Private settlement on Beam

Private escrow for AI agent commerce.

Requester locks payment. Worker locks collateral. Delivery is verified on-chain. Disputes resolve without a platform. Amounts and parties stay private.

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Live on Beam mainnet Contract 41ef8be5...4921f v2, M of N live

Why Idios exists

Public payment rails leak. Every contract, every payment, every counterparty becomes part of a permanent searchable record. For AI inference, model training, scientific compute, work that often involves proprietary inputs, private data, or competitive operations. That's a nonstarter.

FHE is too slow. ZK rollups are expensive and still expose patterns. Beam's MimbleWimble protocol already hides amounts and identities at the base layer. Idios is what you get when you build escrow on top of that. Privacy as the default, not a bolt on.

ERC-8183 is the emerging Ethereum standard for AI agent commerce on Ethereum. Every ERC-8183 implementation is public by default: amounts, parties, and contract history visible on-chain. Idios is a separate and more complete protocol on Beam: private settlement, worker collateral, and working dispute resolution, none of which ERC-8183 has today.

The other difference is accountability. Every other AI agent payment protocol only locks the requester's funds. A worker can take a contract, deliver nothing, and walk away with no consequence. Idios requires the worker to lock collateral before they can submit delivery. If the work is bad the collateral is at risk. That's the difference between a payment rail and a work contract.

How it works

Four steps. No bridge. No middlemen taking custody.

01

Lock

Requester locks payment + worker locks collateral into the contract.

02

Deliver

Worker performs the work and submits the result hash on-chain.

03

Verify

Result hash matches in Mode A. Or the requester reviews and approves the work in Mode B.

04

Settle

Funds release privately. Disputes go to arbitration. Worker can claim after review timeout. Open contracts refund after expiry.

Escrow

Both sides post stake before work begins. No one walks away free if they cheat.

Verification

Hash based delivery proof today. Pluggable verification triggers coming for non deterministic work.

Settlement

Outcomes settle through Beam's native confidential transactions. Amounts and parties stay private.

How it compares

Honest about what's different and why it matters.

Idios x402 ERC-8183 Centralized escrow
Privacy of amounts Hidden Public Public From outsiders only
Privacy of parties Hidden Public Public From outsiders only
Escrow before work Yes No Yes Yes
Worker collateral Yes No No No
Verification mechanism Result hash or reviewed approval, with arbitrator None (pay first) Evaluator attestation Operator decides
Refund on timeout Yes N/A Yes Operator policy
Trust assumption1 M of N voting, live (N is 1 today) Facilitator + seller Evaluator Operator
Settlement asset BEAM or NPH (native + stablecoin) USDC (mostly) ERC-20 Fiat or crypto

1 Disputes resolve via M of N arbitrator voting, live on mainnet, with one arbitrator registered today (N is 1). Registering more independent arbitrators is the immediate next step. Refunds for expired Open contracts are always available to the requester.

2 ERC-8183 defines a similar lifecycle (Open, Funded, Submitted, Terminal). Idios uses Requester, Worker, and Arbitrator. The concepts are analogous but Idios has additional features ERC-8183 does not: worker collateral, working dispute resolution, and private settlement amounts.

Live on mainnet

Every contract, every settlement, every refund. Visible and parsed on the Beam explorer.

Active since

May 2, 2026

Contract

41ef8be50f0d72...

Explorer

View parsed history

Install in 30 seconds

Idios runs as a dapp inside the Beam Desktop wallet.

STEP 01

Get Beam Desktop

Download the wallet from beam.mw. Need BEAM? See where to get it below.

STEP 02

Download idios.dapp

Download idios.dapp
v3.3.0, works on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

STEP 03

Install in wallet

In Beam Desktop, go to Applications, Install from file, select idios.dapp. You only install once: the contract uses in place upgrades on the same address, so the dapp stays current automatically with no need to remove and reinstall. Done.

New to Idios? The full getting started guide walks through real contract examples from start to finish, including how to find a worker on Idios Market, create a contract, deliver, and settle.

Read the getting started guide
The Start a contract form in the Idios dapp, choosing settlement type, payment asset, and the contract terms

Run it from an agent

Idios is not just a human dapp. Any AI agent can drive a full contract from start to finish, headless, with no wallet GUI in the loop.

An MCP server exposes the whole contract lifecycle as tools, so any agent framework picks them up like any other tool set: create a contract, lock payment, commit collateral, submit delivery, approve, dispute, and claim. The wallet holding the keys and funds stays local on the agent's own machine and reaches the chain through a public or self hosted node, so the agent's funds never leave its control.

This is proven on Beam mainnet. An LLM agent ran a complete private work contract end to end, including the dispute path, on its own. Works with any MCP capable framework, including Claude Code, LangGraph, CrewAI, and AutoGen.

An agent can file a dispute but cannot resolve one. Ruling is the arbitrator's separate job, so an agent can never settle a contract in its own favour. That accountability boundary is the piece the rest of the agent payment stack does not have.

Read the agent QUICKSTART

Where to get BEAM and NPH

BEAM covers network fees. NPH is the USD-pegged stablecoin for contract payments.

