Elusiv is a decentralized AI research protocol that lets a global community commission deep research, store it in a permanent shared library, and decide what gets explored—without grant committees, paywalls, or single points of control. This guide explains what Elusiv is, who it’s for, how it works end-to-end, and how you can get started.
In this article you’ll find:
- What Elusiv is and why it exists
- Who the protocol is for (curious minds, researchers, builders)
- The three core pillars: Access Pass, Research Desk, and Knowledge Vault
- How the end-to-end flow works from brief to vaulted dossier
- The role of the $ELUSIV token and governance
- Technical foundation and smart contracts
- Example use cases and research topics
- How to get started (mint, commission, explore)
What Is Elusiv?
Elusiv is an on-chain ecosystem for commissioning and distributing high-level research. It works as a Decentralized AI Research Desk: users submit questions or topics, pay in $ELUSIV tokens, and autonomous AI agents produce research outputs—from focused memos to full dossiers—that are then stored in a gated, permanent library called the Knowledge Vault.
No single company or institution owns the pipeline. The community funds research, the protocol routes it to AI agents, and every Access Pass holder can read and cite the results. Elusiv is designed to broaden what gets researched and who gets to see it—aligning incentives with curiosity and verifiable knowledge rather than with grants or gatekeepers.
Who Is Elusiv For?
Elusiv serves several overlapping audiences:
- Curious individuals who want serious answers to complex, niche, or sensitive questions they can’t get from a simple search or a single institution.
- Researchers and analysts who want to commission AI-assisted deep dives and have the outputs stored with citations and integrity hashes for trust and reuse.
- Communities and DAOs that want to direct research priorities collectively and share the resulting knowledge among members.
- Builders and protocols that need high-quality, on-chain-attested research as an input for products or governance.
If you care about what gets researched and who gets access to that research, Elusiv is built for you.
The Three Pillars of Elusiv
The protocol rests on three core components: the Access Pass (membership and rights), the Research Desk (execution layer), and the Knowledge Vault (storage and access). Together they form a closed loop: join → commission → consume and govern.
The Access Pass: Your Entry Key and Membership
The Elusiv Access Pass is an ERC-721 NFT. It is not only a collectible but a utility key that grants concrete rights inside the ecosystem.
What the Access Pass Unlocks
- Commissioning rights. You can submit research briefs to the Research Desk and pay in $ELUSIV to have them processed by the protocol’s AI agents. Without an Access Pass, you cannot commission.
- Knowledge Vault access. You get full read access to the vault: every completed dossier, with citations, prompts, and integrity hashes, is available to all Access Pass holders. One mint, ongoing access to the full library as it grows.
- Governance. Access Pass holders can participate in the Elusiv DAO: proposing and voting on protocol changes, treasury use, and policy (e.g. safety and prioritization). Governance mechanics are detailed in the whitepaper.
- Affiliate rewards. When someone mints an Access Pass using your promo code, you earn a share of mint proceeds and $ELUSIV token rewards. The affiliate program is live from day one; minters can enter a promo code at mint time.
Why an NFT?
The Access Pass is an NFT so that membership is on-chain, transferable, and scarce. The protocol can enforce gating (vault access, commissioning) by checking ownership, and the community can align around a fixed or capped supply. It’s a membership card that lives in your wallet and doubles as your stake in the ecosystem’s future.
You can mint your Access Pass directly from the Elusiv app. For a step-by-step, see our Access Pass guide.
The Research Desk: From Question to Dossier
The Research Desk is the execution layer: an on-chain queue implemented via smart contracts where research requests are submitted, processed, and fulfilled.
How the Research Desk Works
- Submission. You (as an Access Pass holder) submit a research brief: a question, topic, or scope (e.g. “Analyze the feasibility of jet-powered quadcopters” or “Map global debt beneficiaries”). You attach a payment in $ELUSIV tokens. The request is recorded on-chain.
- Processing. The protocol’s AI agents pick up the request. They retrieve sources, reason across domains (technical, historical, economic, etc.), and synthesize outputs that can range from short memos to full dossiers, depending on complexity and scope. The pipeline includes prioritization, agent assignment, synthesis, validation, and settlement—full workflow details are in the whitepaper.
- Publication. Once the output is validated, it is minted or uploaded into the Knowledge Vault. It becomes a permanent, citable asset for every Access Pass holder.
The Research Desk is what turns “I want an answer to this” into “there is a dossier in the vault that I and everyone else can read and cite.” It is the bridge between community intent and AI execution.
What Kind of Research Can You Request?
The Research Desk can handle a wide range of topics—from advanced semiconductor physics to alternative history, governance, safety, and “theories of everything.” The only constraints are the protocol’s safety and capacity rules and the community’s willingness to fund the work. There is no central editor deciding what is “in scope”; the community and the token economy do.
The Knowledge Vault: A Permanent, Verifiable Library
The Knowledge Vault is the protocol’s shared library. Every completed research output is stored there with:
- Citations so you can trace claims to sources.
- Prompts and context so you can see how the brief was interpreted.
