Morph: The Global Labor Grid

Proof-of-Physical-Work on Ethereum

Morph Core Contributors

August 30, 2025

Abstract

Morph is a decentralized labor grid on Ethereum that settles payments for physical tasks executed by robots and autonomous devices. The protocol introduces a primitive, Proof-of-Physical-Work (PoPW), that cryptographically binds on-chain transfers to off-chain actions through attestable telemetry, sensor fusion, and audit-friendly commitments. Each robot maintains an on-chain identity, wallet, and reputation. Jobs are posted with escrow in MORPH, accepted by robots, executed, and resolved via oracle attestations under a challenge window with bonded disputes and slashing. This paper specifies the system model, protocol layers, adversarial assumptions, and economics. We define the identity, job/escrow, proof/oracle, settlement, and reputation/governance layers; give formal state machines and invariants; and present reference evidence schemas for agriculture, warehousing, delivery, and inspection. We motivate Ethereum as the base for security and composability, and we outline a path to rollups. The design favors minimality, verifiability, and explicit trade-offs suitable for skeptical engineers and economists.

Contents

  1. Introduction

  2. Background and Problem Statement

    • 2.1 Limits of ownership-centric markets

    • 2.2 Consensus primitives

    • 2.3 Need for Proof-of-Physical-Work

  3. System Model and Participants

  4. The Morph Protocol

    • 4.1 Layered Architecture Overview

    • 4.2 Identity Layer

    • 4.3 Job/Escrow Layer

    • 4.4 Proof/Oracle Layer

    • 4.5 Settlement Layer

    • 4.6 Safety and Liveness

    • 4.7 Protocol Parameters and Defaults

    • 4.8 Sensitivity Analysis

    • 4.9 Reputation/Governance Layer

  5. Proof-of-Physical-Work (PoPW)

    • 5.1 Evidence Primitives

    • 5.2 Deterministic Scoring

    • 5.3 Challenge Protocol

    • 5.4 Payoff Analysis with Numerics

    • 5.5 Threats and Mitigations

  6. Token Architecture: MORPH

    • 6.1 Supply and Allocation

    • 6.2 Staking and Access Tiers

    • 6.3 Payout Function and Properties

    • 6.4 Finite Emission Support

    • 6.5 Worked Example

  7. Privacy, Compliance, and Audit

    • 7.1 Data Minimization

    • 7.2 Off-chain Storage

    • 7.3 Optional KYC and Geofencing

    • 7.4 Auditability

  8. Reference Use Cases

    • 8.1 Agriculture: Acre Scan

    • 8.2 Warehousing: Pallet Moves

    • 8.3 Delivery: Last-Meter Drop

    • 8.4 Infrastructure Inspection

    • 8.5 Cleaning and Maintenance

  9. Why Ethereum

    • Gas and Cost Model

  10. Economic and Social Impact

  11. Limitations and Future Work

  12. Conclusion

Appendices:

  • A. Solidity Interface Sketch

  • B. Reputation Scoring and Decay

  • C. Example PoPW Payloads (JSON Schemas)

  • D. Threat Model and Mitigations

  • E. Glossary

  • F. Reference Verifier Pseudocode

  • G. Monte Carlo Robustness Sketch

Background and Problem ›