Automata Network

Automata Network is a decentralized verification infrastructure protocol that leverages Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) to enable secure, hardware-backed computation for Web3 and AI applications. Founded in 2019 by Deli Gong, Zheng Leong, Leona Hioki, and Sujith Somraaj, the project positions itself as "the foundation of machine trust" — the cryptographic substrate that lets autonomous systems, rollups, and decentralized applications prove that their computations ran correctly on genuine, isolated hardware without relying on a trusted intermediary.

The Problem Automata Solves

As blockchain systems grow more complex — incorporating Layer 2 rollups, AI inference, and autonomous agents — the question of computational integrity becomes critical. A zero-knowledge proof can attest to a mathematical statement, but it cannot independently prove that the hardware running a computation was authentic, uncompromised, or running the correct software version. Similarly, decentralized applications that depend on off-chain data pipelines or sequencers have historically been forced to trust whoever operates that infrastructure.

Automata addresses this hardware trust gap by generating cryptographic attestation reports that verify a computation executed inside a genuine, isolated TEE — such as Intel SGX/TDX, AMD SEV-SNP, or AWS Nitro Enclaves. These reports are then verified directly on-chain, creating an immutable audit trail without requiring any party to be trusted.

How It Works

The core mechanism is a three-layer attestation stack:

Silicon-level isolation. Computations run inside hardware enclaves that are isolated from the host operating system. Even a compromised server cannot observe or tamper with what executes inside an enclave. Automata supports Intel SGX and TDX, AMD SEV-SNP, AWS Nitro Enclaves, and NVIDIA H100 AI accelerators.

Remote attestation. After a computation completes, the enclave generates an attestation report — a cryptographically signed measurement of the enclave hardware, firmware, and software state. This report proves both authenticity (the hardware is genuine Intel/AMD/AWS silicon) and integrity (the expected code ran without modification).

On-chain verification. Automata smart contracts verify these attestation reports directly on the blockchain. The DCAP (Data Center Attestation Primitives) framework handles Intel certificate chain validation entirely on-chain, removing any central attestation service as a dependency. The DCAP Dashboard automates certificate collateral management and security-patch monitoring, eliminating a significant operational burden for teams running SGX or TDX environments.

To make attestation reports cheaper to verify at scale, Automata integrates with zero-knowledge virtual machines — including RISC Zero, Succinct, and Brevis — to compress hardware quotes from million-gas verification costs into affordable ZK proofs.

Key Products

DCAP Attestation and Dashboard. The flagship product handles Intel SGX/TDX certificate verification and collateral lifecycle management on-chain. In November 2025, Automata expanded DCAP support to ten networks including Ethereum, Optimism, Base, and Worldchain. Production users include Uniswap and Flashbots.

Multi-Prover AVS. Automata operates a Multi-Prover Active Validation Service (AVS) that adds a secondary TEE-based proving layer to Ethereum rollups. The SGX Prover runs block computations inside an enclave and submits a Proof of Execution to an on-chain SGX Verifier contract. Scroll and Linea both use the Automata Multi-Prover as part of their path toward Stage 2 decentralization, distributing trust across different proof constructions to reduce systemic risk from a single proving mechanism. Enhanced multi-prover rollup support was released in January 2026.

TEE Attestation SDKs. Modular Rust and Solidity SDKs provide a unified interface for attesting computations across Intel, AMD, AWS, and NVIDIA hardware families, along with ZK-proof compression for on-chain quote verification.

1RPC. A privacy-focused RPC relay and AI inference gateway that routes requests through TEEs. Requests are processed without the gateway operator being able to log metadata, providing zero-trace privacy for blockchain and LLM API calls.

XATA. An all-in-one trading interface combining perpetuals and spot trading with an AI copilot backed by TEE security, providing verifiable intent execution for traders.

Machine-Verifiable Identity (ERC-8004). Infrastructure for autonomous agents to register trusted execution proofs on-chain, enabling agent systems to build cryptographic reputation anchored to hardware guarantees rather than operator assertions.

Security and Audits

In January 2025, Trail of Bits conducted an eight-engineering-week security review of the DCAP Attestation v1.0.0 repository and on-chain PCCS (Provisioning Certificate Caching Service). The review found the repository to be generally well-structured, with clear APIs and easy-to-follow workflows. CertiK rates the project 4.1 out of 5. The SGX Prover and Verifier are open-source under the Apache 2.0 license.

ATA Token

ATA is Automata Network's native utility token with a total supply of one billion. It is used to pay protocol fees and compensate nodes for executing storage and computation tasks, and also participates in network governance. The token launched via Binance Launchpool and has a circulating supply of approximately 971 million ATA.

Team and History

Automata Network was founded in 2019 as a privacy infrastructure project and has evolved substantially, shifting focus from privacy-preserving middleware toward a broader TEE verification stack suited to the rollup and AI agent landscape. The founding team — Deli Gong, Zheng Leong, Leona Hioki, and Sujith Somraaj — brings backgrounds in blockchain research and cryptographic systems.

Ecosystem Fit

Automata's primary deployment environment is Ethereum and EVM-compatible networks, where its Multi-Prover AVS integrations with Scroll and Linea represent its most significant production use cases. The project's attestation infrastructure is chain-agnostic by design — any network that can run Solidity verification contracts can consume DCAP attestation proofs — but there are no documented Solana-specific deployments or integrations at present. Automata's value to the broader decentralized ecosystem lies in providing a shared attestation foundation that rollups, DeFi protocols, AI agents, and privacy-sensitive applications can all draw from, rather than in native Solana program deployments.