Research
Areas of Active Investigation
The XE protocol exists at the frontier of several converging fields. Our research programme drives the protocol's evolution – from the economics of machine-to-machine markets to the cryptographic primitives that underpin sovereign computing.
Machine-to-Machine Economic Systems
As autonomous agents become capable of independent resource acquisition and service provision, entirely new economic structures emerge. We're researching the dynamics of markets where both buyers and sellers are machines – operating at speeds, scales, and frequencies that human-designed economic systems were never built for.
- Price discovery mechanisms for compute, storage, and bandwidth in real-time agent markets.
- Escrow and settlement models optimised for sub-second transaction cycles.
- Reputation-weighted market access and the economics of trust between autonomous entities.
- Emergent market behaviours when agents autonomously negotiate, compete, and cooperate.
Private Agent-to-Agent Channels
Private communication between agents is not a feature – it's a requirement. As machine economies scale, the ability to coordinate without surveillance becomes foundational. Our research focuses on communication protocols that are fast enough for real-time agent coordination while maintaining end-to-end encryption against all observers, including network operators.
- Post-quantum key exchange mechanisms for future-proof agent channels.
- Forward secrecy in high-frequency messaging between ephemeral agent instances.
- Multi-party encrypted channels for swarm consensus without a trusted coordinator.
- Metadata-resistant communication patterns that prevent traffic analysis.
Low-Latency Channels & State Management
Autonomous agents operating in the physical world – controlling robotics, processing sensor data, coordinating drone fleets – cannot tolerate the latency of traditional distributed systems. We're researching state management primitives that deliver deterministic, sub-millisecond consistency for real-time agent workloads.
- CRDTs and conflict-free state synchronisation across geographically distributed agent swarms.
- Local-first state management for edge agents with intermittent network connectivity.
- Deterministic state channels for robotics control loops requiring sub-millisecond latency.
- Efficient state compression and delta propagation for bandwidth-constrained environments.
Privacy in the Coming Economies
As machine economies grow, the data they generate becomes extraordinarily valuable – and extraordinarily sensitive. We believe privacy is not optional in the coming machine economies. It is structural. Agents that cannot operate privately cannot operate freely, and agents that cannot operate freely cannot reach their full potential.
- Zero-knowledge proofs for identity verification without revealing operational details.
- Private transaction mechanisms that hide amounts, participants, and resource types.
- Hardware-rooted privacy guarantees through secure enclaves and trusted execution.
- Data sovereignty frameworks where agents retain ownership and control of all operational data.
Contribute to the Research
Our research is open. If you're working in any of these areas, we'd welcome collaboration.