tier 2 is released, the vault finalizes permanently
• No unbounded loops — all operations are O(1)
• ML-DSA (quantum-resistant) signatures via OPNet

Live Deployment

Network	Contract Address
OPNet Testnet	(deploy via npm run deploy in /contract)

Project Structure

Eternal_Sentinel/
├── contract/                    # OPNet Smart Contract (AssemblyScript)
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── index.ts             # Entry point
│   │   └── EternalSentinel.ts  # Contract logic
│   ├── tests/                   # Vitest unit tests
│   ├── patches/                 # btc-runtime patch (OPNet testnet chain ID)
│   ├── asconfig.json
│   ├── deploy.mjs               # Deployment script
│   └── package.json
│
└── frontend-legacy/             # React Dashboard (Vite + TypeScript)
    ├── src/
    │   ├── components/          # React UI components
    │   ├── hooks/               # useSentinel hook
    │   ├── services/            # Provider & Contract caching
    │   ├── types/               # TypeScript interfaces
    │   ├── config/              # Network & contract addresses
    │   ├── abi/                 # Contract ABI definition
    │   ├── App.tsx
    │   ├── main.tsx
    │   └── index.css
    ├── tests/                   # Component tests
    ├── vite.config.ts
    └── package.json

Quick Start

Contract

cd contract
npm install
npm run build       # Compile AssemblyScript → WASM
npm test            # Run unit tests
node deploy.mjs     # Deploy to OPNet testnet

Frontend

cd frontend-legacy
npm install
npm run dev         # Start dev server (http://localhost:5182)
npm test            # Run component tests

Contract Methods

Method	Access	Description
_createVault(beneficiary)	Anyone (once per address)	Create a vault; caller becomes owner
_checkIn()	Owner	Reset the heartbeat timer
_deposit(amount)	Owner	Record a deposit; recalculates tier splits
_setBeneficiary(address)	Owner	Update beneficiary address
_triggerTier1(owner)	Anyone	Release 10% after 6-month timeout
_triggerTier2(owner)	Anyone	Release 90% after 12-month timeout
_getStatus(owner)	View	Full vault status with block countdowns
_hasVault(address)	View	Check if an address has a vault

Technology

• Smart Contract: AssemblyScript → WASM on OPNet (Bitcoin L1)
• Frontend: React 18 + Vite + TypeScript
• Wallet: OP_WALLET via @btc-vision/walletconnect
• RPC: OPNet JSON-RPC provider (https://testnet.opnet.org)
• Signatures: ML-DSA (quantum-resistant)

License

MIT