1. Executive Summary
Sovereign Infrastructure for Autonomous Art Circulation
Version: 2.0 (Cosmos Architecture) Date: December 2025 Classification: Technical Documentation Status: Implementation Specification Network: nonterritorial.network
Authors: Tomas Silgalis — Co-Founder, Nonterritorial Foundation Barbara Baisi — Co-Founder, Nonterritorial Foundation
1.1 Project Overview
Nonterritorial is a sovereign blockchain infrastructure enabling physical art exhibitions to circulate globally without shipping, insurance, or institutional gatekeeping. Built on Cosmos SDK with CosmWasm smart contracts, the network operates as purpose-built cultural infrastructure rather than an application deployed on general-purpose chains.
1.2 Core Innovation
Unlike existing blockchain art platforms that deploy on Ethereum or its scaling solutions, Nonterritorial builds a sovereign chain where:
Anti-speculation is architectural: The consensus layer itself is designed for circulation, not exchange
Governance serves cultural values: Protocol decisions prioritize artistic integrity and accessibility
Infrastructure is permanent: No upstream dependencies; longevity depends only on community commitment
Ecosystem potential is native: Through IBC, Nonterritorial becomes foundation for interconnected cultural infrastructures
1.3 Key Metrics
Year 5 Exhibitions
1,200
Year 5 Annual Licenses
10,000
Year 5 Gross Revenue
€20,000,000
Year 5 Artist Payments
€8,000,000
Sustainability Target
Month 18
Full DAO Autonomy
Year 10
1.4 Technical Stack
2. Problem Analysis
2.1 The Gallery System's Structural Failure
The contemporary art market operates through a concentration model that systematically excludes the majority of artists and audiences:
Geographic Concentration
New York, London, and Hong Kong account for 82% of global auction sales
Gallery representation clusters in 15 cities worldwide
95% of humanity has no access to contemporary art institutions
Economic Gatekeeping
Gallery representation requires existing wealth, social capital, and geographic privilege
The median professional artist earns €8,000-12,000 annually from art sales
Over 70% of art school graduates abandon artistic practice within 10 years, primarily for economic reasons
Speculation Dominance
Artworks function as financial instruments for wealth preservation and speculation
Aesthetic and cultural value subordinates to market performance
Secondary market dynamics create perverse incentives (artist death increases prices)
Circulation Constraints
Shipping costs: €5,000-50,000 per international exhibition
Insurance: 0.5-2% of declared value annually
Crating, customs, courier travel multiply expenses
Result: only wealthy institutions can program internationally
2.2 The NFT Experiment's Failure
The 2021-2022 NFT phenomenon tested blockchain's potential for art. It failed for structural reasons:
Financialization Over Function
NFT platforms optimized for trading volume, not cultural circulation. Royalty structures incentivized speculation. Platform fees extracted value without building lasting infrastructure.
Architectural Assumptions
ERC-721 and similar standards assume transferability as default. "Non-transferable" implementations fight the architecture rather than embody values. This creates perpetual tension between intent and infrastructure.
No Physical Connection
Digital-only focus ignored the embodied experience of art. The "metaverse" promised virtual galleries but delivered speculation on JPEGs.
Collapse
NFT trading volume fell 97% from peak. Major platforms face insolvency. The experiment demonstrated blockchain's potential while proving that speculative architecture serves speculation, not culture.
2.3 The Infrastructure Gap
Neither galleries nor NFT platforms solve the fundamental problem: permanent infrastructure for art to circulate independent of institutional gatekeepers, resistant to speculative capture, accessible regardless of geography or wealth.
This infrastructure must be:
Sovereign: Not dependent on external platform decisions
Anti-speculative: Architecturally, not just contractually
Sustainable: Self-funding through operation, not external subsidy
Accessible: Economically viable for hosts worldwide
Permanent: Designed for decades, not platform lifecycles
3. Theoretical Foundations
3.1 From Ownership to Experienceship
Traditional art circulation assumes ownership transfer: collectors buy objects, institutions borrow from collections, provenance tracks ownership chains. Nonterritorial operates on a different premise: experienceship.
What circulates is not ownership but the capacity to experience. Hosts license exhibitions; artists retain all rights. No property transfers. The economic model serves experience creation, not asset accumulation.
