Economic Model
Slabond's economic model aligns incentives between users, operators, and the protocol through bonding, fee structures, and slashing mechanisms.
Bond Tiers
Operators lock ETH collateral proportional to the SLA value. Two tiers are available:
| Tier | Bond Ratio | Fee | Settlement Speed | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instant | 200% of SLA value | 50 bps (0.50%) | Immediate after proof | High-value payments, time-sensitive operations |
| Standard | 50% of SLA value | 10 bps (0.10%) | After dispute window (1 hour) | Batch operations, non-urgent API calls |
Example: For a $1,000 USDC SLA on the Instant tier, the operator locks $2,000 in ETH and the user pays a $5.00 fee.
Tier Selection
Users specify the bond tier when creating an SLA. Higher bond ratios provide stronger economic guarantees — an operator with 200% collateral at risk has significantly more incentive to execute correctly than one with 50%.
The Instant tier skips the dispute window because the over-collateralization makes disputes economically irrational for the operator. The Standard tier requires the dispute window as an additional safety mechanism given the lower collateral ratio.
Slash Distribution
When an operator is slashed (due to timeout, invalid proof, or a successful challenge), the locked bond is distributed as follows:
| Recipient | Share | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| User | 80% | Compensation for failed execution |
| Protocol Treasury | 20% | Protocol sustainability and development |
The user's escrow is always returned in full on a slash event, in addition to receiving 80% of the operator's bond.
Example: For a $1,000 SLA with a $2,000 Instant bond:
- User receives: $1,000 (escrow return) + $1,600 (80% of bond) = $2,600
- Protocol receives: $400 (20% of bond)
Operator Economics
Revenue Streams
Operators earn revenue from two sources:
- Execution fees — The per-SLA fee (10-50 bps) paid by the user
- Bond return — Full return of locked collateral on successful settlement
Cost Structure
| Cost Component | Estimate |
|---|---|
| Azure DCsv3 instance (SGX-enabled) | ~$450/month |
| Ethereum gas (proof submission) | ~$2-5 per SLA |
| TLSNotary notary infrastructure | ~$50/month |
| Monitoring and operations | ~$100/month |
Unit Economics
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Monthly infrastructure cost | ~$600 |
| Average fee per SLA (blended) | ~$1.20 |
| Monthly capacity per node | ~500,000 SLAs |
| Break-even volume | ~900 SLAs/month |
| Gross margin at capacity | 92.5% |
At even modest utilization (0.2% of capacity), operators cover their infrastructure costs. At scale, the margin profile is attractive for professional node operators.
Protocol Revenue Model
Slabond generates revenue through three pillars:
1. Platform Access Fee
$2,000/month per operator for access to the watcher network and job assignment system.
This fee covers:
- Access to the SLA job queue
- Watcher network relay services
- DCAP attestation verification infrastructure
- Dashboard and monitoring tools
2. Execution Fee
$0.50 flat fee per SLA execution, charged to the user on top of the bond tier fee.
This provides baseline revenue independent of SLA value, ensuring protocol sustainability even for high-volume, low-value SLAs.
3. Risk Premium
0.5% of SLA value, charged to the user as part of the escrow deposit.
This scales with the economic exposure of each SLA and funds the protocol treasury, which backstops edge cases where slash distribution is insufficient.
Revenue Summary
| Source | Model | Paid By |
|---|---|---|
| Platform Access | $2,000/month per operator | Operators |
| Execution Fee | $0.50 per SLA | Users |
| Risk Premium | 0.5% of SLA value | Users |