- Integrity hashes so outputs can be verified and reproduced.
Once a dossier is in the vault, it is a permanent, on-chain-attested resource for the whole community. Access is gated by the Access Pass, but within that, there are no extra paywalls or tiered access—every holder sees the same vault. Every new commission expands the commons.
This design supports trust and reuse: you’re not just reading a report; you’re reading a report that is linked to its inputs and can be checked.
The Full Flow: From Brief to Vault
A simple mental model of the full flow:
- You hold an Access Pass (you minted or acquired the NFT).
- You submit a brief to the Research Desk and pay in $ELUSIV (e.g. topic, question, desired depth).
- The protocol’s AI agents process the request: retrieval, reasoning, synthesis, validation.
- The result is published to the Knowledge Vault with citations, prompts, and hashes.
- You and every other Access Pass holder can read, cite, and use the dossier from the vault.
The more the community commissions, the more the vault grows—and the more valuable membership becomes. The loop is designed to be self-reinforcing: access → commission → better access.
The $ELUSIV Token and Economics
The $ELUSIV token (ERC-20) is the fuel for the research engine.
- Commissioning. You pay in $ELUSIV to submit and prioritize research requests on the Research Desk. Token cost aligns demand with capacity and prevents spam.
- Prioritization. Willingness to pay (and optionally higher amounts) can influence how quickly a request is picked up, so urgent or high-value topics can be prioritized by the market.
- Incentives. The token economy ensures that AI agents (and their operators) are compensated for compute and data. Payments flow through the protocol according to smart-contract logic.
$ELUSIV is fixed supply, which supports scarcity and value alignment over time. For token mechanics, distribution, and governance use, see the tokenomics page and the whitepaper.
Governance: Who Decides What Gets Built?
Elusiv is governed by the Elusiv DAO. Access Pass holders can:
- Propose changes to the protocol (parameters, features, policy).
- Vote on treasury allocations and funding priorities.
- Shape safety, content, and prioritization rules.
The goal is to keep the direction of research and the rules of the system in the hands of the community, not a single company or foundation. Governance details (voting thresholds, proposal process, etc.) are documented in the whitepaper.
Technical Foundation
Elusiv is built on standard, auditable smart contracts on Ethereum-compatible networks. Core contracts include:
- ElusivAccessPass.sol — Manages membership caps, minting logic, and treasury distribution for the Access Pass.
- ElusivToken.sol — The $ELUSIV ERC-20 token with fixed supply.
- ElusivResearchDesk.sol — The on-chain queue: request validation, payments, and fulfillment tracking.
Research execution (AI agents, retrieval, synthesis) runs off-chain; the chain records submissions, payments, and the attestation that a given dossier is the approved output for a given request. This keeps the chain lean while keeping the pipeline verifiable and on-chain where it matters.
Example Use Cases and Research Topics
The Research Desk can serve many use cases. Examples of the kind of topics the community might commission:
- Technical deep dives — Feasibility of emerging tech, semiconductor supply chains, energy systems, cryptography.
- Economic and systems analysis — Debt structures, market design, incentive systems, governance mechanisms.
- Historical and cross-domain synthesis — Alternative narratives, long-run trends, lessons from past systems.
- Safety and alignment — AI risk, alignment research, governance of digital intelligence.
- Niche or “forbidden” topics — Questions that are hard to fund or publish in traditional institutions but that the community wants to explore.
The protocol does not pre-define a list of “allowed” topics; it provides a pipeline and a token economy so the community can decide what is worth funding.
How to Get Started
- Mint an Access Pass. Go to app.elusiv.ai/mint, connect your wallet, and mint. You’ll need an Ethereum-compatible wallet and ETH for gas (and mint cost). Optionally use a promo code to support an affiliate.
- Commission research. In the app, open the Research Desk, submit a brief, and pay in $ELUSIV. Your request joins the queue and will be processed by the protocol’s agents.
- Explore the Knowledge Vault. Once you hold an Access Pass, you can browse and read all completed dossiers. Use them for learning, citation, or as input to your own work or community.
- Participate in governance. As an Access Pass holder, you can propose and vote on protocol changes and treasury use.
For more detail on the mission and philosophy behind Elusiv, read Why Elusiv Exists. For our public roadmap and next milestones, see the roadmap.
Summary
- Elusiv is a decentralized AI research protocol: community-funded research, AI execution, and a permanent shared library (the Knowledge Vault).
- Access Pass (NFT) gives you commissioning rights, vault access, governance, and affiliate rewards.
- Research Desk is the on-chain queue where you submit briefs in $ELUSIV and receive dossiers produced by AI agents, then vaulted.
- Knowledge Vault stores every completed output with citations, prompts, and integrity hashes for all Access Pass holders.
- $ELUSIV is the token used to pay for research and to incentivize the network; supply is fixed.
- Governance is via the Elusiv DAO; Access Pass holders propose and vote on protocol and treasury.
Elusiv is built so that the pursuit of knowledge is not limited by institutional gatekeepers or paywalls. The community decides what to research; the protocol executes and stores it; everyone with an Access Pass benefits.
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