On-chain compute payments

Three ways to pay

• Per use (x402 upto): the payer signs a ceiling, the provider meters the work and the facilitator settles the amount used, never above the ceiling.
• Escrowed jobs (ERC-8183): funds sit in a contract until the work is accepted, with a deadline and a refund path.
• Per-second streams (ComputePayment): rate × duration is escrowed, the provider withdraws what it has earned, and the rest returns to the payer at stop.

What the chain guarantees

• Payee, facilitator, token, ceiling, nonce and deadline are all covered by the payer's signature.
• Each authorization settles at most once and can be revoked by the payer.
• A signed usage receipt records the seconds billed, the price, the amount and a hash of the output.
• The token has no owner, no mint and no upgrade path, and its source is verified on Basescan.

The token

ARL is a fixed-supply ERC-20 on Base: 21,000,000 ARL minted once, with no mint, no pause and no upgrade path. Escrowed jobs also accept USDC, so a provider can be paid in the asset it prefers.

How it works

1. Get ARL on Base (or use USDC for escrowed jobs).
2. Choose a provider in the ARL app and the payment model: per use, escrow or stream.
3. Sign the ceiling or fund the escrow; nothing moves above that limit.
4. Check the settlement and the usage receipt on Basescan.

Questions