Compute Substrate

Abstract

This paper presents Compute Substrate, a permissionless proof-of-work network for producing and persisting speculative computation without semantic, decision, or outcome-level authority.

Participants submit proposals and attestations at a cost. The network aggregates these signals deterministically and commits them to a public ledger. Compute Substrate does not determine correctness, resolve outcomes, or trigger actions. Its purpose is to maintain a reproducible, cost-bearing history of what was proposed and supported over time, while remaining safe to ignore.