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LibraryConfidential compute2021Design paperCorpus record

Phala: off-chain workers with on-chain attestation

Phala. Phala.

Phala publishes workers that execute off the consensus path and post attestations so a contract can check which program ran inside which hardware.

A reading of the project's public design document. Not a copy, not a benchmark, and not an offer.

Phala publishes workers that execute off the consensus path and post attestations so a contract can check which program ran inside which hardware.
Evidence
Primary paper
Re-measured
No
Assumptions
3
Records linked
2

01 Claim ledger

What the paper is allowed to say

Each row is a sentence already in the study. The status is the same on every row: a model claim, not a live measurement.

  1. Claim 01 · Paper model

    The defect

    An attestation checks a measurement. It does not check that the measurement is the program the user meant, unless the contract stores the expected measurement.

  2. Claim 02 · Paper model

    The proposal

    Phala publishes workers that execute off the consensus path and post attestations so a contract can check which program ran inside which hardware.

  3. Claim 03 · Paper model

    The mechanism

    Workers run jobs off chain. The chain records commitments and attestations, not every intermediate byte.

  4. Claim 04 · Paper model

    The bound

    This note does not evaluate the chip vendor.

02 Three cuts

Observation, model, falsifier

A desk does not stop at the summary. Each claim is cut three ways, using only this study's own assumptions and checks. Nothing here is a new figure.

  1. 01 The defect

    Observation

    What the study says

    An attestation checks a measurement. It does not check that the measurement is the program the user meant, unless the contract stores the expected measurement.

    Model

    What has to hold

    You are reading Phala's docs. A compute marketplace built on top is a second product.

    Falsifier

    What would retire it

    What measurement does the contract expect?

  2. 02 The proposal

    Observation

    What the study says

    Phala publishes workers that execute off the consensus path and post attestations so a contract can check which program ran inside which hardware.

    Model

    What has to hold

    You are reading Phala's docs. A compute marketplace built on top is a second product.

    Falsifier

    What would retire it

    What measurement does the contract expect?

  3. 03 The mechanism

    Observation

    What the study says

    Workers run jobs off chain. The chain records commitments and attestations, not every intermediate byte.

    Model

    What has to hold

    No price, supply, yield, or adoption figure is added by this desk.

    Falsifier

    What would retire it

    What is posted on chain besides the attestation?

  4. 04 The bound

    Observation

    What the study says

    This note does not evaluate the chip vendor.

    Model

    What has to hold

    You are reading Phala's docs. A compute marketplace built on top is a second product.

    Falsifier

    What would retire it

    What measurement does the contract expect?

03 Sequence

One action, as an operating tape

  1. 01Workers run jobs off chain. The chain records commitments and attestations, not every intermediate byte.
  2. 02The hardware measurement is the identity of the program. A different binary is a different measurement.
  3. 03Gateways that order jobs are a liveness assumption. They are not the confidentiality assumption.

04 Load-bearing

The argument, and where a pitch drops it

  1. What the name has to mean

    The cut

    Phala publishes workers that execute off the consensus path and post attestations so a contract can check which program ran inside which hardware.

    Why it carries weight

    If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.

    Where it is dropped

    A confidential worker that can be swapped for an unmeasured binary without the contract noticing is not this design.

  2. What actually moves

    The cut

    The hardware measurement is the identity of the program. A different binary is a different measurement.

    Why it carries weight

    If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.

    Where it is dropped

    A confidential worker that can be swapped for an unmeasured binary without the contract noticing is not this design.

  3. What a later deployment may change

    The cut

    Gateways that order jobs are a liveness assumption. They are not the confidentiality assumption.

    Why it carries weight

    If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.

    Where it is dropped

    A later client, parameter or reward formula is a different object from this paragraph.

05 Register

What has to be true

  • Model · Not re-measured

    You are reading Phala's docs. A compute marketplace built on top is a second product.

  • Model · Not re-measured

    The document is the one at the source URL. A marketing page with the same brand is not this text.

  • Model · Not re-measured

    No price, supply, yield, or adoption figure is added by this desk.

06 Divergence

What happened after the paper

A confidential worker that can be swapped for an unmeasured binary without the contract noticing is not this design.

A later client, parameter set, or reward formula is a different object. Cite this paper for the mechanism. Cite a primary release for the network. This desk has not re-run the proof.

07 Pre-mortem

What to check before you use the idea

  4. 0 of 3 marked on this browser. A mark is a reading note, not a pass, a rating, or a recommendation.

08 Anatomy

The paper, in the order a builder needs

The problem it names

An attestation checks a measurement. It does not check that the measurement is the program the user meant, unless the contract stores the expected measurement.

What the design proposes

  • Workers run jobs off chain. The chain records commitments and attestations, not every intermediate byte.
  • The hardware measurement is the identity of the program. A different binary is a different measurement.
  • Gateways that order jobs are a liveness assumption. They are not the confidentiality assumption.

How the mechanism is specified

  • Workers run jobs off chain. The chain records commitments and attestations, not every intermediate byte.
  • The hardware measurement is the identity of the program. A different binary is a different measurement.
  • Gateways that order jobs are a liveness assumption. They are not the confidentiality assumption.

What this page does not treat as proven

  • This note does not evaluate the chip vendor.
  • It states no worker count.
  • A confidential worker that can be swapped for an unmeasured binary without the contract noticing is not this design.

Why the desk still reads it

Phala publishes workers that execute off the consensus path and post attestations so a contract can check which program ran inside which hardware.

09 Lexicon

Terms, opened into the record

Attestation
A hardware statement that a given binary measurement is running. It is not the output of the program.
Worker
An off-chain executor. It is not a consensus validator by default.

10 Repository

Every linked record on this page

Underlined words open a page that already exists: a concept, a protocol profile, a failure record, or another paper. If a word is not underlined, this desk does not have a record for it.

This is Blockchain Lab's reading of a public design paper. It is not the paper, not a copy of it, and not an offer of tokens, equity, custody or a partnership. Later network behaviour can diverge from the text. Nothing here is investment, legal or technical advice.

Research status: Design paper. Last reviewed: 1 October 2026. This is a reading of a public paper, not investment, legal or security advice.