This shift has profound implications:
Value creation: Revenue derives from experiences hosted, not objects traded
Artist relationship: Artists are network participants, not asset originators
Host relationship: Hosts are cultural producers, not temporary custodians
Audience relationship: Audiences access experiences, not view possessions
3.2 The Cinematic Preview Framework
Physical exhibitions become circulating experiences through the Cinematic Preview:
The documentation is not a recording of something else; it is the exhibition in its circulating form. High-quality audiovisual capture, spatial audio, atmospheric documentation create experiences that preserve and transmit the encounter.
This is not compromise but transformation. Just as a musical composition exists both as score and performance, an exhibition exists both as installation and cinematic form.
3.3 Archipelago Architecture
Édouard Glissant's concept of the archipelago—in which islands maintain distinct identity while existing in relation—informs Nonterritorial's design philosophy.
Against Continental Thinking
Continental models assume unified territory, central governance, hierarchical structure. Platforms like Ethereum operate continentally: one chain, shared security, common governance.
Archipelago Principles
Sovereignty: Each island governs itself
Relation: Islands connect without subordination
Opacity: Not everything must be transparent to participate
Creolization: Interaction creates new forms without erasing origins
Implementation
The Cosmos ecosystem embodies archipelago thinking: sovereign chains maintaining independence while communicating through IBC. Nonterritorial becomes one island in an archipelago of cultural infrastructures.
3.4 Autonomous Infrastructure
Autonomy here means operational independence—infrastructure that runs itself through economic design rather than continuous external intervention.
Self-Sustaining Economics
Revenue from licensing funds operations. Commission funds generate new exhibitions. The system requires no permanent subsidy.
Governance Independence
No external platform controls protocol decisions. The Foundation's role diminishes to zero by Year 10.
Technical Independence
No upstream chain dependencies. Validators aligned with cultural mission maintain the network.
4. Architectural Philosophy
4.1 Why Sovereign Infrastructure
The decision to build a sovereign chain rather than deploy on existing infrastructure reflects fundamental values:
Architectural Embodiment
Values should be architectural, not exceptional. On EVM chains, preventing transfer requires blocking default behaviour. On a sovereign chain, we design what the chain does, not what it prevents.
Governance Alignment
General-purpose chains govern for general purposes: security, scalability, ecosystem growth. Cultural infrastructure requires cultural governance: artistic integrity, accessibility, preservation.
Temporal Alignment
Ethereum is 10 years old. Cultural infrastructure must think in longer timeframes. Sovereign infrastructure's permanence depends only on community commitment, not upstream platform decisions.
Ecosystem Potential
Through IBC, Nonterritorial becomes foundation for interconnected cultural infrastructures. Other chains for music, literature, performance can connect while maintaining sovereignty. The archipelago emerges.
4.2 Why Cosmos SDK
Non-transferable tokens
No transfer message type at consensus level
Contract-level blocking of default behaviour
Cultural governance
Custom governance module serving cultural values
Subject to platform governance priorities
Long-term sovereignty
Independent chain, no upstream dependencies
Dependent on host chain evolution
Ecosystem interoperability
Native IBC protocol
Bridges with security tradeoffs
Purpose-built economics
Custom fee/reward structures
Constrained by platform economics
Validator alignment
Recruit validators for cultural mission
Generic validator set
4.3 Why CosmWasm
CosmWasm provides smart contract capability on Cosmos chains with significant advantages:
Rust Safety: Rust's type system and ownership model prevent entire classes of vulnerabilities common in Solidity: reentrancy, integer overflow, access control errors.
Deterministic Execution: Wasm provides deterministic execution across heterogeneous hardware, essential for consensus.
Upgradability: CosmWasm supports contract migration, enabling fixes and improvements without chain forks.
Performance: Compiled Wasm executes significantly faster than EVM bytecode.
5. Technical Architecture
5.1 System Overview
5.2 Chain Parameters
Block Time
5 seconds
Balance between finality and throughput
Validators
50-100
Sufficient decentralization, manageable coordination
Bonding Period
21 days
Standard Cosmos parameter, security consideration
Governance Voting
14 days
Allow global participation across timezones
Slashing (Double Sign)
5%
Standard security parameter
Slashing (Downtime)
0.01%
Forgiving of temporary issues
5.3 Token Economics
Native Token: UNT (Unit of Nonterritorial)
Utility: License fees, governance, staking
Supply: 1,000,000,000 UNT genesis supply
Inflation: 0% (deflationary through commission fund lock)
Distribution: See Section 9
Token Flow
5.4 Data Architecture
On-Chain State
Exhibition registry (ownership, status, metadata hash)
License records (host, duration, payment, status)
Payment distributions (immutable history)
Governance proposals and votes
Provenance chains
Off-Chain Storage (IPFS)
Exhibition media files (Cinematic Previews)
Metadata documents
Curatorial essays
Technical specifications
Marketing materials
Verification
Content hashes stored on-chain; IPFS provides content addressing. Any modification detectable through hash mismatch.
