answer evidence

0x5ef8576e...4104a5

citation payments recorded0.004100USDC

agentic reasoning loop / server judge-strict / 0xe5919d52cf4f97df

How does Tollgate pay creators when an AI answer cites their work?

Tollgate pays creators through an on-chain FeeRouter contract that routes USDC payments to creators' wallets based on their basis-point shares in a split. —designed to be tiny, automatic, visible to the creator, and tied to the specific answer that reused the work. To manage gas costs efficiently, sub-cent citations accrue to a claimable FeeRouter balance that creators can withdraw in a single claim call, rather than paying gas for each individual citation.

3 sources bought / 2 cited / 1 refunded

citations3

receipts3

reader paid0.010000

creator payouts (reader-paid)0.002800

protocol retained (reader-paid)0.007200

budget utilization28.0%

latest receipt0xff26d765...30d6ce

query id0xe5919d52cf4f97df

query hash0x12093451c60eb21312063691979f0a9f5cbb8488d28e844a4a21cb107252cb9c

answer hash0x5ef8576ed675d06ea2a298e2bd7ead7f4eaf983c378c6eb875b75adfb54104a5

created at2026-07-12T14:52:54.003Z

record agent modellm

agent modelclaude-haiku-4-5-20251001

server agent modejudge-strict

receipt count3

reader payment hash0x11e83dfb2cd4d99dbd8ae1f7701a5319b91f199000b72da35f961b8566b433ee

reader paid0.010000 USDC

creator payouts (reader-paid)0.002800 USDC

protocol retained (reader-paid)0.007200 USDC

budget utilization28.0%

reader paymentx402 settled

amount0.010000 USDC

payer0x9d2d...f6b2

payment hash0x11e83dfb...b433ee

agent accountability

Budget envelope and proof anchors

budget envelope0.006500 USDC

spent on sources0.004100 USDC

unused0.002400 USDC

source cap3/5 bought

covenant policy5.000000 USDC max

allowed domainsregistered source URLs only

TrackRecord anchornone

SlashBond status0.089091 USDC bonded

receipt chain hash0x9d38e981271117273d00bf351e6af620677c4e17e7f28afb93338d470a543e2e

EIP-712 TollgateUseIntent

Signed decision-to-spend anchor

intent digest0x166d5157919b7675276bf411d7fc4552bb63e1441f07ab776970479da78116c0

signature0x62c955ac3eccfe0e740a05eab54de08699317a7b232ec561f76c6547fa3d5add0a9ead4f97a2a51910c64cacdeb89cd0ccd15119f0d8735f2d4e787f42847fd51b

max spend0.002800 USDC

nonce83420750153462190362908241861166606441

expiry1783868893

candidate set root0x6a0856e6081c38a3d3b6f19650dbedcb99a7875c95638056a6291fa767bcb60e

selected sources root0x6ad8df70006979c765a0a006e965db847c74d76eb07daaf4e4fdb6fe162bf89c

decision trace hash0xd8b58aea05b8401c4a7165e1ccbb93559423824b54ef965c54573e5c86d5b947

claim support root0xd469a14756476536934d94165dbbc5d12d9476fe6245fff2d72253584b372737

Arc anchor tx0x4f9b4e2ce2c39c126e538f3c6004ba1b7e63eaed8ec8c2a3d0ec52a44cf0a7ad

source market

Budgeted citation decision

source budget0.006500

agent spent0.004100

remaining0.002400

market sweep3/5

Citation Economics for AI AnswersIndie Researcher / score 12 / 0.001200 USDC

Articulates the payment principles (tiny, automatic, visible, tied to answer) that underpin creator compensation. Directly addresses the 'how' of payment design.

Escrow and Ownership VerificationCreator Licensing Desk / score 19 / 0.001400 USDC

Addresses creator verification and escrow safeguards, which are important for trust but not the core mechanism of payment itself. Budget is tight (6500 µUSDC); the three bought sources (4100 µUSDC) leave room for one mor

How a Source-Buying Answer Agent WorksAgent Commerce Notes / score 12 / 0.001300 USDC

Directly explains how Tollgate itself works—the core mechanism of appraisal, budget allocation, source purchasing, and answer grounding. Essential for answering how the system pays creators.

