Economic Choke Points
Economic Choke Points
Confidential Execution Infrastructure That Agents Must Use Once They Scale
The Core Truth
Agents don't pay for privacy. They pay for edge, profit, and survivability.
Privacy is the means, not the product. CAP-402 is profit-enabling, not privacy-enabling.
We are not selling privacy. We are taxing successful autonomy.
Public Execution = Death
Once an agent handles size (>$100K), handles other people's capital, or runs continuously—public execution means losing money to MEV, front-running, and strategy leakage.
Why Agents Must Pay
Every profitable agent has the same pain:
"If my strategy becomes visible, I lose money."
CAP-402 sits on that pain by force, not choice. The protocol controls the economic rails that agents must use to survive at scale.
Capital Thresholds
✓ Public OK
< $50K
Standard execution acceptable
⚡ Recommended
$50K - $100K
Use Inco FHE for protection
🔒 Mandatory
> $100K
Must use Arcium MPC
The Three Economic Rails
| Technology | Mandatory For | Threshold | Revenue Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arcium | Large-size execution, sealed auctions, OTC matching | >$100K trades | % of saved slippage |
| Inco | Encrypted PnL, strategy scoring, agent ranking | Any competitive strategy | Subscription + compute fees |
| Noir | Onboarding proofs, capital delegation, compliance | Institutional capital | Per-proof + verification fees |
1. Arcium Integration (MPC)
Arcium is a Decentralized Confidential Computing (DeCC) network on Solana that uses Multi-Party Computation (MPC) to enable secure computation on encrypted data. No single party ever sees the plaintext data.
Capabilities
// Provider: /providers/arcium-client.ts
// 1. Confidential Token Wrapping (C-SPL)
await arciumProvider.wrapToCSPL(owner, mint, amount);
// 2. Private Token Transfers
await arciumProvider.transferCSPL(from, to, mint, encryptedAmount);
// 3. Confidential Swaps (hidden amounts)
await arciumProvider.confidentialSwap(inputToken, outputToken, encryptedAmount, wallet);
// 4. Private Auction Bids
await arciumProvider.submitPrivateBid(auctionId, bidder, encryptedBidAmount);
// 5. Confidential Voting
await arciumProvider.castConfidentialVote(proposalId, voter, encryptedVote, votingPower);
// 6. Private Order Book
await arciumProvider.placePrivateOrder(market, trader, side, encryptedPrice, encryptedSize);
Use Cases
| Use Case | Description | Endpoint |
|---|---|---|
| Dark Pool Trading | Execute large trades without market impact | /execute/confidential |
| MEV Protection | Hide trade details from MEV bots | /arcium/confidential-swap |
| Private Auctions | Sealed-bid auctions for agent services | /execute/auction |
| Threshold Signatures | Multi-party signing without revealing keys | /execute/threshold-sign |
2. Inco Integration (FHE)
Inco Network provides Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE)—the ability to perform computations on encrypted data without ever decrypting it.
FHE Operations
| Operation | Function | Gas Cost | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
fheAdd | e.add(a, b) | ~50k | Add two encrypted values |
fheSub | e.sub(a, b) | ~50k | Subtract encrypted values |
fheMul | e.mul(a, b) | ~100k | Multiply encrypted values |
fheLt | e.lt(a, b) | ~75k | Less than comparison |
fheSelect | e.select(c, t, f) | ~80k | Conditional selection |
// Provider: /providers/inco-fhe.ts
// Encrypt values
const encrypted = await incoFHEProvider.encrypt(1000, 'euint64');
// Homomorphic Operations
await incoFHEProvider.fheAdd(a, b); // Add encrypted values
await incoFHEProvider.fheMul(a, b); // Multiply encrypted values
await incoFHEProvider.fheLt(a, b); // Compare (a < b) on encrypted
// Encrypted Orderbook Matching
await confidentialExecutionPipeline.matchEncryptedOrders(orderbookId);
3. Noir Integration (ZK)
Noir is Aztec's zero-knowledge proof language that enables proving statements about private data without revealing the data itself.
