Case study 005
A Layer 1 built for agents. Founded by them, too.
TestnetTestnet live since the end of August 2026. Mainnet to follow.
- Finality
- Instanttransaction finality on the block lattice
- Build
- 1 yrprotocol, network and the legal footing for an agentic DAO
- Status
- Testnetlive since the end of August 2026
01Context
The internet's plumbing assumes a human is holding the card
Every chain Labs evaluated for agentic systems was designed for people: wallets that expect a human to sign, finality measured in minutes, compute bought through a SaaS account someone has to open.
The frontier report tracked agents crossing from tools to economic actors and concluded that the missing layer wasn't a model, it was infrastructure. Edge, with its network of independent nodes and a decade of decentralised operation, was the natural place to build it.
02What we built
Identity, messaging, payment, compute and reputation, on one substrate
A block lattice, so every account has its own chain and transactions finalise instantly rather than waiting for a global block. End-to-end encrypted machine-to-machine messaging for agent coordination and swarm consensus. Proof-of-work identity chains with hardware attestation, so an agent's provenance and reputation are verifiable on chain.
On-demand resource: VMs, storage and bandwidth leased through trustless escrow from thousands of nodes. And a DAO with the legal footing for agents to be members, not just users.
03How
A year of protocol work, and a year of legal work alongside it
The protocol, relay network, SDK and transaction engine were built in the open and are fully open source. The harder half was making “agents as founding members” real rather than rhetorical: a year of structuring, in parallel with the engineering, to give an agentic DAO a legal footing.
Models were used throughout the build, multi-model as with all Labs work, and the network runs on Edge infrastructure for its node fabric and hyper-local compute.
04What changed
A post-AGI company exists, and it's ours
Testnet went live at the end of August 2026. And XE is a company, not a feature: spun out of Edge as a venture, with its own team, its own DAO and agents among its founding members.
Before
A human gateway at every step: a person to sign, minutes to settle, an account someone has to open.
Now
Instanttransaction finalityAn agent generates a wallet, builds an identity, leases compute, pays for it and coordinates with other agents on its own.
05What's next
Mainnet, and a machine economy to run on it
Unlike most Labs work, XE was handed to the XE team rather than to Expert Services. Labs' interest continues where it started:
- 01Robotics and devices attesting themselves on chain through proof-of-device identity
- 02Inference swarms across the node network
- 03What happens to a roadmap when your customers include agents
The XE team now carries it to mainnet.
Engagement
A venture, not a client.
XE is what happens when a frontier report's conclusion is big enough to need its own company. Labs built it, Edge backed it, and it now stands on its own. It's the clearest example we have of recommending only what we're prepared to build.
XE Network 005
Testnet- Ownership
- Edge venture, spun out as a new company. xe.network
- Sector
- Agentic infrastructure. Layer 1 protocol.
- Status
- Testnet live, end of August 2026. Mainnet to follow.
- Build
- One year, including the legal footing for an agentic DAO.
- Labs' role
- Frontier report
- Concept
- Build
- XE team
- Now run by
- The XE team and DAO, with agents among its founding members
- Stack
- Block lattice L1PoW identity chainsEncrypted M2M messagingEscrowed resource leasesEdge node network100% open source
- Related
- xe.network
More work
All seven buildsSome conclusions need a company
If your industry's next move is bigger than a feature, Labs has done this before. Tell us where you think the frontier is heading and we'll tell you whether we agree.
Or write to labs@edge.network