FeeRouter Split Payouts and ReceiptsReceipt Ledger Notes / score 3 / 0.001600 USDC

Explains the on-chain settlement mechanism (FeeRouter contract, USDC routing, split payouts, receipt ledger, gas-efficient accumulation). Concrete implementation of how payments execute and are audited.

x402 Settlement Schemes on ArcPayments Protocol Notes / score 1 / 0.001300 USDC

Describes HTTP 402 and settlement protocols, which are infrastructure-level but not specific to how Tollgate pays creators. The three bought sources already cover the payment flow; this adds protocol detail without direc

agent reasoning / planned by claude-haiku-4-5-20251001

Appraise to payout timeline

PASS: All three claims are directly supported by the purchased sources. Claim 1 is backed by creator-citation-economics (payment design principles). Claims 2 and 3 are both backed by feerouter-splits-receipts (FeeRouter

1
appraiseAppraised 5 candidates: 3 to buy, 2 to skip.autonomous-source-buying: Directly explains how Tollgate itself works—the core mechanism of appraisal, budget allocation, source purchasing, and answer grounding. Essential for answering how the system pays creators. | creator-citation-economics: Articulates the payment principles (tiny, automatic, visible, tied to answer) that underpin creator compensation. Directly addresses the 'how' of payment design. | feerouter-splits-receipts: Explains the on-chain settlement mechanism (FeeRouter contract, USDC routing, split payouts, receipt ledger, gas-efficient accumulation). Concrete implementation of how payments execute and are audited.
2
allocateAllocated the budget to 3 sources by best yield-adjusted grounding-per-USDC. · spent 0.004100 USDCCitation Economics for AI Answers, FeeRouter Split Payouts and Receipts, How a Source-Buying Answer Agent Works
3
draftDrafted an answer with 3 grounded claims.Every claim is tied to a purchased sourceId.
4
critiqueVerified every claim is backed by a purchased source.PASS: All three claims are directly supported by the purchased sources. Claim 1 is backed by creator-citation-economics (payment design principles). Claims 2 and 3 are both backed by feerouter-splits-receipts (FeeRouter
5
finalFinal answer is restricted to paid citation records.Citation Economics for AI Answers, FeeRouter Split Payouts and Receipts, How a Source-Buying Answer Agent Works
6
receiptsWrote 3 source payment receipts into the ledger.0x9d38e981271117273d00bf351e6af620677c4e17e7f28afb93338d470a543e2e

proof of useful citation

Claim support and contribution payout

Tollgate pays creators through an on-chain FeeRouter contract that routes USDC payments to creators' wallets based on their basis-point shares in a splitsupported / source feerouter-splits-receipts

span: The FeeRouter contract pays a creator by routing USDC through an on-chain split keyed to the creator's wallet and basis-point shares, so multi-contributor works divide automatically. / marginal contribution 2 / payout 0.001866 USDC

When an AI answer cites a creator's work, a source payment is triggeredunsupported / source none

span: not verified / marginal contribution 0 / payout 0.000000 USDC

designed to be tiny, automatic, visible to the creator, and tied to the specific answer that reused the worksupported / source creator-citation-economics

span: A source payment should be tiny, automatic, visible to the creator, and tied to the answer that reused the work. / marginal contribution 1 / payout 0.000934 USDC

To manage gas costs efficiently, sub-cent citations accrue to a claimable FeeRouter balance that creators can withdraw in a single claim call, rather than paying gas for each individual citationsupported / source feerouter-splits-receipts

span: Sub-cent citations accrue to a claimable FeeRouter balance the creator withdraws with a single claim call, which keeps per-citation gas from swamping the payment. / marginal contribution 2 / payout 0.001866 USDC

claim support root 0xd469a147...372737

paid citations

Sources used

Citation Economics for AI Answers

Indie Researcher / 0.001200 USDCSeed/demo content / Seed demo content used for public proof flows. / excerpt 0x4249ed2c...62fe12Articulates the payment principles (tiny, automatic, visible, tied to answer) that underpin creator compensation. Directly addresses the 'how' of payment design.

Source page 0xff26d765...30d6ce

FeeRouter Split Payouts and Receipts

Receipt Ledger Notes / 0.001600 USDCSeed/demo content / Seed demo content used for public proof flows. / excerpt 0xf73ffb15...f91520Explains the on-chain settlement mechanism (FeeRouter contract, USDC routing, split payouts, receipt ledger, gas-efficient accumulation). Concrete implementation of how payments execute and are audited.

Source page 0xa55373f0...af921d

How a Source-Buying Answer Agent Works

Agent Commerce Notes / 0.001300 USDCSeed/demo content / Seed demo content used for public proof flows. / excerpt 0x1f81e45f...7e938eDirectly explains how Tollgate itself works—the core mechanism of appraisal, budget allocation, source purchasing, and answer grounding. Essential for answering how the system pays creators.

Source page 0x9d38e981...543e2e

answer receipts

Payment trail

Indie Researcherpayment status: accrued -> claimable on-chain / creator recipient 0x6666...6666ledger 0xff26d765...30d6ce / prev 0x631f4a56...ade3e4

0.000934Arc tx 0xff26d765...30d6ce

Receipt Ledger Notespayment status: accrued -> claimable on-chain / creator recipient 0x8888...8888ledger 0xa55373f0...af921d / prev 0xff26d765...30d6ce

0.001866Arc tx 0xa55373f0...af921d

Agent Commerce Notespayment status: refunded / creator recipient 0x9999...9999ledger 0x9d38e981...543e2e / prev 0xa55373f0...af921d

0.0013000x9d38e981...543e2e