Tokenomics

The ALEPH token is the native utility token for staking, payments, governance, and network incentives.

Token Utility

Staking

Node operators lock ALEPH as collateral. Higher stake = more scheduling priority. Delegators can stake to operators for shared rewards.

Payments

Users pay for compute and storage in ALEPH or other tokens (auto-swapped via Uniswap V3). Allowance-based periodic settlement.

Governance

ALEPH holders vote on protocol parameters, contract upgrades, and treasury allocation through AlephGovernor.

Slashing

Misbehaving nodes lose staked tokens. Failed storage proofs, SLA violations, and downtime trigger slashing.

Payment System

The PaymentManager uses an allowance-based settlement model:

User approves ALEPH (or other token) spending via ERC-20 approve()
PaymentManager records pricePerSecond for the job
Settlement runs periodically, pulling owed tokens from the user's balance
If payment token is not ALEPH, it's swapped via Uniswap V3 before paying the operator

// Payment flow
struct JobPayment {
    payer: address,
    paymentToken: address,      // ALEPH or whitelisted ERC-20
    pricePerSecond: uint256,
    lastSettledAt: uint64,
    totalPaid: uint256,
}

// Settlement calculation
owed = pricePerSecond * (block.timestamp - lastSettledAt)
// If paymentToken != ALEPH:
//   swap via Uniswap V3 exactInputSingle
//   with maxSlippageBps protection

Multi-Token Support

The system accepts any ERC-20 token whitelisted by governance. Non-ALEPH tokens are automatically swapped to ALEPH when settling payments to node operators.

Token	Pool Fee	Notes
ALEPH	N/A (native)	No swap needed
USDC	0.3%	Swapped to ALEPH via Uniswap V3
ETH (WETH)	0.3%	Swapped to ALEPH via Uniswap V3
Custom	Governance-set	Added via `addAllowedToken()`

Staking Rewards

Operators earn from job payments. Delegators receive a share based on the operator's rewardShareBps (set during registration).

// Reward distribution
operator_reward = job_payment * (10000 - rewardShareBps) / 10000
delegator_pool  = job_payment * rewardShareBps / 10000
// Each delegator gets proportional to their delegation

Slashing

Misbehavior results in stake reduction:

Violation	Slash Amount	Trigger
Failed storage proof	Up to maxSlashBps	ChallengeResponder timeout
SLA violation	Per SLA terms	SLAManager tracking
Extended downtime	Progressive	Missed heartbeats beyond grace

Slashing Protection

Total slash per event is capped at maxSlashBps (governance parameter). Slashed tokens are sent to the slashReceiver address (treasury or burn).

Fee Structure

Service	Pricing Model
Compute (Instance)	Per-second based on vCPU + memory + GPU
Compute (Function)	Per-invocation + execution time
Storage	Per-GB per-month + proof verification gas
Domains	Annual registration + TLS provisioning

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