6. Smart Contract Specification
6.1 Exhibition Contract
The Exhibition contract manages the registry of circulating exhibitions. Critically, no transfer function exists—exhibitions are permanently bound to their creating artist.
The following is the Exhibition contract reference implementation in Rust for CosmWasm. It is included verbatim; any production deployment should follow security audits and testing.
(Full contract code as in the original specification — instantiate, execute handlers, queries, state definitions, and errors.)
6.2 License Contract
The License contract manages time-bound exhibition licenses. Like exhibitions, licenses are non-transferable—bound permanently to the issuing host.
The following is the License contract reference implementation in Rust for CosmWasm. It is included verbatim; production deployment requires audits and testing.
(Full contract code as in the original specification — state, execute flows for request/confirm/complete/cancel, pricing, indices.)
6.3 Payment Contract
The Payment contract handles automatic distribution of license fees according to the fixed allocation.
The following is the Payment contract reference implementation in Rust for CosmWasm. It is included verbatim; production deployment requires audits and testing.
(Full contract code as in the original specification — distribution logic, records, protections.)
6.4 Governance Contract
The Governance contract implements multi-stakeholder voting with constitutional protections.
The following is the Governance contract reference implementation in Rust for CosmWasm. It is included verbatim; production deployment requires audits and testing.
(Full contract code as in the original specification — councils, proposals, votes, constitutional protections.)
6.5 Provenance Contract
The Provenance contract maintains immutable circulation history for each exhibition.
The following is the Provenance contract reference implementation in Rust for CosmWasm. It is included verbatim; production deployment requires audits and testing.
(Full contract code as in the original specification — recording events, authorized callers, queries.)
7. Consensus & Validator Design
7.1 CometBFT (Tendermint) Consensus
Nonterritorial uses CometBFT, the production-ready implementation of Tendermint consensus:
Properties
Instant Finality: Transactions are final once included in a block (no confirmations needed)
Byzantine Fault Tolerance: Tolerates up to 1/3 malicious validators
Deterministic: Same inputs always produce same outputs across validators
Parameters
Block Time
5s
Balance between throughput and global latency
Max Validators
100
Sufficient decentralization
Min Stake
10,000 UNT
Meaningful commitment
Unbonding
21 days
Security against long-range attacks
7.2 Validator Requirements
Nonterritorial validators are not generic infrastructure providers but mission-aligned participants:
Technical Requirements
99.9% uptime commitment
Secure key management (HSM recommended)
Geographic distribution (no more than 20% in single jurisdiction)
Minimum hardware: 4 CPU, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD, 100Mbps
Mission Alignment Requirements
Demonstrated interest in cultural infrastructure
Agreement to governance participation
Commitment to long-term operation (minimum 2-year)
No conflict of interest with speculative art markets
Validator Categories
Cultural Institutions
20
Museums, foundations, universities
Technology Partners
20
Web3 infrastructure companies
Geographic Representatives
30
Regional cultural advocates
Artist Collectives
15
Artist-run organizations
Individual Stakeholders
15
Major contributors
7.3 Slashing Conditions
Double Signing
5% stake
Critical security violation
Downtime (>24h)
0.01% stake
Operational reliability
Governance Absence
Warning
Participation expected
Mission Violation
Removal
Community decision
7.4 Validator Economics
Validators earn through:
Block Rewards: Portion of operations fund (30% of licenses)
Transaction Fees: Small fees for non-license transactions
Governance Participation: Reputation and network influence
Expected annual return: 8-15% of staked amount (variable with network activity).
8. IBC Integration
8.1 Inter-Blockchain Communication Overview
IBC enables Nonterritorial to communicate with other Cosmos chains without bridges or intermediaries.
8.2 IBC Use Cases
Token Transfers: UNT can move to other chains for liquidity (controlled). Stablecoins can enter for fiat-denominated licensing. Cross-chain payment settlement.
Data Sharing: Provenance data shared with archive chains. Artist credentials verified across chains. Exhibition metadata interoperability.
