LIBRARY
OF ALEXANDRIA
Decentralized Archive Protocol
Preserving Humanity's Written Heritage
The Last Copy
You are holding it. The last surviving manuscript of Marcus Aurelius's private journals—not the Meditations you know, but the other one. The one where he wrote about his fears.
Your hands are trembling. You're standing in a library in Constantinople. The year is 1453. Outside, Ottoman cannons are breaching the walls.
You have maybe ten minutes. There is no backup.
The Weight of Ashes
That scenario happened thousands of times. Not with that specific manuscript—we don't know what was in that library when it burned, and that's exactly the point.
We will never know.
When the Great Library of Alexandria was destroyed, humanity didn't just lose books. We lost the capacity to know what we lost.
Sophocles wrote 123 plays; we have 7. The engineering manuals explaining the Antikythera mechanism—a clockwork computer built two thousand years before the Industrial Revolution.
Medical texts. Philosophy. Mathematics.
Gone. Not archived. Just... gone.
And it's still happening.
Right now. While you read this.
“We are creating more information than any civilization in history while building the worst preservation infrastructure in human history.”
We're writing on water and calling it permanent.
How It Works
Imagine a library that can never burn down. Not because it's fireproof, but because it exists in thousands of places at once.
Organizations Submit
Universities, museums, news organizations, and cultural heritage groups submit documents to the Library. They verify authenticity and take responsibility.
Cryptographic Hashing
Each document receives a unique mathematical fingerprint (hash). This proves authenticity forever—unforgeable, untamperable, permanent.
Blockchain Record
The hash is recorded permanently on-chain. Even if content is later removed, the fingerprint proves it existed and when it was submitted.
Distributed Storage
Documents are copied to thousands of computers worldwide. Minimum 10 copies across geographically distributed nodes—if one fails, others persist.
Economic Incentives
Node operators are paid in ALEX tokens to store files. Constant challenges verify they actually preserve what they claim—Proof of Access.
Two-Tier Storage Model
The Library
Public Permanent Archive
- Public access — anyone can read
- Only approved Organizations can submit
- Hash permanent; content preserved
- Unencrypted — transparent by design
Personal Drive
Private Encrypted Storage
- Private access — only you control
- End-to-end encryption
- $20/month subscription
- No backdoor, no master key
The Key Insight
The hash is what's truly permanent. Even if the actual document is later removed, the fingerprint remains. Anyone with a copy can verify it's authentic by checking against the permanent fingerprint.
The hash is the proof. The hash lives forever.
Organizations
Only approved Organizations can submit content to the Library. Because someone needs to be accountable.
Who Can Submit Documents?
Organization Requirements
Application
Submit credentials, mission statement, and leadership information
Bond
Post $1,000 bond (can be DAO-sponsored for worthy organizations)
Vote
Approved by existing Organizations (or Counsel in Year 1)
Agreement
Sign Organization Agreement accepting preservation responsibilities
Verification
Leadership completes KYC verification for accountability
Bond-Based Accountability
Every Organization posts a $1,000 bond. Think of it like a security deposit. If an Organization submits illegal content or behaves badly, they lose their bond.
Good Standing
Bond held; earns rewards
Content Blacklisted
Partial forfeiture ($200-500)
Serious Violation
Full forfeiture ($1,000), status revoked
Can't afford the bond? The DAO can vote to sponsor bonds for worthy Organizations serving underrepresented communities.
Ready to Preserve History?
If you represent a university, museum, archive, or cultural institution, apply to become an approved Organization.
Apply as OrganizationGovernance
A DAO governs the protocol. Community over corporation. Democracy over autocracy.
Governance Timeline
Counsel Formation
Counsel of 12 appointed members guides early development with full control.
Initial Organizations
Counsel approves 50 initial Organizations with $1,000 bonds.
Shared Governance
Counsel + Organizations share governance responsibilities.
Full Democracy
Counsel dissolves. Organizations have full voting control.
Counsel Limitations
Even during the training wheels period, the Counsel cannot:
Content Moderation
CAN Be Blacklisted
- • CSAM
- • Terrorist propaganda
- • Content violating international law
- • Fraudulent submissions
- • Malware
CANNOT Be Blacklisted
- • Controversial but legal content
- • Political speech
- • Historical documents with objectionable content
- • Content legal in most jurisdictions
Open Source Forever
The Library of Alexandria protocol MUST remain open source forever. If governance is ever hijacked, corrupted, or compromised, the community can fork the entire protocol.
Precedent: When Steem's governance was captured, the community forked to Hive and continued operations.
ALEX Token
The native token powering the Library of Alexandria protocol. Staking, governance, and rewards—all in one.
Token Distribution
Founder Vesting Schedule
The longest lock-up in crypto history. 20 years to full release.
Founders can't cash out and disappear. They're incentivized to make the project succeed for decades.
Node Types & Staking
Archive Node
Store complete document files
Validator Node
Consensus & challenges
Gateway Node
API access & caching
Proof of Access
Validators randomly challenge archive nodes to prove they store the files they claim. Nodes must respond within 500ms—too fast to fake.
“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they shall never sit in.”
The ancient Library burned because it existed in one place.
This one will exist everywhere.
The fire satisfies itself. We do not have to.