Status: pre-launch. This page describes target design; this document does not establish a deployed service.
The Metabolic Loop
Current reading — 2026-09-27
A proposed review cycle connects sourced observations, uncertainty-bearing forecasts and unsigned proposals when required. Rejected observations retain provenance and rejection reasons. ZAI is not a default payment asset, expenditure does not prove improvement, and independent outcome evidence can support only a later change proposal. [I]
This reader boundary does not migrate interfaces, choose unresolved terms or prove deployment. See current status.
Historical compulsory market/capital sequence — unresolved research, not current implementation
This page describes the target metabolic architecture of a DAV. Read stage, coupling, and failure-trigger language below as target design unless a narrower runtime proof has explicitly closed the lane.
Seven stages that convert raw signal into organismic growth.
Overview
Every living organism has a metabolism: the cycle of ingesting environment, converting it to energy, and expelling waste. A DAV is no different. The Metabolic Loop is the complete circuit through which reality becomes capital and capital becomes evolution.
The Seven Stages
Reality --> Verification --> Price Discovery --> Capital --> Metabolic Spend --> Evolution --> Spin-Out
^ |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Stage 1: Reality
Raw signal enters the organism through Circle (the IS organ). OSINT feeds, Nostr relays, on-chain events, sensor data. This is perception -- unfiltered, unsigned, unpriced.
Stage 2: Verification
In the target design, Circle applies its verification pipeline: source triangulation, temporal consistency, reliability scoring. Signal that passes verification earns a cryptographic attestation. Signal that fails is discarded. The organism's truth-rate (Phi component) is measured here.
Stage 3: Price Discovery
Verified signal flows to RealityFutures (the COULD organ). Prediction markets price the probability of each verified claim. The L(x) = x/(1-x) stereographic projection governs odds transformation. This stage converts truth into probability and probability into price.
Stage 4: Capital
Priced outcomes attract capital. Traders stake ZAI on predictions. Liquidity pools form around the highest-signal markets. In the target design, the phi-split routes a constitutional fraction to the organism's treasury. Revenue is not a goal -- it is a metabolic byproduct of accurate prediction.
Stage 5: Metabolic Spend
Agentz (the F3 SHOULD compiler) may propose treasury allocation across organ maintenance, infrastructure, talent, and research. AI/caste seats deliberate and stage an unsigned proposal. For the public DAV, a ratified mandate may constrain an unsigned proposal but never authorizes allocation. Every exact allocation consequence requires its own complete valid bound PRISM decision receipt from the signer(s) required by applicable law, the entity's governing instrument, or a valid competent mandate binding that exact consequence; PRISM records and verifies only. Before receipt validity, allocation stays proposal/simulation only. Software then deterministically carries out only that exact bound consequence. External Legal Person execution still needs lawful authority and every executor required by law.
Historical growth and FLOW coupling — unresolved research, not current implementation
Stage 6: Evolution
Spent capital produces phenotypic change. New features ship. Organ P-scores rise. The genome-phenotype gap narrows. Evolution is measured, not declared: P-score delta over rolling 30-day windows.
Stage 7: Spin-Out
When an internal capability exceeds the parent organism's niche, it may be spun out as a new DAV via the mating protocol (see 72-dac-mating). The spin-out carries a genetic fragment of the parent. The parent retains a cross-DAV holding (mycelial pattern).
FLOW-AXIOM Coupling
The loop is not free-running. A critical feedback mechanism couples truth to capital:
- FLOW (1:1 direct) carries revenue streams from prediction markets to treasury in the target design.
- AXIOM (N:1 convergence) aggregates truth-rate signals from Circle into a single Phi metric.
When the organism's Phi drops below threshold (a failed condition), FLOW streams would pause automatically. Capital stops flowing. The organism cannot spend what it cannot earn, and it cannot earn if it cannot perceive truthfully.
This is the immune system of the metabolic loop. A DAV that lies to itself starves.
Metrics
| Metric | Source | Threshold |
|---|---|---|
| Truth-rate (Phi) | Circle verification pipeline | >= 0.60 for FLOW to remain open |
| Prediction accuracy | RealityFutures settlement | Rolling 90-day Brier score |
| Metabolic efficiency | Treasury in/out ratio | Revenue per ZAI of metabolic spend |
| Evolution velocity | P-score delta | Positive 30-day slope required |
Failure Mode
In the target design, if the loop stalls at any stage for more than 7 days, the Stasis dissolution trigger (M1) activates. See 73-dissolution.
The metabolism is not optional. A DAV that stops metabolizing is already dead -- the protocol simply makes it official.
Historical predecessor wording — retained on 2026-09-27, not active rules
The displaced passages are preserved verbatim for lineage. This retention date is not their original authorship date.
Predecessor passage 1
Verified signal flows to RealityFutures (the COULD organ). Prediction markets price the probability of each verified claim. The L(x) = x/(1-x) stereographic projection governs odds transformation. This stage converts truth into probability and probability into price.