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Proof and assurance

For risk and compliance

Proof bound to every agent transaction and its settlement

Qatom binds cryptographic proof to each AI agent transaction and its settlement at the moment of execution. Settlement and the verifiable record are one operation, so the record cannot be reconstructed afterwards or altered without detection. A counterparty, auditor, regulator, insurer or court can verify it independently, offline, without trusting the organization that produced it.

Updated 14 Oct 2026Specifications at trie.sitePlain text: assurance.md

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Four properties

What makes the record evidence, not testimony

Bound at execution

Settlement and the verifiable record are the same operation, not two systems reconciled later. The record cannot be reconstructed after the fact because it was never separate from the transaction.

Verifiable by anyone, offline

Each TODA file carries its own Proof of Provenance, an unbroken chain of custody built from rigs. Verification is local, with no network call, no shared ledger and no need to trust the originator.

Private by default, visible by consent

The trusted system can anchor a proof without seeing the underlying data. You decide who receives the full record, such as a counterparty, auditor or supervisor, while others see nothing.

Deploy where your controls are

Qatom runs hosted, in your VPC, on-premises or air-gapped. RBC holds the reserve funds backing USD inside Qatom and supports bank on-ramp and off-ramp transfers.

How it works

One agent purchase, from authority to proof

Fund a separate agent walletEach user has a primary twin and an agent twin, the wallet the AI spends from, with its own budget. Role-based access sets who can see or move funds in each twin.
Set the limit and the approval rulePurchases under an auto-approve limit you set go through; larger ones need approval by passkey or phone app. The approver can check the item, seller and price before approving.
The agent calls with paymentPayment, delivery and a receipt happen in one call through Qatom. The seller's endpoint accepts only calls carrying a secret header that Qatom sends. Each update to the file must satisfy the previous step's authorization requirements, such as specific signatures.
Settlement between twinsUSD-TDN (1 USD-TDN = 1 USD) settles from the agent twin to the seller's twin in under one second, with no gas and no transaction fees. The seller verifies the call with X-Qatom-Transaction-Id, so each sale is served once.
A file with proof of provenanceThe settled value is a TODA file that carries its own Proof of Provenance. Every purchase also returns a transaction id and an emailed proof of purchase.
Verify and exportIn the Qatom Console, inspect provenance, verify a file's integrity, download the .toda file and export a twin's ledger as CSV. Anyone you give the file to can verify it offline.

Scope

What the proof shows, and what it does not

Proves

What was executed, paid and settled
Which twins paid and received
Which authorization each step satisfied
An unbroken chain of custody from creation onward
No conflicting version of the history was produced (non-equivocation)
The same funds were not spent twice
The history was not altered or substituted

Does not prove

That the agent's decision was correct
That the agent stayed within its intended policy scope
That the original data or judgment was accurate
A system-wide view for macro-prudential monitoring
That regulators accept these records; none has formally opined, and supervisors are not yet familiar with rigging trees

Frameworks and rules

How proof-bound records map to what reviewers ask for

Framework or rule	What it asks for	Evidence proof-bound records contribute
EU AI Act, Articles 12, 19 and 26	High-risk systems must technically allow automatic event logging over their lifetime; logs kept at least six months unless other law says otherwise. Annex III applies 2 December 2027.	Payment records generated at execution that cannot be altered without detection; they complement, not replace, your system's event logs.
EU Product Liability Directive (EU) 2024/2853	Software, including AI, is a product. Courts can order evidence disclosure. Member states transpose by 9 December 2026.	Independently verifiable records of what was executed and settled, which can be disclosed without relying on your own account of events.
California AB 316 (Civil Code 1714.46)	A defendant that developed, modified or used AI cannot argue the AI autonomously caused the harm.	Records of what the agent executed and paid, and under which authorization, to establish the facts in a dispute.
NIST AI RMF 1.0	Voluntary: Govern, Map, Measure, Manage. Trustworthy-AI characteristics include accountable and transparent, valid and reliable, secure and resilient.	Support for accountability and transparency: each agent payment traceable to its authorization through a verifiable chain of custody.
ISO/IEC 42001:2023	Establish, implement, maintain and continually improve an AI management system, whether you provide or use AI.	Exportable, verifiable records of agent spending and authorization to support monitoring and internal audit within the management system.
OSFI Guideline E-23 (Canada)	From 1 May 2027, federally regulated financial institutions manage AI model risk; third-party models validated and monitored commensurate with risk.	Per-transaction proof and exportable ledgers to support monitoring of third-party agent activity, proportional to its risk.

What these rules and standards ask for, and evidence that can help meet them. This is not legal advice; confirm your obligations with your counsel. Detail: AI governance framework guide.

By role

The question each reviewer asks

CRO

Can we show what our agents did when a counterparty disputes it?

Yes for execution and settlement: the record is bound to the transaction, and the counterparty can verify it without trusting you. It does not show the decision was correct.

CISO

How are agent spending and access controlled, and what if a key leaks?

A separate agent wallet with its own budget, approval above a set limit, role-based access per twin, revocable API keys, key rotation and a secret header on paid endpoints.

