Foundational Assumptions

Threat Assumptions

Layer 0 assumes the following are plausible:

• Corporate capture attempts
• Government overreach attempts
• Surveillance incentives
• Infrastructure outages
• Vendor failure or acquisition
• Social and political instability

Trust Assumptions

• No single institution is permanently trustworthy.
• No single provider is guaranteed to survive.
• No single governance body is guaranteed to remain benevolent.
• Users must retain rights even when institutions fail.

Failure Assumptions

• Apps will disappear.
• Providers will fail.
• Interfaces will change.
• Networks will partition.
• Jurisdictions will conflict.

Survivability Requirements

If any of the above occur:

• Identity must remain usable
• Data must remain recoverable
• Assets must remain provable
• Payments must remain redeemable (where applicable)
• Replacement providers must be able to step in