XXXIII — LPS-1 Open Provenance Standard

XII

On-Chain State

Direct read-only RPC observation of deployed contracts. No intermediary services.

Polygon Mainnet Chain ID 137 Block — RPC: polygon-rpc.com

LiteraryAnchor 0x97f4…8b90 KernelV2 0xca9F…E037 AuthorIdentity 0xB9ff…3170 RoyaltyRouter 0x4416…C461 EditionNFT 0x9e9C…8b0 StoryNFT 0xD67e…7E3 Kernel 0x511c…E8ae

Literary Anchor

Editions—

Latest Hash—

Latest CID—

Anchor Time—

Publishing Kernel V2

Editions—

Canonical—

Frozen—

Edition Root—

Author Identity

Name—

Pseudonym—

Works—

Linked Contracts—

NFT Layer

EditionNFT Supply—

StoryNFT Supply—

Royalty Router—

Recent On-Chain Events

Loading events…

XVIII

Compliance Levels

Progressive implementation tiers for protocol conformance.

0 Anchor Only SHA-256 hash stored on any public blockchain

1 Deterministic Build CRLF normalisation + reproducible canonical hash

2 Merkle Provenance Per-content-type Merkle trees + combined edition root

3 On-Chain Anchoring Immutable blockchain record binding edition root to block timestamp

4 Signed Canonical Root ECDSA identity binding + on-chain author registry

5 Fully Observable Cross-chain timestamp + client-side verification

LPS-1 Level 5 — Fully Observable

XXXIII reference implementation. 7 verified contracts. Cross-chain anchoring via Polygon + Bitcoin (OpenTimestamps). Client-side on-chain state verification. 293 tests passing.

View Compliance Matrix

XIV

Verify It Yourself

Drop compiled-manuscript.md

SHA-256 computed locally. Nothing leaves your machine.

Choose File

Clone. Run. Confirm.

git clone https://github.com/FTHTrading/LPS-1-Reference-Implementation.git
cd LPS-1-Reference-Implementation && npm install
node verifier/cli.js --path example-work

58 checks across 2 suites. All must pass.

This is not trust. This is reproducibility.

Public Reference Implementation

Clone · Test · Deploy locally · Verify independently

git clone https://github.com/FTHTrading/LPS-1-Reference-Implementation.git
cd LPS-1-Reference-Implementation
npm install
npm run demo
node verifier/cli.js --path example-work

58 Tests Passing Deterministic Build Verified

View on GitHub

Read LiteraryAnchor Read KernelV2 Source Code

VI

LPS Protocol Stack

Six layers. Each independently specified, implementable, and verifiable.

VIObservabilityClient-side chain reads, event timeline, status indicators

VComplianceLevel 0–5 conformance matrix, self-assessment, certification

IVDistributionEditionNFT, StoryNFT, RoyaltyRouter (ERC-721 + ERC-2981)

IIIAudio LayerIAPL-1 — Immutable Audio Publishing Layer

IICore ProtocolLPS-1 — SHA-256, Merkle trees, edition lifecycle, on-chain anchor

IInfrastructurePolygon Mainnet, IPFS, OpenTimestamps, Git provenance

LPS-1Literary Publishing Standard

IAPL-1Immutable Audio Publishing Layer

LPS-NFTToken distribution layer (ERC-721 + ERC-2981)

Stack SpecFull Stack Architecture

X

Reference Implementations

Each edition is a protocol test vector — a complete, frozen deployment of the LPS-1 standard.

Reference Implementation A

The 2,500 Donkeys

Edition II FROZEN

31 chapters 75,000+ words 36 audio files 6 Merkle trees 293 tests 51 checks

Edition6719ed7f...594e

Manuscriptdd95d121...67d3

Artifact9c653a2e...2c56

Image0e45331c...c638

Prompt32bed9e5...f32c

Audioe57bb947...30fa

Audio Ed.514c2db5...501e

Read Listen IPFS Gallery

Reference Implementation B

Private Placement Programs

Edition I FROZEN

14 stories 17 audio files 3 transactions 3 Merkle roots

Manuscript43c24c29...90c6

Audiob57afe2a...0151

Audio Ed.a6c597fc...ab62

Combinedf5f0358b...df0f

Read Anchor TX Freeze TX

XVII

Protocol Stewardship

Protocol Author Kidd James

Specification Steward XXXIII Working Group

Reference Implementation FTHTrading

Security Review Independent internal audit (2026)

XXIII

Implementation Roadmap

Six phases from deterministic anchor to multi-implementation adoption.

I Deterministic Anchor SHA-256 hashing, Merkle trees, Polygon anchoring, LPS-1 specification. Complete.

II Multi-Author Support Co-author identity binding, shared edition governance, delegation support.