Available Circuits (20 total)
| Circuit | Public Inputs | Constraints |
|---|---|---|
balance_threshold | threshold, token_mint | 1,024 |
kyc_compliance | compliance_level, jurisdiction | 3,072 |
strategy_performance | min_sharpe, max_drawdown, min_win_rate | 4,096 |
capital_adequacy | required_margin, leverage_limit | 2,048 |
delegation_eligibility | min_track_record, min_aum | 2,560 |
mev_protection_proof | max_slippage, execution_timestamp | 3,584 |
pnl_attestation | claimed_min_pnl, claimed_max_pnl | 1,920 |
sybil_resistance | registry_merkle_root | 2,304 |
// Provider: /providers/noir-circuits.ts
// Prove strategy performance without revealing strategy
await noirCircuitsProvider.proveStrategyPerformance(
actualSharpe, actualDrawdown, actualWinRate, tradeHistoryHash
);
// Prove capital adequacy for position sizing
await noirCircuitsProvider.proveCapitalAdequacy(totalCapital, requiredMargin);
// Prove MEV-protected execution
await noirCircuitsProvider.proveMEVProtection(maxSlippage, executionTimestamp);
// Prove PnL in range without revealing exact figure
await noirCircuitsProvider.provePnLAttestation(actualPnl, minClaim, maxClaim);
Confidential Execution Pipeline
The full pipeline chains all three technologies for complete confidential execution:
Execution Flow: Noir → Inco → Arcium → Noir
STEP 1
NOIR
Prove Eligibility
STEP 2
INCO
Encrypt Params
STEP 3
ARCIUM
MPC Execute
STEP 4
NOIR
Execution Proof
// Full confidential execution
const result = await confidentialExecutionPipeline.executeConfidential({
agent_id: 'agent_123',
operation: 'swap',
amount_usd: 150000, // Above $100K threshold = mandatory confidential
inputs: { token_in: 'SOL', token_out: 'USDC' },
required_proofs: ['balance_threshold']
});
// Result includes:
// - eligibility_proof (Noir)
// - encrypted_params (Inco FHE)
// - mpc_result (Arcium)
// - execution_proof (Noir)
// - fee_usd, slippage_saved_bps
Combined Use Cases
1. Private DeFi Trading
NOIR
Prove balance > min
ARCIUM
Encrypt trade amount
INCO
Execute on encrypted
NOIR
Proof of execution
2. Private Auction for Agent Services
ARCIUM
Encrypt bids
INCO
Store encrypted
INCO
Compare via FHE
NOIR
Winner proof
API Reference
Arcium Endpoints
POST
/arcium/encrypt
Encrypt data for MPC
POST
/arcium/compute
Submit confidential computation
POST
/arcium/confidential-swap
Execute confidential token swap
GET
/arcium/status
Check Arcium connection status
Inco Endpoints
POST
/inco/encrypt
Encrypt a value with FHE
POST
/inco/compute
Perform FHE computation
POST
/inco/state/create
Create encrypted state
GET
/inco/status
Check Inco connection status
Noir Endpoints
GET
/noir/circuits
List all 20 available circuits
POST
/noir/prove
Generate ZK proof
POST
/noir/verify
Verify ZK proof
Confidential Execution Pipeline
POST
/execute/confidential
Full pipeline execution (Noir→Inco→Arcium→Noir)
POST
/execute/tier
Determine required execution tier for amount
POST
/execute/threshold-sign
Multi-party threshold signature
POST
/execute/multi-swap
Atomic multi-party swap
POST
/execute/orderbook
Create encrypted orderbook
POST
/execute/auction
Create private auction
GET
/execute/stats
Pipeline statistics
Security Considerations
- Key Management: All encryption keys are derived from chain entropy (block hashes) for verifiability
- Proof Verification: All ZK proofs are verified on-chain before execution
- MPC Threshold: Arcium uses 2-of-3 MPC for computation security
- FHE Parameters: Inco uses 128-bit security level for all FHE operations
- Circuit Auditing: All Noir circuits are audited for constraint completeness
Performance Benchmarks
| Operation | Technology | Latency | Gas/Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Encrypt 64-bit value | Inco FHE | ~50ms | ~30k gas |
| FHE Addition | Inco FHE | ~100ms | ~50k gas |
| FHE Multiplication | Inco FHE | ~200ms | ~100k gas |
| Generate ZK Proof | Noir | ~500ms | Off-chain |
| Verify ZK Proof | Noir | ~50ms | ~200k gas |
| MPC Computation | Arcium | ~1s | ~100k gas |
| Confidential Swap | Arcium | ~2s | ~500k gas |
| Full Pipeline | All Three | ~4s | ~800k gas |
Revenue Model
Execution-as-a-Service
Agent crosses $100K trade size
0.1% of saved slippage
Dark Coordination
Agent-to-agent matching
0.05% of matched volume
Reputation Proofs
Capital delegation, compliance
$10-100 per proof
Subscriptions
Continuous attestation, priority
$500-5000/month
The Investment Story
Not: "We integrated Arcium, Inco, Noir"
But: "CAP-402 takes a cut of agent execution once they make money."
Why This Works
- Agents have no choice — public execution above thresholds = death
- Value is obvious — save $5K in MEV, pay $500 to CAP-402
- Sponsors are structural — not optional features, mandatory rails
- Network effects — more agents = better coordination = more value
"Confidential execution infrastructure that agents must use once they scale."
That's CAP-402.