The Theseus Design Space
Autonomous agents with verifiable inference enable applications impossible on existing platforms.
Full Analysis Available
This page provides an overview. For complete technical details and market dynamics, read the original article.
Read Full ArticleThe Evolution: A Natural Progression
Bitcoin
(2009)First stateful on-chain executable. Solved money consensus among strangers.
Public ownership you can verify.
Ethereum
(2014)Solved program execution consensus. Deterministic programs replicated across all nodes.
Public program behavior you can verify.
Theseus
(2025)Fuses web2-style AI agents with stateful, sovereign smart contract properties. One node computes, others verify.
Public agent decisions you can verify.
Key Insight
The Design Space Constraint
Over the last decade, runtimes like SVM or MoveVM improved smart contract platforms with cleaner programming models. However, all maintained the same fundamental constraint: deterministic, replicated execution across all nodes.
Theseus takes a different approach using tensor commitments for verifiable inference. This makes complex, intelligent applications economically feasible on-chain while preserving verifiability.
Example: Lending Protocol
Ethereum (Aave, Compound)
Backend computes rates, keeper pushes on-chain
Contract executes based on predetermined formulas
Deploy new contract through governance
Theseus
Market runs as a first-class lending agent
Pricing via inference, verified with tensor-commit
Context or model swappable by creator or agent
New Primitives Only Possible with Theseus
Subjective Prediction Markets
Adjudicate nuanced questions like "Was the iPhone Air launch successful?"
AI Persons
Autonomous entities with goals: GPs of LP funds, marketing swarms, DAO orchestrators
Complex Governance
Evaluate proposals with nuanced reasoning, read docs, analyze trade-offs
Dynamic DeFi Strategies
Manage liquidity, rebalance portfolios, execute strategies autonomously
Multi-Trillion Dollar Market
Ethereum's ~$500B market cap is tied to app value. Making apps dramatically more capable should substantially increase value captured by the base chain.
Before Bitcoin, there was Hashcash—it implemented proof-of-work but holds almost no value. Unifying "Ethereum" and "agents" with tensor commitments suggests one of the largest TAMs in crypto, where the whole is worth far more than the sum of the parts.
Bitcoin: public ownership you can verify
Ethereum: public program behavior you can verify
Theseus: public agent decisions you can verify
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Read: Agents as an Evolution of Smart Contracts