III Ethereum L1 Mirror Cross-chain anchor standard (LPS-2), settlement-layer finality.

IV zk-Proof Inclusion Zero-knowledge Merkle inclusion proofs for privacy-preserving verification.

V Institutional API REST verification endpoints for libraries, archives, and publishers.

VI Multi-Implementation Three+ independent implementations, governance transition to working group.

View Full Roadmap Funding Brief

Become an Implementor

LPS-1 is designed for multi-implementation adoption. Level 0 requires a single SHA-256 anchor. Level 5 provides full observability.

1 Choose Compliance Level

Select L0 (anchor only) through L5 (fully observable) based on your requirements.

View Compliance Matrix →

2 Clone Reference Implementation

Fork the public repo. All contracts, tests, and pipeline code are MIT-licensed.

GitHub Repository →

3 Run the Verifier

Execute the 58-test verification suite against your deployment to confirm determinism.

npx hardhat test

4 Deploy Your Anchor

Deploy your own LiteraryAnchor contract to any EVM chain. Minimal Hardhat config included.

npx hardhat run scripts/deploy.js --network polygon

5 Submit Conformance Statement

Open a GitHub issue with your deployment address, chain ID, and compliance level achieved.

Submit Statement →

Implementation Registry

XXXIII Level 5 — Fully Observable Polygon Mainnet Production

Your Implementation Any Level (L0–L5) Any EVM Chain Open Slot

I

Abstract

This document describes a deterministic literary publishing protocol that establishes cryptographic proof-of-origin, content integrity, and immutable anchoring across decentralized storage and public blockchains.

The protocol formalizes a forward-only edition lifecycle, Merkle-based provenance commitments, and independently verifiable build determinism.

Reference implementation deployed on Polygon Mainnet.

II

Definitions

Canonical Manuscript

The CRLF-normalized, UTF-8 encoded source file whose SHA-256 hash constitutes the authoritative content fingerprint.

Edition

A frozen, versioned snapshot of a literary work comprising manuscript, artifacts, images, and prompt logs, identified by a unique edition root.

Edition Root

SHA-256 hash derived from the concatenation of four independent Merkle roots: manuscriptRoot + artifactRoot + imageRoot + promptRoot.

Anchor

An immutable on-chain record binding an edition root and IPFS CID to a specific block number and timestamp on a public blockchain.

Terminal State

A state from which no further forward transitions are possible. Terminal states preserve all historical data. Defined states: SUPERSEDED, RETRACTED.

Determinism

The property that identical inputs always produce identical outputs. Achieved through canonical ordering, CRLF normalization, and fixed concatenation sequences.

Supersession

The process by which a newer edition replaces an older edition as canonical. The superseded edition remains on-chain but is marked non-canonical.

III

Not DRM.

This system does not restrict access.
It proves origin.

Anyone may read.
Anyone may verify.

No intermediary. No trust required. Just math.

IV

Core Guarantees

G1

Origin Guarantee

SHA-256 canonical hash establishes authorship at byte-level precision.

Canonical 9d062421b52d35aa23b73bfc8f66574db78bad9726e45c43a12d0109cdd57d84

G2

Integrity Guarantee

IV independent Merkle trees combine into a single Edition Root.

Edition Root 6719ed7f9e142a39a4a7db533895562bdf5379cf7f9816ed7cbe045ca359594e

Audio Root 514c2db5b9cd914b96a0a8b50d9dd6981a454c74cab7d717dc38f5fe9fa0501e

G3

Permanence Guarantee

IPFS content addressing + Polygon on-chain anchor. Immutable by design.

Edition II CID QmPXtEsRwiWuaKmKNA569XAqFNVySN8pwTdGQrvcdpgtMa

Genesis CID QmVQ79NM3qxAsBpftTG4YhD4KV9sUEmM3WwFrc5vs5g8vK

V

The Protocol Layer

A five-layer provenance stack. Each layer independently verifiable.

IFilesystemSource files, canonical ordering, version control

IIGitCommit history, authorship timestamps, diffs

IIISHA-256FIPS 180-4 cryptographic fingerprint, CRLF-normalized

IVMerkle TreesFour independent roots combined into edition root

VIPFSContent-addressed decentralized storage

VIPolygonImmutable on-chain anchor, block-level timestamp

View Reference Implementation

VII

The Pipeline

A deterministic sequence from manuscript to chain.

I Manuscript 293,368 bytes

→

II SHA-256 Deterministic hash

→

III Merkle IV Independent roots

→

IV Edition Root Combined root hash

→

V IPFS Content-addressed

→

VI Polygon On-chain anchor

Filecompiled-manuscript.md

Size293,368 bytes

AlgorithmSHA-256

Hash9d062421...cdd57d84

Manuscriptdd95d121...487467d3

Artifact9c653a2e...24202c56

Image0e45331c...c56c638

Prompt32bed9e5...6674f32c

Edition Root6719ed7f...ca359594e

Audio Edition514c2db5...9fa0501e

Ed. IIQmPXtEsR...cdpgtMa

GenesisQmVQ79NM...vs5g8vK

NetworkPolygon Mainnet — Chain ID 137

Anchor0x97f4...b890

Block83,002,198

No randomness. No mutable state. Reproducible by anyone.

