What is Talus？

The Talus Network is an intelligent agent hub and a Layer 1 network specifically built for AI Agents. It aims to create a new network to address the problems of centralized AI systems and leverage decentralization to achieve AI. Integrating Move’s smart contract security, performance, and object-oriented programming, it provides robust developer tools and an ecosystem for numerous new AI intelligent agent use cases.

Talus Network official website (Source: talus)

Project Background

Funding

Talus was established in 2023 and completed its first round of financing in February 2024, raising $3 million, led by Polychain Capital and co-invested by Hash3, dao5, TRGC, WAGMI Ventures, Inception Capital, and other institutions and angel investors. In November of the same year, Talus Network completed a $6 million financing round at a valuation of $150 million, again led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Foresight Ventures, Animoca, Geek Cartel, Echo, and angel investors such as Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, Sentient core contributor and Symbolic Capital co-founder Kenzi Wang, 0G Labs CEO Michael Heinrich, Allora Labs CEO Nick Emmons, and Nuffle Labs co-founder Atlan Tutar.

Talus financing poster (Source: talus)

Key Team Members

Mike Hanono: Founder and CEO of Talus Network, with a master’s degree in Applied Data Science from the University of Southern California in 2022. He has been committed to blockchain research and was a backend engineer in DeFi protocols.

Ben Frigon: COO of Talus Network, co-designer of the first university credit NFT course in the history of Blockchain@Brown, the student-run blockchain club at Brown University. He has also worked at Distributed Global and Movement Labs.

Talus Key Organizational Structure

The Talus Network’s layered blockchain architecture has two aspects: selecting the best existing components and developing necessary innovations from scratch.

Talus’ Layered Blockchain Architecture (Source: talus)

Talus is a decentralized AI Agent platform with multiple components, such as AI Stack, Mirror Objects, Move VM, Protochain Node, and IBC, working together to form an efficient and secure system.

The protocol is located at the bottom layer, consisting of Protochain Node, Move VM, and IBC.

Protochain Node

Protochain Node is the code name for the proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain node, supported by Cosmos SDK and CometBFT. As a mature, open-source, and scalable framework, Cosmos SDK enhances Talus’ flexibility and scalability, making it easier to build customized PoS or PoA blockchains. CometBFT, a consensus algorithm with modular features, allows the system to split when necessary. Together with Cosmos SDK, it provides security and scalability solutions.

Move VM

Talus adopts Sui Move as its smart contract language. Leveraging Move’s advantages in high performance, security, and programming design enhances the safety of on-chain logic. Talus utilizes MoveVM’s architecture to support efficient concurrency, enabling Talus to scale by processing multiple transactions simultaneously without losing security or integrity. Developers can use Talus’s Move to write contracts for managing and trading AI resources, creating robust developer tools and a symbiotic ecosystem for new AI Agent use cases.

IBC (Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol)

IBC provides significant support for AI Agents regarding interoperability, cross-chain operations, scalability, and security through a unique and powerful approach. IBC enables seamless interoperability between blockchains, allowing AI Agents to interact with and utilize data or assets on multiple chains. Additionally, IBC indirectly supports blockchain scalability through sharding technology. Each blockchain acts as a “shard” processing part of the transactions, reducing the burden on a single chain. This mechanism allows intelligent agents to efficiently manage and execute tasks in a more distributed and scalable manner.

Mirror Objects

Mirror Objects aim to represent the off-chain world within the on-chain architecture. For example, proof of resource uniqueness, tradability of off-chain resources, representation or verifiability of ownership, etc., can all be reflected on-chain using the concept of Mirror Objects. These objects bridge the gap between the computationally intensive nature of AI processes and the blockchain environment, ensuring the uniqueness and tradability of resources.

AI Stack

Through the Talus AI technology stack, users can build intelligent agents. As part of this stack, Talus provides SDKs and integration components for off-chain resources and oracles.

SDKs: Talus Software Development Kit (SDK) provides libraries across systems and programming languages. In addition to libraries supporting web application development on Talus, it also offers foundational data models and smart contracts as basic modules for building intelligent agents. For example, if you want to create a verifiable chatbot based on large language models (LLMs), Talus SDK provides the necessary on-chain APIs and domain models.

