1. Executive Summary

The AI industry faces a fundamental infrastructure gap. Model weights are copied, merged, and fine-tuned without structured history. Creators cannot prove ownership or track how their models evolve through derivative works. Open-source AI lacks the registries that made code reuse trustworthy (Git for version control, NPM for packages). Regulations like the EU AI Act and GDPR now require traceable provenance, but the infrastructure to provide it doesn't exist at scale.

This gap creates cascading risks across the AI value chain. Enterprises deploy models without understanding their training data lineage, exposing themselves to regulatory violations and IP disputes.

Researchers release open-source models but lose attribution as derivatives proliferate. Regulators demand documentation that companies cannot produce. The economics of AI development remain fractured because attribution infrastructure doesn't exist.

The Origyn Solution

Origyn Provenance Protocol creates a universal model ancestry layer for AI. Think of it as Git for AI models, NPM for model weights, or a family tree for machine intelligence. The protocol enables creators to register models with references to parent models, forming an immutable directed acyclic graph (DAG) of lineage. When a developer fine-tunes GPT-4 for medical diagnosis, then another team quantizes that fine-tune for edge deployment, Origyn captures every step in that evolution.

The system operates on three core principles.

• First, decentralized registration allows anyone to claim a model by publishing its fingerprint and metadata to a blockchain-backed registry.

• Second, automated royalty distribution ensures that when Model C generates revenue and inherits from Models A and B, royalties flow upstream through the ancestry chain according to contribution weights.

• Third, validator integrity mechanisms allow the community to challenge fraudulent lineage claims, with economic stakes ensuring honest behavior.

Origyn integrates with existing ML infrastructure rather than replacing it. The protocol connects to HuggingFace Hub, MLflow, Weights & Biases, and DVC through plugins and APIs. A researcher using MLflow can opt into automatic provenance registration. An enterprise can query Origyn's registry to verify a model's training data lineage without accessing the data itself, using zero-knowledge proofs for privacy-preserving compliance.

Value for Stakeholders

For Model Creators: Claim ownership and receive royalties when derivatives monetize. An independent researcher who releases an open-source vision model can earn passive income as companies fine-tune it for commercial use. Origyn provides cryptographic proof of IP ownership, enabling creators to defend their rights without relying on platforms or intermediaries.

For Enterprises and Developers: Visibility into model origins becomes compliance infrastructure. Before deploying a model in healthcare, verify its training data meets HIPAA requirements. Before acquisition, audit a startup's AI assets to confirm legitimate lineage. Reduce risk by understanding exactly what you're deploying. The protocol transforms due diligence from archaeological reconstruction into straightforward registry queries.

For Regulators and Auditors: Access transparent, auditable provenance for AI systems. The EU AI Act mandates documentation of training data and model modifications. Origyn provides regulators with query-able registries showing every model's ancestry, satisfying compliance requirements without compromising trade secrets.

For the AI Ecosystem: Attribution flows naturally in a composable model economy. Today, derivative works happen in silence. Origyn makes model reuse visible, rewarding innovation while respecting ancestry, reducing friction in open AI development and aligning incentives across the supply chain.

Token Economics

The $ORIGYN token powers the protocol through multi-utility design. Registration fees of 100 tokens per model create demand, with 70% burned to generate deflationary pressure and 30% funding protocol development. All royalty payments flow in $ORIGYN, ensuring consistent token circulation as the model economy grows. Validators stake 10,000 tokens to operate nodes, earning 8-12% APR from registration fees and challenge rewards while facing slashing penalties for malicious behavior. The fixed supply of 1 billion tokens features community-first allocation (40%), ensuring long-term alignment between protocol success and token value.

Building the Open AI Economy

The AI revolution runs on derivative works. Every fine-tune, merge, and adaptation builds on predecessors. Yet this lineage remains invisible, creating legal uncertainty and stifling innovation. Origyn transforms ancestry from afterthought into infrastructure. Model creators can register their work and claim their lineage. Developers gain tools to integrate provenance into training pipelines. Validators secure the registry while earning rewards. Enterprises can pilot compliance solutions before regulations mandate them. In a world where every intelligence has an ancestry, the infrastructure to prove it becomes essential. Origyn provides that foundation.