Every role in the network is a business someone can own. Fifteen of them are waiting.
Seats are open — no franchise, no license from us. Each earns only when users or groups choose it. Registering interest opens the door to grants, audits, and the founding cohort.
THE SEAT MAP
Fifteen open seats. Zero franchises.
The person in the middle. Distance is intimacy: the core ring touches the daily route, services serve by choice, institutions keep everyone honest — and the Foundation sits outside all bands, funding the ground. Registering interest is a hello, not a contract.
grants · audits · conformance · standards
Outer band — institutions that keep everyone honest
Audit & attestation
draft specExamines components and signs what it found — opinions that expire and can be withdrawn.
Earns: engagement fees, never contingent on the verdict · Fits: security firms, conformance labs, academic groups
Register interest →Arbitration
draft specDecides disputes inside funded orders, with power capped at the escrowed stake.
Earns: per-dispute fees, outcome-independent · Fits: ADR institutions, law-adjacent firms, industry bodies
Register interest →Discovery
draft specHelps users find compatible instances for every seat through signed, replaceable catalogs — never a gate on direct use.
Earns: catalog subscriptions and curation services; paid placement stays labeled · Fits: consumer orgs, auditors, enterprises, communities
Register interest →Middle band — services chosen per need
Naming & credentials
spec in reviewIssues human-readable names and credentials as revocable claims — the name is never the identity.
Earns: issuance, renewal, dispute-handling, premium resolution · Fits: professional bodies, municipalities, communities, companies
Register interest →Banking & payments
spec in reviewAccounts and payments against keys only the user holds; custody always labeled.
Earns: account services, payment fees, premium tiers · Fits: licensed EMIs, anchors, credit unions, fintechs
Register interest →Charitable coordination
draft specCampaigns, memberships, and accountable disbursement for good causes.
Earns: service fees to organizations; the cause's books stay public · Fits: NGOs, community foundations, civic tech
Register interest →Distribution
draft specBrings measurable aggregate attention — never person-level tracking.
Earns: per-campaign fees for verified aggregate delivery · Fits: media channels, communities, creators
Register interest →Acquisition
draft specConverts interest into store installs, measured only in aggregates.
Earns: per-order fees on aggregate outcomes · Fits: growth agencies, publishers
Register interest →Recruitment
draft specFinds participants for every seat, with candidate consent and no candidate ownership.
Earns: finite milestone fees per accepted order · Fits: recruiters, talent networks, guilds
Register interest →Recovery trustee
draft specHolds only the authority the identity holder enrolled — helps satisfy a recovery policy without becoming the identity.
Earns: the fees its published recovery offers declare · Fits: custody services, hardware vendors, organizations, trusted people
Register interest →Core ring — the user's daily route
Interface
draft specThe window people use; presents choices honestly, holds no accounts.
Earns: app pricing, disclosed marketplace commission · Fits: product studios, accessibility specialists, enterprise vendors
Register interest →Message carriage
reference operator existsMoves sealed messages it cannot read.
Earns: subscriptions or usage quotas for delivery and retention · Fits: hosting providers, ISPs, co-ops, self-hosters
Register interest →Media storage
reference operator existsStores sealed attachments it cannot open.
Earns: storage/egress plans, prepaid quotas · Fits: storage providers, CDNs
Register interest →Group verification
reference operator existsConfirms group decisions follow the group's chosen rules, without seeing the member list.
Earns: per-operation or capacity-tier fees · Fits: infrastructure operators, institutions needing verifiable process
Register interest →PERSON
Identity stays here — sealed.
"Not a seat. Not for sale."
Sponsorship
founding round openThe one seat that gives rather than earns. Funds the Foundation's commons work; bounded recognition and a capped governance path are the consideration. The contract →
Become a founding sponsor →For first movers, every seat comes with the same offer: grant consideration · audit funding · conformance support · introductions. Competitors are welcome where a reference operator already exists. Registering interest is a hello, not a contract.
The Onym Foundation takes no commission, runs no user-facing seat for profit, and can be routed around by design.
Status tags are factual: "draft spec" means a public contract document exists and is marked draft; "in review" means the proposal is not yet merged; "reference operator exists" means one replaceable default deployment runs today. Nothing here is audited yet.
PROCESS
How registering interest works
Deliberately anticlimactic.
01
Email us what you'd run.
02
We answer with what the commons can offer — or an honest "nothing yet".
03
You build — with or without us.
"Step 03 never required steps 01–02."
Earnings follow choice, not lock-in.
No surveillance-based revenue — metering is aggregate by design.
Recognition and audits are earned, never bought.
Seats need a funded commons first — meet the founding sponsors.