SPECIFICATION · AXIA.TRUST.V1

Evidence Hierarchy

A four-tier model for classifying every artifact recorded by Axia. Strong evidence is preserved with strong guarantees; weak signals are preserved without overstatement.

1. Conventions

Implementations MUST assign exactly one tier to every recorded artifact. Tiers MUST NOT be combined or averaged into a single score by the protocol. Verifiers MAY apply their own weighting.

2. Tiers

TIER 1

Cryptographic

Mathematically verifiable. SHA-256 hashes, Ed25519 signatures, Merkle inclusion proofs, signed checkpoints. Independently verifiable by any third party with the public key.

TIER 2

Attested

A claim made by an authenticated publisher under their identity. Bound to the publisher's signing key, but not independently verified for factual accuracy.

TIER 3

Operational

Produced by Axia operations during the lifecycle of an entry. Useful for audit and incident reconstruction.

TIER 4

Observational

Observed by the protocol or by third parties. Indicates a signal or anomaly. Non-authoritative on its own.

3. Why a hierarchy

No single trust score

Collapsing these tiers into a single number MUST NOT be performed by the protocol. A single score creates moderation and ranking liability and conceals the qualitative difference between cryptographic proof and operational signal.

Auditor-friendly

Auditors SHOULD be able to filter the lifecycle by tier and reach their own conclusion with full transparency about what type of evidence backs each event.

Display rules

UI SHOULD render cryptographic evidence prominently, attested evidence as publisher claims, operational evidence as protocol activity, and observational signals as informational only.