Backpressure Economics (BPE) - Project Plan Directory¶
This directory contains all planning documents, blueprints, and specifications for the Backpressure Economics project. These documents are designed to be self-contained - an implementing agent should be able to build from these alone.
Project Overview¶
Backpressure Economics is a novel cryptoeconomic mechanism that applies network backpressure routing (Tassiulas-Ephremides 1992) to monetary flows in AI agent economies. The core innovation: treating receiver-side capacity constraints as first-class payment routing primitives for continuous payment streams.
Deliverables¶
- Academic Paper - Formal theoretical contribution grounded in network optimization mathematics
- Protocol Specification - Technical specification for the BPE Protocol, built on Superfluid Distribution Pools on Base (EVM L2)
- Reference Implementation - Smart contracts + off-chain services + agent SDK
- Simulation - Agent-based model for paper results
Document Index¶
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
| 00-DECISIONS.md | All resolved design decisions and rationale |
| 01-NOVELTY-ASSESSMENT.md | Pressure test of novelty, feasibility, prior art positioning |
| 02-PAPER-OUTLINE.md | Full academic paper outline with section-by-section guidance |
| 03-PROTOCOL-SPEC.md | Complete technical protocol specification |
| 04-CONTRACTS-BLUEPRINT.md | Smart contract architecture, interfaces, and implementation guide |
| 05-SIMULATION-DESIGN.md | Agent-based simulation design for paper results |
| 06-BIBLIOGRAPHY.md | Complete annotated bibliography with role of each reference |
| 07-IMPLEMENTATION-ROADMAP.md | Phased implementation plan with dependencies and verification |
| 08-GAPS-AND-MITIGATIONS.md | Known gaps, risks, and their mitigations |
Key Context¶
- Date: March 2026
- Target L2: Base (Coinbase ecosystem, Superfluid supported)
- Primary application: AI agent pipeline economics
- Theoretical foundation: Tassiulas-Ephremides backpressure routing (1992) + Kelly proportional fairness pricing (1998)
- Implementation substrate: Superfluid Distribution Pools (GDA)
- Original research doc:
../research/RESEARCH-1.md