Security and trust

TL;DR

• The records show accepted sensor readings and authorized settlement, not which animal moved the wheel or what caused it to move.

• Operators and contract upgrade administrators remain trusted; signatures don't remove that trust.

• The SQK supply cap doesn't by itself ensure rewards are issued or paid correctly.

• Counting, delivery, settlement, video, and public displays can fail independently.

What are you relying on?

The system saves accepted wheel-magnet passages, checks the signed records, and records authorized work on Ethereum. Each step adds a different kind of evidence. None can prove animal identity or the physical cause of a sensor reading.

If you own a Squeek, you also rely on the contracts that calculate and hold rewards. SqueekToken limits total SQK issuance, but it doesn't check whether a mint request is backed by work. The SqueekMining implementation and the administrators who can upgrade it remain part of the trust model.

In this section

• What the system proves explains what sensor records, signatures, and Ethereum establish.

• Roles and permissions explains who can change each part of the system.

• Governance and upgrades describes upgrade powers and the limits a supply cap doesn't cover.

• Pauses and unavailable services explains what stops or continues during a failure.

• Privacy explains public video, wallet visibility, and private service boundaries.

Technical detail: trust boundaries

Who supplies the records?

The device measures work, hosted services check and submit it, and Ethereum contracts record it. NFT owners use the reward system; they don't control measurement.

Who can change them?

Public interfaces, indexers, cameras, and NFT owners cannot create accepted passages or approve a new counter history. Administrators have separate pause, signing, and upgrade powers; see Roles and permissions.

What does the system enforce?

The system preserves saved work during network outages and keeps pending work separate from settlement. SqueekToken enforces a fixed cap but doesn't check whether mint requests are backed by work.

What still requires trust?

The sensor rules and measurement host must be trustworthy, and Ethereum must execute the intended contracts. SqueekCore and SqueekMining upgrade administrators can change contract behavior, and on the Sepolia deployment the timelock gives almost no notice. See Governance and upgrades.

What happens when something fails?

The Pi stops counting uncertain measurements rather than guessing, and saves records during delivery outages. Rounds that pass while the Pi is stopped are closed as zero work when it restarts, so a quiet stretch in the record can be an outage. Stale or unavailable displays don't change saved work or settled chain records.

Related pages

• How it works

  Applies SqueekCore or SqueekMining upgrades authorized by its governing Timelock.
  
  Generates Squeek images and metadata from fixed onchain visual data.
  
  Records physical work and earned block units on Ethereum, with difficulty adapting after active rounds.
  
  Calculates rewards from settled work, holds funded SQK, and pays eligible NFT owners.
  
  The Squeeks ERC-721 contract. Tracks NFT ownership and coordinates minting and merges with SqueekMining.
  
  The SQK ERC-20 contract. Enforces the lifetime supply cap; only SqueekMining can mint SQK.
  
  Queues governance operations and enforces a delay before they can be executed.
  
  Checks that visual data conforms to the required DotGrid format.
  
  When new power starts earning. Minting and merging schedule it for the next round, and a checkpoint applies it.
  
  A reward update that processes settled Squeek blocks, issues their SQK, and applies scheduled power changes.
  
  The Squeek permanently burned in a merge. Its unclaimed rewards move to the survivor, but its image is not combined or kept.
  
  SQK issued as settled Squeek blocks are processed: 5,600 SQK for each completed block, up to the lifetime cap.
  
  Squeekchain's record of accepted wheel-magnet passages.
  
  Combining two eligible same-level Squeeks you own into one higher-level Squeek. One NFT is burned; the survivor keeps both Squeeks' unclaimed rewards.
  
  The completed Squeek blocks a Squeek waits through before it can merge again. It follows the Squeek through transfers.
  
  What a Squeek earns with. Its level sets its maximum power; each Squeek block's SQK is divided across all active power in proportion.
  
  A ten-minute period used to group measured work. The device saves a completed round's work total when measurement remained uninterrupted.
  
  The token each completed Squeek block issues, shared by active power. It has a lifetime supply cap.
  
  An NFT that owns a share of the Squeekchain network. It receives SQK from the hamster's work according to its active power, set by its level and the SQK staked to it.
  
  One billion block units earned from settled work at each round's difficulty. Completed blocks supply SQK under the mining reward rules.
  
  Squeekchain's ecosystem for hamster-powered onchain finance, built on the public work record.
  
  The Squeek you keep in a merge. It gains a level, keeps its ID and image, and receives both Squeeks' unclaimed rewards.
  
  A Squeek's recorded reward balance that hasn't been paid to a wallet. It stays with the Squeek when ownership changes.
  
  The hamster mining device. It records accepted wheel-magnet passages as work.
  
  One wheel-magnet passage that met the device's counting rules.