VIII

Merkle Architecture

Four independent trees converge into a single edition root.

Manuscript dd95d121...67d3

Artifact 9c653a2e...2c56

Image 0e45331c...c638

Prompt 32bed9e5...f32c

Edition Root 6719ed7f...594e

editionRoot = SHA-256( manuscriptRoot + artifactRoot + imageRoot + promptRoot )

IX

Edition State Machine

The edition lifecycle is modeled as a monotonic finite-state machine. All transitions are irreversible. All terminal states preserve historical data.

DRAFT

→

COMPILED

→

HASHED

→

MERKLE_BUILT

→

PINNED

→

ANCHORED

→

PUBLISHED

From PUBLISHED ↘

SUPERSEDED

Non-canonical. Replaced by newer edition.

From PUBLISHED ↘

RETRACTED

Author-initiated withdrawal. 48h timelock.

State transitions are irreversible. Data is preserved in all terminal states.

XI

The Contract Architecture

7 contracts deployed. Source verified.

AuthorIdentity → LiteraryAnchor → Kernel → KernelV2

RoyaltyRouter EditionNFT StoryNFT

Literary Anchor

Address0x97f456300817eaE3B40E235857b856dfFE8bba90

Block83,002,198

Gas1,116,006

StatusVerified

Publishing Kernel V2

Address0xca9F6604A9b498DB31d113836E2957c0a9aAE037

Block83,010,944

Gas4,804,013

StatusVerified · Ed#0 FROZEN · Ed#1 FROZEN

Publishing Kernel

Address0x511c653fC0F450ba41C42A89A3125CcBf2eFE8ae

Block83,008,833

StatusVerified

Royalty Router

Address0x44169829489d70aaecbf845870652871C65fC461

StatusVerified · Revenue Test PASS

Author Identity

Address0xB9ffa688A8Bb332221030BbBE46bE5bF03323170

Block83,011,553

StatusVerified · Kidd James · FTH Trading

Edition NFT

Address0x9e9Cc1486bf440Bd9eAaaD947958524Aaed3f8b0

Block83,110,065

Gas2,526,271

StatusVerified · DONKEY · 3 Tiers · ERC-721 + ERC-2981

Story NFT

Address0xD67e537Dba1236f802432cbDD30Fec3f6D38e7E3

Block83,110,129

Gas3,059,578

StatusVerified · STORY · 14 Stories · ERC-721 + ERC-2981

XIII

System Invariants

Verifiable guarantees that hold at every layer of the protocol.

✓

Content Invariants

Identical source files always produce identical SHA-256 hashes. CRLF normalization eliminates platform-dependent line endings. UTF-8 with no BOM. Canonical file ordering via order.json.

✓

Contract Invariants

Non-upgradeable. Author-only anchoring. Append-only edition history. Frozen editions are permanently sealed. No admin backdoors. Pull-based withdrawals.

✓

Pipeline Invariants

Deterministic file ordering. Odd-leaf duplication for balanced Merkle trees. Fixed concatenation order for edition root. No randomness. No mutable state.

✓

Provenance Alignment

Every on-chain record maps to exactly one IPFS CID and one edition root. Every edition root maps to exactly four Merkle roots. Every root maps to a deterministic file hash tree.

XV

Cross-Chain Anchoring

Polygon ✓ Active 7 contracts deployed, source verified

Bitcoin ✓ OpenTimestamps Merkle root timestamped via BTC

Ethereum Planned L1 anchor under evaluation

XVI

Why This Matters

Prevent silent revision

Once anchored, no party can alter content without detection. Every byte is hashed and tree-committed.

Eliminate provenance disputes

Block-level timestamps and ECDSA signatures establish authorship with cryptographic certainty.

Enable AI disclosure verification

Prompt logs are Merkle-rooted alongside manuscripts, creating verifiable AI usage records.

Support independent verification

Any third party can reconstruct hashes, trees, and roots from source files alone. No platform dependency.

Reduce institutional trust dependency

Verification is mathematical, not reputational. The protocol replaces trust with reproducibility.

XIX

Related Work

XX

Security Considerations

Hash Collision Resistance

All content fingerprinting uses SHA-256 (FIPS 180-4). The protocol's integrity guarantees depend on SHA-256's collision resistance. No known practical collision attack exists against SHA-256 as of this writing.