CTO

Do we need a blockchain, new infrastructure or a cloud dependency?

No blockchain, shared ledger or gas. Deploy hosted, in a VPC, on-premises or air-gapped; verification runs locally and offline against the file itself.

Bank risk and payments

How does value enter, settle and leave, and who holds the reserves?

RBC holds the reserve funds backing USD inside Qatom and supports on-ramp and off-ramp transfers. USD-TDN settles between twins in under one second; payouts go by ACH.

Compliance and audit

Can we hand a supervisor or auditor a record they can check?

Yes. Export the .toda file and a twin's ledger and share them with the parties you choose; they can verify the file offline. Supervisors have not yet formally opined on these records.

AI governance

Does this tell us whether the agent acted within policy?

No. It proves what was executed, under which authorization, and that the history was not altered. Policy scope and decision quality need your own controls and review.

Guides for this audience

Go deeper

Guide · 9 minCryptographic proof of payment: what it proves and how to verify itCryptographic proof of payment binds evidence to a transaction at settlement. See what it proves, what it does not, and how auditors verify it independently.Guide · 9 minAI agent audit trail: logs, proof and what auditors can verifyAn AI agent audit trail must show what an agent did and under whose authority. See EU AI Act logging rules, where logs fall short, and what proof adds.Guide · 9 minAgentic payments risk controls: a practical control set for AI agentsAgentic payments risk controls for CISOs and risk teams: map each agent risk to a control and the evidence it leaves. Use the checklist before agents spend.Guide · 9 minAI governance framework for AI agents: NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001, EU AI Act and OSFI E-23 mapped to evidenceAn AI governance framework for AI agents that pay: NIST AI RMF, ISO 42001, EU AI Act and OSFI E-23 mapped to evidence and the controls you still own.Guide · 9 minAI agent liability: who is liable when an AI agent makes a mistake, and what evidence holds upAI agent liability explained: California AB 316, the EU Product Liability Directive, Moffatt v. Air Canada, and the evidence that holds up in a dispute.Guide · 9 minAgentic payments for banks: settlement, verifiable records and risk controlsAgentic payments for banks: what the BoE, IMF and OSFI E-23 raise, deployment options, reserves, supervisor record export, and the limits to plan around.

Questions people ask

Cryptographic proof for AI agent transactions: frequently asked questions

What is cryptographic proof of payment in Qatom?

Each payment settles as a TODA file that carries its own Proof of Provenance, an unbroken chain of custody built from structures called rigs. The proof is part of the transaction, not a log written afterwards. Anyone holding the file can check it.

How is this different from an audit log?

A log is usually written separately from the action and held by the organization that acted. TODAQ Press argues that "a record generated separately from an action, and stored separately from an action, can always be questioned." In Qatom, settlement and the verifiable record are the same operation.

Can a regulator or auditor verify the record without trusting us?

Yes. Verification is local and can run offline, because the proof travels inside the file. A counterparty, auditor, regulator, insurer or court can check it without querying your systems or relying on an intermediary.

Is it tamper-proof?

It is tamper-evident: the history cannot be altered or substituted without detection. A rig proves no conflicting version of the history was produced, and double-spend prevention is a theorem proved by structural induction in "Simple Rigs Hold Fast" (Coward and Toliver).

What does the proof not cover?

It cannot prove an agent's decision was correct or within its intended policy scope, and it cannot prove the original data or judgment was accurate. It has no built-in system-wide view for macro-prudential monitoring. You still need policy controls, model validation and human review.

Who sees our transaction data?

Privacy is the default. The trusted system can anchor a proof without seeing the underlying data, and you grant visibility by consent, for example giving a supervisor the full record while others see nothing.

Does using Qatom make us compliant with the EU AI Act or OSFI E-23?

No tool makes an organization compliant. Qatom provides evidence that can help meet record-keeping, traceability and monitoring expectations, and regulators have not formally opined on these records. Confirm your obligations with your counsel.

Is Qatom a blockchain?

No. TODA has no global consensus, no shared ledger and no gas. Each file carries its own proof, and Qatom can run hosted, in a VPC, on-premises or air-gapped.

Research and specifications

TODAQ Press essays

When The Transaction Becomes The Record Why settlement infrastructure is not evidentiary infrastructure, and what is missing.
Settlement Without Proof Argues that agent payment protocols solve settlement, while evidentiary integrity remains unsolved.
You Cannot Audit a Probability: The Agentic AI Trust Wall Why agent logs are reconstructions, and binding the record at execution.
The Agentic Economy's Missing Middle Transaction Binders, privacy by consent, and an open list of limitations.
The Invisible Shelf: How Headless Catalogs Are Rewiring AI Infrastructure Logs versus proof embedded in the asset, at machine speed.

Assess it with your team

See a proof-bound transaction end to end.

We walk your risk, security and compliance reviewers through an agent purchase, its settlement, and offline verification of the record. Hosted, VPC, on-premises or air-gapped.

Schedule an enterprise demo Open the Capabilities Index