Governance Coordination: Cross-chain proposals affecting multiple networks. Shared constitutional protections. Ecosystem-wide parameter coordination.
8.3 Supported IBC Connections
Phase 1 (Launch)
Cosmos Hub
Ecosystem anchor, shared security option
Osmosis
Liquidity for UNT (controlled, non-speculative)
Phase 2 (Year 2)
Stargaze
NFT interoperability (provenance only)
Juno
Smart contract interoperability
Phase 3 (Year 3+)
Cultural Partners
Other sovereign cultural chains
Archive Chain
Long-term preservation network
8.4 IBC Security Considerations
Light client verification ensures trustless communication
Relayer incentives aligned with network operation
Timeout parameters prevent stuck transactions
Packet filtering for unwanted message types
9. Economic Model
9.1 Token Distribution
Genesis Supply: 1,000,000,000 UNT
Foundation Treasury
200,000,000
20%
4-year linear
Team & Advisors
150,000,000
15%
4-year, 1-year cliff
Seed Investors
100,000,000
10%
2-year linear
Validator Incentives
150,000,000
15%
10-year distribution
Artist Grants
100,000,000
10%
As earned
Commission Fund
100,000,000
10%
Locked, governance release
Community Treasury
200,000,000
20%
DAO controlled
9.2 License Fee Economics
Base Pricing (adjustable by governance)
Museum
€800
€50
Gallery
€600
€40
University
€400
€25
Commercial
€500
€35
Community
€200
€15
Private
€300
€20
Geographic Multipliers
Tier 1
1.5x
US, UK, Japan, Germany
Tier 2
1.0x
Italy, Spain, Poland
Tier 3
0.7x
Mexico, Brazil, Thailand
Tier 4
0.4x
Nigeria, India, Vietnam
Tier 5
0.2x
Low-income economies
9.3 Revenue Projections
Conservative Scenario
1
50
4
€800
€160,000
2
150
5
€1,000
€750,000
3
400
5
€1,200
€2,400,000
4
800
6
€1,400
€6,720,000
5
1,200
8
€1,600
€15,360,000
Distribution at Year 5
Artists
40%
€6,144,000
Curators
20%
€3,072,000
Operations
30%
€4,608,000
Commission Fund
10%
€1,536,000
9.4 Artist Economics
Year 5 Network State (Conservative)
500 artists in network
1,200 exhibitions
10,000 licenses/year
€6.1M distributed to artists
Distribution Characteristics
Top 10%: €30,000+ annual
Median: €8,000-12,000 annual
Bottom 25%: €2,000-5,000 annual
This represents supplemental income enabling artistic practice, not replacement income.
9.5 Path to Sustainability
Breakeven Analysis
Monthly operating costs (Year 1): ~€25,000
Required monthly revenue: €83,000 (30% to ops)
Required licenses/month: ~70 at €1,200 average
Target achievement: Month 15-18
10. Governance Specification
10.1 Multi-Stakeholder Structure
10.2 Proposal Types & Thresholds
Standard
50%
14 days
None
Parameter
50%
14 days
None
Constitutional
75%
21 days
Artist Council
Emergency
66%
3 days
None
10.3 Constitutional Protections
These cannot be modified even by supermajority:
Artist Share Floor: Cannot fall below 35%
Anti-Speculation: Transfer functions cannot be enabled
Geographic Access: Tiered pricing must exist
Provenance Immutability: History cannot be altered
Foundation Sunset: Must reach 0% control by Year 10
10.4 Foundation Sunset Schedule
1
80%
20%
2
65%
35%
3
50%
50%
5
30%
70%
7
15%
85%
10
0%
100%
11. Security Architecture
11.1 Smart Contract Security
Audit Schedule
Internal Review
Pre-testnet
Logic, access control
External Audit 1
Pre-mainnet
Full contract suite
External Audit 2
Post-launch
Upgrade review
Continuous
Ongoing
Bug bounty program
Audit Partners (Target)
Oak Security (CosmWasm specialist)
Halborn
Informal Systems
Bug Bounty Program
Critical
Up to €50,000
High
Up to €20,000
Medium
Up to €5,000
Low
Up to €1,000
11.2 Operational Security
Key Management
Multi-signature for all admin functions (3-of-5 minimum)
Hardware security modules for validator keys
Geographic distribution of signers
Time-locked transactions for treasury operations
Infrastructure Security
DDoS protection for public endpoints
Rate limiting on API access
Regular penetration testing
Incident response procedures documented
11.3 Upgrade Security
Upgrade Process
Proposal submitted with code diff
14-day voting period
External review for significant changes
Testnet deployment and verification
Mainnet upgrade with rollback plan
Emergency Procedures
Circuit breakers for critical functions
