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Beyond Crypto x AI

While Ritual excels at enabling state-of-the-art AI applications, our underlying architecture is optimized for all types of heterogeneous compute (including ZK, TEE, Chain Abstraction, and more out-of-the-box). Fundamental innovations like Resonance, Symphony, and Ritual ↔︎ World enable:
  1. Efficiently pricing any type of compute, without chain fee mechanism modifications
  2. Node specialization enabling broad classes of participants and workloads
  3. Consuming Ritual compute from any chain, with verifiable outputs

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Why Expressive Blockchains?

Traditional blockchain architectures were designed for homogeneous transactions—simple transfers and basic smart contract interactions where every node executes the same computation. However, the Web3 landscape is rapidly evolving:
  • Complex Computations: Modern blockchain applications demand increasingly sophisticated operations, from ZK proofs to ML inference
  • Specialized Hardware: Different types of computation benefit from specialized hardware (GPUs, TPUs, FPGAs, ASICs)
  • Resource Intensity: Heavy computational tasks like proof generation or model inference are inefficient when replicated across all nodes
  • Cost Efficiency: Forcing all nodes to execute all computations leads to higher network execution costs and reduced throughput
This evolution demands a new paradigm: one where blockchain networks can efficiently handle heterogeneous computation while maintaining security and decentralization.

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Ritual Architecture

Three key architectural innovations make Ritual the ideal venue for expressive blockchain computation:

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Resonance

Resonance introduces a surplus-maximizing transaction fee mechanism that efficiently matches user transactions with specialized compute nodes. Unlike traditional blockchain architectures where all nodes execute all transactions, Resonance enables:
  • Selective execution based on node specialization
  • Private, unique execution cost functions for compute providers
  • Efficient price discovery through sophisticated brokers

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Symphony

Symphony is a new state-of-the-art consensus protocol that builds upon proven consensus mechanisms while introducing:
  • Dual proof sharding for reduced replicated execution
  • Distributed verification for high-performance workloads
  • Optimized committee election for specialized compute tasks

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Ritual ↔︎ World

Our Ritual ↔︎ World integrations enable other blockchains to tap into Ritual’s infrastructure as a backend for their own execution, outsourcing their heterogeneous computation to Ritual’s optimized execution environment.
  • Simple integration for any blockchain network via Infernet or GMP
  • Out-of-the-box support for all types of compute (ZK, TEE, Chain Abstraction, etc.)
  • Optimized pricing, routing, and execution via Ritual architecture

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Ritual-as-a-backend

Other blockchain networks can tap into Ritual’s infrastructure in several ways:

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Direct Integration

Other chains can directly connect to Ritual’s compute mesh through:
  • Message Passing: Standard cross-chain communication protocols to request compute
  • Infernet Integration: Direct access via Ritual’s 8,000+ specialized compute nodes

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Compute Outsourcing

Chains can offload specific computational tasks to Ritual:
  • Proof Generation: For ZK-rollups and other proving systems
  • Model Inference: For AI/ML workloads
  • TEE: For trusted execution environments
  • Optimized execution pricing: For L2 RaaS providers, via Resonance
  • Custom Compute: For any specialized computational needs

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Benefits

By leveraging Ritual’s infrastructure, chains gain:
  • Cost Efficiency: Pay only for the compute they need
  • Specialized Hardware: Access to a diverse network of compute providers
  • Scalability: Offload heavy computation without sacrificing decentralization
  • Future-Proofing: Support for new types of computation as they emerge

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Initial applications

This unique architecture positions Ritual as the backbone for next-generation blockchain applications. In the following sections, we explore three key use-cases that showcase how Ritual’s infrastructure powers applications beyond Crypto x AI:

Prover Networks

High-performance chains can leverage Ritual for efficient proof generation and verification.

L2 RaaS

Enabling modern Rollup-as-a-Service offerings through heterogeneous compute orchestration.

Model Marketplace

Creating a verifiable marketplace for intellectual property and compute assets.
Through these innovations, Ritual becomes more than just a platform—it evolves into the schelling point for Web3’s most demanding computational needs, current and future.