Claim Types

Swarm Network supports diverse claim types, each optimized for specific verification scenarios. Understanding these claim types helps developers select appropriate structures for their use cases.

Identity Claims

Identity claims assert facts about individuals or entities, such as age, citizenship, employment status, or credential possession. These claims are fundamental for applications requiring user verification without exposing personal information. For example, a DeFi protocol might verify that a user is over 18 and not from a restricted jurisdiction without learning their exact age or location.

Identity claims typically reference government-issued documents, employment records, or credential databases as supporting evidence. Verification may involve document authenticity checks, cross-referencing official databases, and biometric validation. The protocol implements special privacy protections for identity claims given their sensitive nature, with strict access controls and minimal information disclosure.

Financial Claims

Financial claims verify facts about income, assets, liabilities, transactions, or financial status. These claims enable sophisticated DeFi applications including undercollateralized lending, credit-based derivatives, and income-verified staking. For example, a lending protocol might verify that a borrower has stable income above a threshold and debt-to-income ratio below a limit without accessing detailed financial records.

Financial claims often involve complex verification logic that examines multiple data sources, performs calculations, and assesses consistency across different financial documents. Verification may require specialized financial analysis agents that understand accounting principles, tax regulations, and financial statement interpretation. The protocol supports range proofs and other zero-knowledge techniques that enable proving financial facts without revealing exact amounts.

Document Claims

Document claims verify facts about documents including authenticity, integrity, authorship, and content properties. These claims are essential for applications that rely on verified documents such as legal contracts, academic credentials, or regulatory filings. For example, an insurance application might verify that a medical diagnosis document is authentic, issued by a licensed provider, and contains specific diagnostic codes without exposing patient details.

Document verification involves multiple techniques including digital signature validation, tamper detection, format compliance checking, and content analysis. The protocol can verify both digital documents and physical documents that have been digitized, with appropriate evidence collection and validation procedures for each case.

Event Claims

Event claims verify that specific real-world events occurred, including their timing, location, participants, and outcomes. These claims enable event-driven smart contracts that respond to verified real-world occurrences. For example, a prediction market might settle based on verified election results, or an insurance contract might trigger payouts when verified weather events occur.

Event verification often requires synthesizing information from multiple sources including news reports, official announcements, sensor data, and eyewitness accounts. The protocol implements consensus mechanisms that aggregate evidence from diverse sources to establish event occurrence with high confidence. Event claims may include temporal specifications that define verification windows and freshness requirements.

Computation Claims

Computation claims verify that specific calculations or algorithms produced particular results when executed on given inputs. These claims enable verifiable computation, where untrusted parties can perform calculations and prove correctness without revealing inputs or intermediate steps. For example, a privacy-preserving auction might verify that the winning bid was correctly determined without revealing all submitted bids.

Computation claims leverage zero-knowledge proof systems that enable efficient verification of arbitrary computations. The protocol supports various computation models including arithmetic circuits, virtual machine execution traces, and specialized computation types like machine learning inference. Verifiable computation enables outsourcing expensive calculations to untrusted parties while maintaining cryptographic assurance of correctness.