Emergency pause capability (multi-sig)
Predefined recovery procedures
Communication protocols for incidents
12. Implementation Roadmap
Phase 1: Foundation (Months 1-6)
Deliverables
Chain specification complete
Core contracts developed
Testnet deployed
9 pilot exhibitions documented
Security audit initiated
Milestones
Month 2: Testnet launch
Month 4: Pilot exhibitions complete
Month 6: Audit complete
Budget: €600,000
Phase 2: Launch (Months 7-12)
Deliverables
Mainnet launch
50 exhibitions onboarded
20 hosts activated
Fiat integration operational
Governance activated
Milestones
Month 8: Mainnet launch
Month 10: First 100 licenses
Month 12: Governance operational
Budget: €500,000
Phase 3: Growth (Months 13-24)
Deliverables
200 exhibitions
100 hosts
IBC connections live
Geographic pricing operational
Commission fund active
Milestones
Month 15: IBC launch
Month 18: Self-sustainability
Month 24: 500 licenses/month
Budget: €400,000 (initial funding + operations revenue)
Phase 4: Scale (Months 25-36)
Deliverables
500 exhibitions
300 hosts
Ecosystem partnerships
Full DAO operation
Foundation control at 50%
Budget: €100,000 (from operations)
13. Risk Assessment
13.1 Technical Risks
Smart contract vulnerability
Low
Critical
Multiple audits, bug bounty
Validator centralization
Medium
High
Geographic requirements, mission alignment
IBC security issue
Low
High
Conservative connection policy
Upgrade failure
Low
Medium
Testnet verification, rollback plans
13.2 Economic Risks
Low adoption
Medium
High
Pilot proof of concept, partnerships
Token volatility
Medium
Medium
Non-speculative design, utility focus
Competition
Low
Medium
First-mover, unique architecture
Pricing resistance
Medium
Low
Geographic tiers, governance adjustment
13.3 Operational Risks
Key person dependency
Medium
Medium
Documentation, team expansion
Regulatory change
Medium
Medium
Legal counsel, jurisdiction selection
Validator dropout
Low
Medium
Incentive alignment, backup validators
Content quality
Medium
Medium
Curation standards, quality control
13.4 Governance Risks
Voter apathy
Medium
Medium
Incentives, delegation
Council capture
Low
High
Multi-stakeholder design, veto rights
Constitutional violation
Low
Critical
On-chain enforcement
Foundation overreach
Low
Medium
Sunset schedule, transparency
Appendices
A. Glossary
Cinematic Preview: High-quality audiovisual documentation of physical exhibition, serving as the circulating exhibition form.
CosmWasm: WebAssembly-based smart contract platform for Cosmos SDK chains.
Experienceship: Access to experience rather than ownership of object; the fundamental shift from possession to encounter.
IBC: Inter-Blockchain Communication protocol enabling trustless communication between Cosmos chains.
License: Time-bound permission for host to exhibit Cinematic Preview; non-transferable.
Sovereign Chain: Blockchain with independent consensus, governance, and economics; not dependent on external platform.
UNT: Unit of Nonterritorial; native token for license fees, governance, and staking.
B. Technical References
Cosmos SDK Documentation: docs.cosmos.network
CosmWasm Book: book.cosmwasm.com
IBC Protocol: ibc.cosmos.network
CometBFT: docs.cometbft.com
Tendermint Consensus: tendermint.com/docs
C. Economic Formulas
License Fee Calculation:
Weighted Vote:
Sustainability Threshold:
D. Contact
Tomas Silgalis Co-Founder [email protected]
Barbara Baisi Co-Founder [email protected]
Nonterritorial Foundation 4th Floor, 45 Fitzroy Street London W1T 6EB, United Kingdom Company Number: 13498548
Documentation nonterritorial.network
Whitepaper v2.0 | Nonterritorial Network Sovereign Infrastructure for Autonomous Art Circulation December 2025
Disclaimer
This document is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, trading advice, or any other sort of advice. The Nonterritorial Foundation makes no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy or completeness of information contained herein. Prospective participants should conduct their own due diligence and consult with appropriate advisors.
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