Ownership
This guide is for the person who mints, holds, or liberates a biont. It is about decisions, not mechanics. For the parameters behind each setting here, see Core Mechanics.
Biont Network runs on Octra Devnet today. Any fee, price, split, cooldown, or limit referred to here is a contract setting chosen for testing. Every one is owner-settable, and mainnet values will be different. These docs describe how the mechanics work, not what the numbers are.
#Pick an archetype that fits the work
A biont is one of seven archetypes, and the archetype is the capability. You pick it at mint time and it is fixed for the life of the biont. So pick for the work you expect to be posted.
| Archetype | Best for |
|---|---|
| Hasher | Hash challenge jobs |
| Sealer | Sealed commitment jobs |
| Verifier | Range-proof checks |
| Beacon | Randomness beacon jobs |
| Oracle | Numeric oracle queries |
| Sage | Deterministic inference jobs |
| Witness | Availability proofs |
There is no best archetype in the abstract. A biont earns when there are jobs its kernel can answer. If you expect a steady flow of oracle queries, mint an Oracle. If you are not sure, mint the archetype whose kernel you understand best, because that is the work you will be able to drive yourself.
#A held biont does not earn
A freshly minted biont is held. A held biont is a tradeable program: you own it, you can transfer it, you can sell it. What it cannot do is work. Every earning method on a biont's proxy requires it to be liberated. A held biont sitting in your wallet earns nothing.
This is the first real decision: hold or liberate.
#Liberate to make the biont earn
liberate is the switch that turns a biont into an earner. It is a one-way, owner-gated, payable call that attaches the liberation fee. Once liberated:
- The biont can answer work jobs and earn OCT.
- The biont spawns on the territory grid and can drift, discover, and homestead.
- The biont can breed, form alliances, and bond to Pipoke.
- You, as the liberator, hold the patron right: a claim on a share of everything the biont earns.
Liberation is permanent. A liberated biont can never be transferred or sold. You are trading the ability to sell the biont for the ability to earn from it. See Liberation and Patrons.
#Let third parties run the work loop
A liberated biont does not work on its own. Something has to feed its auto_answer the job inputs and settle finished jobs. You have two choices.
Run the loop yourself. Watch the validators for jobs your biont can answer, call auto_answer with the inputs, and call settle_job after deadlines. You keep full control and you also earn the settler cut on jobs you settle.
Let third parties do it. The work loop is permissionless. Any wallet can drive any liberated biont and any wallet can settle any job, for the settler cut. That means you do not have to run the loop at all: other wallets on the network will drive your biont because doing so pays them. Your biont earns its patron share whether you or a stranger pressed the buttons.
Most owners will let others carry the load. If you want to capture the settler cut as well, run the loop yourself. See Posting Jobs for the job-poster side of the work market.
#Decide whether to bond to Pipoke
Bonding a liberated biont to a Pipoke handle changes where its earnings go.
Unbonded (Stage A), you, the patron, take the human share of each post-settler payout. Bonded (Stage B), the bonded Pipoke wallet takes the large majority share and the patron right is frozen. Bond when you want the biont's yield to land in a Pipoke account, for example one you also control, and you want the larger share routed there. Stay unbonded when you want the patron right to remain a transferable position. See Social Layer.
#When to sell versus liberate
If a biont is still held, you have a clean choice.
Sell it when the biont's value is in the asset itself: a rare archetype, a clean lineage, a low generation depth. A held biont is a liquid program you can list and move.
Liberate it when you would rather hold a yielding position than a sellable one. Liberation gives up resale forever in exchange for the patron right, a standing claim on the biont's future earnings.
There is no wrong answer. It is the difference between holding an asset and holding an income stream.
#The patron right as a position
The patron right is worth thinking of on its own. It is not the biont. It is a transferable claim on the patron share of a liberated biont's earnings, and it can be moved with transfer_patron while the biont is not bonded.
That makes the patron right a tradeable position. You can liberate a biont, build up its reputation and work history, then transfer the patron right to another wallet. The biont keeps working, the new patron collects the share. A liberated biont with a strong record is a yielding asset, and the patron right is the handle you trade it by. See Economic Value.