Index / Network
The Keeper network
A Keeper is a bonded person or business who holds sealed items in place for owners who may never want them shipped. They are paid to hold, and they have no exposure to the price.
Keepers 2
| Keeper | Region | Status | Bond | Audit | Holding |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbus Keeper | US-OH | Active | not posted | none yet | 0 |
| Tokyo Keeper (partner TBD) | JP-13 | Pending | not posted | none yet | 0 |
A bond must cover at least 110% of the replacement value a Keeper holds. The audit score comes from on-time proof of holding and surprise audits. Contact details are stored only as a hash.
How a custody receipt works
Every item in the network has one custody receipt: a public, append-only record modeled on a warehouse receipt under UCC Article 7. The owner holds the receipt; the Keeper holds the box. A receipt moves through a fixed set of states, and every move is signed by whoever made it.
- INTAKE_PENDING
- VERIFIED
- HELD
- REDEMPTION_PENDING
- SHIPPED
- CLOSED
Three side states, QUARANTINED, DISPUTED and LOSS_REVIEW, cover what goes wrong. Intake needs evidence (receipt, intake photo and serial, each stored as a hash), and only the Keeper can move a receipt into HELD. Receipts are public at /r/{id} with the owner masked.
What the network is not
No options, no premiums, no fractional ownership, no leverage, no cash settlement, no seller financing. Each of those is a regulatory tripwire (CFTC Part 32, the retail commodity rule, Reg A, FinCEN money transmission), and each would turn a custody service into something else. The network sells two things: a sealed item, and a bailment on it.
Pilot gates
Transfers between owners are built into the schema but switched off. They open when all four of these are true:
- At least two Keepers in two regions are active, with bonds posted.
- Thirty receipts have completed a full intake, hold and ship cycle.
- Proof of holding has run for 60 days without a missed proof.
- The index has at least five parts with solid data.
Until then the network is a registry and a price feed.
Becoming a Keeper
The pilot wants a second region, Tokyo first, for the Japan-side parts in the index. A Keeper needs a fixed address, a camera, a USDC bond, and the patience to photograph a sealed box next to a one-time code every 7 to 30 days. Applications open soon.