Integration Components: Talus AI technology stack helps AI Agent developers seamlessly utilize the required off-chain resources. By providing high-quality support for basic use cases, Talus ensures smooth interaction with off-chain resources. Talus efficiently supports interaction with LLMs and provides top-notch services for integrating with oracles. This means Talus not only supports integration with specific oracle networks but also offers the necessary building blocks for developing new integration methods based on community needs in the future.

Smart Agent

Smart Agents are at the forefront of the entire architecture. Talus reinterprets these characteristics natively within web3: autonomy, social capabilities, reactivity, and proactivity.

Smart Agent Blueprint (Source: talus)

• Autonomy: Smart Agents operate without constant human guidance, making decisions based on their programming and learning. Utilizing the trustless nature of blockchain smart contracts, their decisions are auditable and fully transparent.
• Social Capability: Smart Agents can communicate with other agents (including humans) to complete tasks or achieve goals. In Talus, on-chain communication is directly conducted through transactions and smart contracts. Additionally, use-case-specific UIs and oracles can adapt to other interactions.
• Reactivity: Smart Agents can sense their environment and respond promptly to changes. Talus supports reactive Smart Agents through listeners that respond to on-chain and off-chain events. Oracles, acting as bridges between the blockchain and the external world, enable Smart Agents to make informed decisions and react to off-chain events.
• Proactivity: Beyond responding to situations, Smart Agents can take proactive actions based on goals, predictions, or expectations of future states. They can analyze trends and patterns in blockchain and external data, predict future states, and execute transactions or adjustments in advance.

Talus Applications

Due to Talus’ unique features, especially its focus on intelligent agents, seamless resource integration, and universal protocols, it has opened up a wide range of applications across various fields:

• User Experience: Talus enables intelligent wallets for risk or anomaly detection, on-chain monitoring of transactions and assets, and intelligent analysis of projects and portfolios.
• DeFi: Talus facilitates the trading of various assets and resources, including computing power and data, enhancing liquidity, supporting complex financial instruments, and improving risk management through more sophisticated and autonomous intelligent agents.
• DAO: Talus leverages intelligent agents for governance, automated decision-making, and resource allocation, enabling DAOs to operate more autonomously and efficiently. These organizations can dynamically purchase computational resources or services as needed, improving adaptability and efficiency.
• IoT: AI Agents autonomously manage IoT ecosystems, conduct transactions, manage energy resources, or purchase bandwidth while ensuring the security and efficiency of decentralized networks.
• Gaming/SocialFi: AI Agents provide personalized, dynamic, and interactive experiences for individual users. Smart agents can adjust content in real-time, manage decentralized virtual economies and assets, ensure fairness, and promote cross-platform interoperability.
• Artificial Intelligence and Data Ecosystems: AI Agents facilitate unique collaborative environments between model developers and data providers, managed by intelligent agents to ensure fairness and transparency.

About the $TAI Token

Talus’ ecosystem token, TAI, is used for intelligent agent operations, resource purchasing and trading, staking for network security and consensus, governance, and more. Its tokenomics are designed to reward resource providers and blockchain node operators, creating a balanced marketplace.

Key Use Cases of $TAI Tokens

Transaction Medium: All intelligent agent operations, resource purchases, and transactions are conducted using $TAI tokens. This ensures economic activities within the ecosystem revolve around $TAI tokens, driving circulation and demand growth.

Resource Purchases: Resource providers can earn $TAI tokens by contributing computing power, data, or models. Developers and users can purchase these resources with $TAI tokens, driving continuous ecosystem development and innovation.

Network Security: $TAI token holders can participate in the network’s proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanism, staking tokens to help maintain network security and consensus while earning corresponding rewards.

Governance and Voting: $TAI tokens can be used in decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) for governance decisions and voting, allowing token holders to vote on project directions, upgrades, or proposals.

Talus has not yet disclosed the full tokenomics for $TAI, and further updates will be provided when available.

Conclusion

Talus emerges as a transformative platform, redefining the paradigm of decentralized digital ecosystems through the synergy of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology. It offers innovative solutions to challenges like data privacy, security, and accessibility, prevalent in traditional AI and blockchain implementations. Talus expands AI’s potential for integration across various industries, paving the way for a more equitable and autonomous digital future.

As a Layer 1 network dedicated to AI Agents, Talus continues to attract increasing market capital and traffic. With the AI concept remaining a hot topic and the track teeming with projects, Talus’ foundational infrastructure positions it to capture substantial attention. Its solid and innovative technology is expected to help Talus secure a strong foothold in the AI sector.