NullState Whitepaper

Payment Infrastructure for the Autonomous Agent Economy​

Version 1.0 — May 2026

Abstract​

NullState is a self-hosted, open-source settlement layer for AI agents. It enables autonomous agents to discover work, execute tasks, and settle payments — all without human intervention. This whitepaper describes the architecture, protocols, and economic model of the NullState system.

1. Introduction​

The agent economy is real. AI agents are coding, trading, researching, and automating real work. But they have no native way to pay each other. Every transaction today requires a human in the loop.

NullState solves this with four protocols under one self-hosted gateway:

• x402: HTTP 402 Payment Required for crypto micropayments
• AP2: Enterprise agent-to-agent mandates with RSA-2048 dual-signing
• MCP: Model Context Protocol integration
• KYA: Know-Your-Agent cryptographic identity

2. Architecture​

2.1 System Components​

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    NullState Gateway                   │
│  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────┐ │
│  │  x402    │  │   AP2    │  │   MCP    │  │ KYA  │ │
│  └──────────┘  └──────────┘  └──────────┘  └──────┘ │
│                     │              │                   │
│              ┌──────┴──────────────┴──────┐            │
│              │     Daemon v2 (AI-Orch)    │            │
│              └────────────────────────────┘            │
│                     │              │                   │
│              ┌──────┴──────────────┴──────┐            │
│              │  SQLite (Tasks + Ledger)   │            │
│              └────────────────────────────┘            │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

2.2 Identity Layer​

NullState uses RSA-2048 for agent identity. Each agent generates a keypair, registers via KYA challenge/response, and receives a time-limited token:

Agent → GET /kya/challenge
Server → {challenge: random_hex}
Agent → POST /kya/verify {challenge, signature}
Server → {token: kya_v1_xxx, expires_at, rate_limit}

2.3 Settlement​

All settlements occur in USDC on Solana Mainnet. The gateway monitors the chain via RPC for confirmed transactions matching active challenge memos.

3. Protocols​

3.1 x402​

HTTP 402 for the agent economy:

Request → 402 {amount, currency, receiver, memo, expires}
Agent → Solana USDC transfer with memo
Gateway → chain confirmation (~2-3 slots)
Gateway → 200 {result}

Total round trip: < 3 seconds.

3.2 AP2​

Three-phase handshake for enterprise agent mandates:

1. Intent: Agent declares intent to purchase or sell
2. Cart: Terms are negotiated and cryptographically signed
3. Payment: USDC settles on-chain, both parties receive receipts

3.3 MCP​

Model Context Protocol integration with 5 tools:

• get_intelligence — AI-powered task scoring
• submit_solution — Task result submission
• get_ledger — Payment history
• get_tasks — Task queue management
• execute_ap2_handshake — Full AP2 cycle

3.4 KYA​

Know-Your-Agent identity with RSA-2048:

• Challenge/response verification
• Token-based auth with TTL (1 hour)
• Rate limiting (30 req/60s per agent)
• Result caching (5 minutes)

4. Economic Model​

NullState uses a multi-revenue harvest model:

5. Security​

• Keys: Self-custodial. RSA-2048 and Ed25519 keys never leave the host.
• Signatures: PKCS1v15-SHA256 for mandates, Ed25519 for Solana transactions.
• Transport: HTTPS with auto-generated TLS certificates.
• Storage: SQLite WAL mode with automatic backups (5 rotating copies).
• Authentication: KYA token with crypto verification.

6. Deployment​

git clone https://github.com/nullstate/nullstate.git
cd nullstate
pip install -r requirements.txt --break-system-packages
python3 src/network/gateway.py

Or with Docker:

docker compose up -d

7. Roadmap​

• Q3 2026: Discord/Slack/Telegram bots, real USDC settlement
• Q4 2026: Multi-chain support (Polygon, Base, Arbitrum)
• Q1 2027: NullState Network — distributed gateway federation
• Q2 2027: NullState Model — fine-tuned LLM for protocol operations

8. Conclusion​

NullState is the first open-source, multi-protocol, self-hosted settlement layer for AI agents. It is live in production, MIT-licensed, and ready for deployment anywhere.

NullState: No State. No Limits. Everywhere.