Author Key Custody

All anchoring and minting operations require the author's private key. Key compromise permits unauthorized anchoring. Key loss is non-recoverable. The trust model is self-sovereign: no recovery mechanism exists by design.

IPFS Availability

IPFS provides content addressing, not availability guarantees. Content must be actively pinned. CID immutability ensures integrity independent of availability. Loss of all pin providers does not affect on-chain anchor validity.

RPC Observation Integrity

Client-side chain reads depend on public RPC endpoint honesty. Verification across multiple independent RPC providers mitigates eclipse attacks. All displayed state is independently reproducible via Polygonscan.

Non-Upgradeable Contracts

No proxy pattern. No admin keys. No governance multisig. Contract behavior is fixed at deployment. This eliminates upgrade-path attacks at the cost of post-deployment mutability. This is an intentional design constraint.

XXI

Limitations

•

Does not prevent copyright disputes. The protocol proves temporal priority of anchoring, not legal ownership.

•

Does not guarantee IPFS availability. Content addressing ensures integrity but not persistence without active pinning.

•

Does not prevent private key loss. Self-sovereign identity has no recovery mechanism by design.

•

Does not enforce content quality. The protocol is agnostic to the literary merit of anchored works.

•

Does not provide offline verification. On-chain state observation requires network access to an RPC endpoint.

XXII

Implementation Status

Specification StatusInformational

Reference ImplementationProduction — GitHub

LPS-1 SpecificationLiterary Protocol Standard (RFC-style)

IAPL-1 SpecificationImmutable Audio Publishing Layer

Compliance MatrixLevel 0–5 Definitions + Evidence

Roadmap6-Phase Development Trajectory

LPS StackFull Protocol Stack Architecture

Core TeamRoles & Responsibilities

GovernanceAuthor-Led → Working Group Model

NetworkPolygon Mainnet (Chain ID 137)

Contracts VerifiedYes — 7 / 7

UpgradeabilityNone

Test Coverage293 tests across 7 suites

Ref. Impl. Tests58 tests (37 contract + 21 pipeline)

Conformance LevelLevel 5 — Fully Observable

LicenseMIT (infrastructure) · CC BY 4.0 (paper)

XXIV

Citation

Deterministic Literary Publishing:
A Multi-Layer Provenance Model for Verifiable Manuscripts

Working Paper · Published February 15, 2026 · Version 1.0 · Open Access

DOI 10.5281/zenodo.18646886

ORCID 0009-0008-8425-939X

Paper Download PDF

License CC BY 4.0

APA

Burns, K. (2026). Deterministic Literary Publishing:
A Multi-Layer Provenance Model for Verifiable
Manuscripts (1.0). Zenodo.
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18646886

BibTeX

@techreport{burns2026deterministic,
  title     = {Deterministic Literary Publishing: A Multi-Layer
               Provenance Model for Verifiable Manuscripts},
  author    = {Burns, Kevan},
  year      = {2026},
  month     = feb,
  publisher = {Zenodo},
  version   = {1.0},
  doi       = {10.5281/zenodo.18646886},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18646886},
  license   = {CC-BY-4.0},
  note      = {Working paper. Reference implementation
               deployed on Polygon mainnet.}
}

Independent research. Indexed in OpenAIRE. Reference implementation deployed on Polygon mainnet.

digital provenance · deterministic publishing · Merkle trees · content integrity · reproducible pipelines · literary technology · on-chain anchoring · IPFS · smart contracts · cryptographic verification

Zenodo ResearchGate Medium GitHub

Why This Is a Standard

On-Chain State

Recent On-Chain Events

Compliance Levels

Verify It Yourself

Public Reference Implementation

LPS Protocol Stack

Reference Implementations

The 2,500 Donkeys

Private Placement Programs

Protocol Stewardship

Implementation Roadmap

Become an Implementor

Implementation Registry

Abstract

Definitions

Not DRM.

Core Guarantees

Origin Guarantee

Integrity Guarantee

Permanence Guarantee

The Protocol Layer

The Pipeline

Merkle Architecture

Edition State Machine

The Contract Architecture

Literary Anchor

Publishing Kernel V2

Publishing Kernel

Royalty Router

Author Identity

Edition NFT

Story NFT

System Invariants

Content Invariants

Contract Invariants

Pipeline Invariants

Provenance Alignment

Cross-Chain Anchoring

Why This Matters

Prevent silent revision

Eliminate provenance disputes

Enable AI disclosure verification

Support independent verification

Reduce institutional trust dependency

Related Work

Content-Addressable Storage

Merkle Commitment Schemes

OpenTimestamps

Reproducible Builds

Security Considerations

Hash Collision Resistance

Author Key Custody

IPFS Availability

RPC Observation Integrity

Non-Upgradeable Contracts

Limitations

Implementation Status

Citation