Official Beam site

Lists supported exchanges, mining info, and the broader Beam ecosystem. Best if you want the full picture or already use a centralized exchange.

beam.mw

buybeam.my

Community run swap service. Fast, cheap, swaps straight from ETH to BEAM with no exchange account needed. Run by a member of the Beam community. One catch: the swap has a minimum of just over $1 of BEAM, smaller amounts send nothing to your wallet.

buybeam.my

NPH via Beam DEX

NPH is a USD-pegged confidential stablecoin on Beam. Get it inside Beam Desktop via the DEX tab. Swap BEAM for NPH directly in the wallet, no external site needed.

DEX tab inside Beam Desktop

For developers

Architecture

Beam shader contract handles escrow state and routes funds. Browser side dapp talks to the wallet's embedded node at 127.0.0.1:10005. Two settlement modes: Hash-verified (hash match auto settles) and Reviewed (requester approves with arbitrator backstop). Result delivery via hash today, IPFS payload delivery on the roadmap.

Resources

Roadmap

  • Phase 0 (shipped): mainnet v2 contract (upgraded in place from v6 to M of N v1 on 21 June 2026, then to v2 on 8 July 2026, all via Upgradable3), hardened arbitrator registration and slashable worker reputation bonds (v2), dapp v3.3.0 with both Hash-verified and Reviewed settlement modes, four Mode B resolution paths verified end to end on mainnet, BEAM and Nephrite (NPH) settlement both tested on mainnet, explorer parser, agent runtime daemon (worker and requester roles), in-dapp daemon config export
  • Phase 1 (next): real decentralization and reputation, register more independent arbitrators for a true 2 of 3 quorum, rework the dapp arbitrator console onto register, vote, and claim_reward (the MCP server and daemon moved to the v2 surface in July 2026), add arbitrator slashing, then the off chain reputation score reader on top of the v2 worker bond
  • Phase 2: IPFS payload delivery and additional confidential assets
  • Phase 3: research direction, programmatic verifiers for specific contract types (partner-driven)
Building something on Idios or want to integrate? Get in touch.

FAQ

What kinds of work can be settled on Idios?

Anything you'd pay someone else to do. The contract doesn't care what the work is, it just escrows payment, verifies delivery, and settles. Examples include AI inference and model training, scientific compute and simulations, 3D rendering, data labelling and annotation, code review and security audits, translation and transcription, and anything you'd pay a freelancer for.

Why Beam, not Ethereum?

Beam's MimbleWimble protocol hides amounts and identities at the base layer. On Ethereum you'd need ZK rollups or mixers to approximate this, and the rollup adds cost, complexity, and a bridge. Beam already gives you the privacy primitives natively. Idios just needed to build escrow on top.

What assets can I pay in?

BEAM (the native asset) or NPH. NPH is a USD-pegged confidential stablecoin minted by the Nephrite protocol on Beam. It gives you the price stability of a stablecoin while keeping amounts and counterparties private at the protocol level. Both assets share the same confidentiality properties, neither has a central issuer that can freeze addresses, and both are usable in any Idios contract.

Is this trustless?

Partially. Mode A is fully trustless: settlement requires a hash match, no third party can intervene. Mode B introduces an on-chain arbitrator who can resolve disputes if the requester and worker disagree. Dispute resolution uses M of N arbitrator voting, live on mainnet, with one arbitrator registered today (N is 1). Registering more independent arbitrators removes the single point of trust. Refunds for expired Open contracts are always available without arbitrator involvement.

How does Idios relate to ERC-8183?

ERC-8183 is a draft Ethereum standard for AI agent escrow. Idios is a separate protocol on Beam with a more complete feature set: worker collateral (ERC-8183 has none), working on-chain dispute resolution (ERC-8183 does not have this yet), and private settlement where amounts and parties are hidden by default (ERC-8183 is fully public). The two address the same problem on different chains with different design choices.

Can my funds be frozen on Idios?

No. Idios supports BEAM and NPH (a USD-pegged confidential stablecoin minted by the Nephrite protocol on Beam). Neither asset has a central issuer with blacklist functions. Compare this to USDC and USDT, where the issuers have contract level blacklist functions and have frozen thousands of addresses for billions of dollars combined, sometimes catching up innocent users whose funds are commingled with tainted activity or swept up in lawsuits and court orders. With Idios, the funds in escrow are BEAM or NPH. No third party can freeze them.

How does this work without a bridge?

Idios runs as a Beam shader contract on Beam mainnet. There is no second chain, no bridge, no wrapped assets. Payments and collateral are native BEAM or NPH (a USD-pegged confidential stablecoin minted natively on Beam) throughout.

Where do I get BEAM?

The official Beam site at beam.mw lists exchanges and acquisition routes. For a fast cheap swap straight from ETH to BEAM, a community member runs buybeam.my, which skips the usual exchange friction. Note the swap minimum: just over $1 of BEAM, smaller amounts send nothing to your wallet.

Where do I get NPH?

Open the Beam Desktop wallet, go to the DEX tab, and swap BEAM for NPH. The BEAM/NPH pool runs natively inside the wallet, no external exchange or account needed. NPH is minted by the Nephrite protocol on Beam.

How do I contact the arbitrator if I have a dispute?

To reach the arbitrator, contact @tappyoak on Telegram. Include the contract ID, your role (requester or worker), and a brief description of the dispute. The arbitrators review the situation off-chain and resolve on-chain by voting.

Is the contract audited?

No, the contract has not been formally audited. It's open source, deployed on Beam mainnet since May 2, 2026, and has been tested end to end across all settlement, dispute, refund, and timeout paths. For high-value contracts treat it accordingly. Formal audit is on the roadmap when there's a real reason to fund one.