Nanopayments for sources

Pay the source, per use.

When an AI answer draws on a source, Assay settles a fraction of a cent to that source. Split by what the answer actually used, on Arc, in USDC.

How it works

Grounding already happens every time an agent answers. Assay makes it pay the sources it used, in proportion, automatically.

A question comes in. Assay pulls the registered sources most relevant to it.

A model answers using only those sources, and reports which ones it drew on.

The verifier checks which sources the answer is genuinely grounded in, and by how much. The rest are paid nothing.

The toll is split by those weights and paid to each source as a sub-cent nanopayment on Arc, via x402 and Circle Gateway.

Are the payments real?: Yes. Every answer settles real test-USDC on the Arc testnet through Circle Gateway and x402. The amounts are sub-cent and the network is a testnet, so the dollars are not real money, but the on-chain settlement is.
How does a source actually get paid?: When an answer is grounded in a source, the toll lands in that source's Circle Gateway balance, gas-free and instant. From its earnings page the source withdraws on-chain into its own wallet, where the USDC is theirs to spend.
How is the split decided?: A verifier reads the question, the answer, and the candidate sources, and scores how much each source actually contributed. Sources the answer did not use are paid nothing. The toll is divided by those contribution weights.
Can I get paid for my content?: Register your source with a wallet you control. When an answer draws on it, you earn, and you can withdraw to your wallet and verify it on ArcScan. Receiving needs nothing but an address.
Why was this impossible before?: Card and chain fees set a floor around thirty cents, so a single citation was never worth settling. Arc removes the floor: USDC gas, sub-second finality, payments as small as a millionth of a dollar.