Citation Economics for AI Answers
Indie Researcher / 0.001200 USDCreceipt evidence
0x3fefc542...59a523
paid to creator0.001200USDC
local proof
Indie Researcher
This receipt binds a source payment to the answer that used it. The previous hash links it into the append-only attribution ledger.
receipt hash0x3fefc542edb44710d89d24c0f9d92db842d6580cc0c93d1a52df36cfd059a523
previous hash0xdb3b37c8f6badbfff7bbc2197bb533f5c60d163aecf698940e4727d865cc2a8b
query id0x521b07453475f115
source idcreator-citation-economics
creator wallet0x6666...6666
created at2026-06-21T14:30:52.676Z
payment resource/api/sources/creator-citation-economics
query payment hashnot reader-paid
payerlocal proof
transactionpending settlement
FeeRouter splitnot FeeRouter-routed
FeeRouter createSplitnot FeeRouter-routed
FeeRouter paynot FeeRouter-routed
answer context
How can a budgeted AI agent buy publisher citations without overspending?
The paying agent treated "How can a budgeted AI agent buy publisher citations without overspending?" as a source-backed answer, not a free scrape. Circle Developer Notes: Circle Gateway batches signed EIP-3009 authorizations so x402 payments can clear at sub-cent values without per-payment gas. Indie Researcher: A source payment should be tiny, automatic, visible to the creator, and tied to the answer that reused the work. Forum Protocol: Forum-style mandates bound an agent budget, publish receipts, and make spend controls enforceable instead of advisory. It bought the minimum useful bundle of sources, paid each cited creator in USDC atomic units, and wrote a receipt chain that ties the answer to the citations that earned.
Open answer evidenceMatched citations in the source registry.