I’ll call it:
SatWeb
An open, decentralized, indexable Internet where Bitcoin is the settlement + integrity layer.
The key move is separating truth (what exists, who owns it, what version is canonical) from delivery (how bytes move around fast).
The non‑negotiables
1) Open
Anyone can publish, host, index, and build clients — no “approved nodes,” no token-gated governance.
2) Decentralized
No single registry, no single DNS authority, no single search engine, no single hosting provider.
3) Fully accessible
and
indexable
Indexing is not “best effort.” It’s part of the protocol:
- content has public metadata + deterministic discovery
- indexes are verifiable
- anyone can run an indexer or a light verifier
4) Bitcoin-powered (no extra token)
Bitcoin is the root of:
- identity anchoring
- naming ownership
- timestamped publication
- payments for bandwidth/storage/indexing
- auditability (roots/checkpoints)
Bitcoin’s core design as a peer-to-peer network that timestamps transactions into an immutable chain is exactly the kind of “truth rail” we want.
The architecture in 3 planes
A) Truth plane (Bitcoin-anchored state)
Defines what exists and what the latest canonical pointer is.
- Identity: DIDs anchored on Bitcoin (ION works exactly for this: it’s a Layer 2 DID network on Bitcoin, deterministic, no extra tokens).
- Naming: human-readable names anchored on Bitcoin using standards like Sats Names (SNS) (.sats), which explicitly aims to write names to Bitcoin via ordinals.
- Publishing: immutable “publish events” that point to content manifests (hash-addressed).
B) Data plane (content delivery + storage swarm)
Defines how bytes move.
- Content is content-addressed (hash/CID)
- Stored and served by a swarm of nodes (like IPFS/BitTorrent style)
- Paid via Lightning streaming micropayments (so serving content is profitable)
Lightning is a Layer-2 Bitcoin protocol for off-chain transfers; its specs are standardized as BOLTs.
C) Index plane (open search + verifiable indexing)
Defines how discovery/search stays open.
- Indexers crawl publish events + manifests
- Index snapshots are committed as hashes and cross-checked
- Light clients can verify index integrity (no “trust me bro” search engines)
This is where we borrow a real pattern already working in Bitcoin meta-protocol land:
OPI (Open Protocol Indexer) is explicitly “a network of indexers” for Bitcoin-native protocols.
And OPI’s light-client approach recalculates hashes to validate events — that’s the exact vibe we want for verifiable search.
The SatWeb primitives
1) Identity: DID as the root key
Use did:ion as the default identity method.
Why?
- It’s already designed to run atop Bitcoin without new consensus or tokens.
- Your DID doc can rotate keys, delegate, revoke, etc., without a centralized identity provider.
Outcome: every publisher has a stable identity that survives platforms.
2) Naming: human names that aren’t owned by ICANN
We need human handles like:
- eric.sats
- cybermonk.sats
- archive.sats
SNS already defines a Bitcoin-native naming standard using ordinals.
SatWeb rule: a name resolves to a DID (identity), not an IP address.
- Name → DID → latest “site/app manifest”
- This avoids DNS-style fragility and IP-based censorship.
3) Content addressing: everything is a hash
Every file, page, image, bundle, app package, etc. is referenced by a content hash.
So URLs become:
- sat://eric.sats/
- sat://eric.sats/blog/2026/iron-mindset
- sat://cid/<hash>/path
This is huge because it means:
- mirrors are automatic
- caching is safe
- tampering is detectable
4) Manifests: the “indexable spine” of the whole web
Every published thing has a public manifest (small, structured, signed).
Example manifest (conceptual):
{
“p”: “satweb”,
“v”: 1,
“type”: “site”,
“did”: “did:ion:Ei…abc”,
“name”: “eric.sats”,
“created”: 1766620800,
“updated”: 1766620900,
“title”: “ERIC // Street + Strength”,
“description”: “Photography, lifting, bitcoin.”,
“language”: [“en”],
“tags”: [“photography”, “street”, “bitcoin”, “strength”],
“root”: “cid:bafy…rootbundle”,
“routes”: [
{“path”: “/”, “cid”: “cid:…”},
{“path”: “/feed.json”, “cid”: “cid:…”}
],
“license”: “CC-BY-4.0”,
“sig”: “ed25519:…”
}
This manifest is what makes the web indexable.
Indexers don’t need to “scrape random HTML” to discover meaning — the protocol hands them structured metadata.
5) Publishing: Bitcoin-anchored pointers, not Bitcoin-stored megabytes
Publishing is a Bitcoin-anchored event that says:
“This DID published manifest hash X at time T, with optional name binding Y.”
That anchor can be:
- an inscription (ordinals-style) containing the manifest or a manifest hash pointer
- a minimal on-chain commitment that points to the manifest in the swarm
The point: Bitcoin stores commitments, not your 4K video files.
6) Retrieval: paid bandwidth without paywalling the web
This is where people usually screw it up: either it’s “free but unsustainable” or “paid and unindexable.”
SatWeb does a hybrid that keeps indexing alive:
Access model
- Metadata (manifests) are always free to fetch (or extremely cheap and cached widely).
- Small text content can be free via sponsored caching.
- Heavy bytes (video, giant images, datasets) can be pay-per-byte.
Payment model
Use Lightning micropayments per chunk:
- client requests chunk(s)
- server streams encrypted chunk(s)
- payment unlocks the key (or continues stream)
Lightning is purpose-built for off-chain payments and its BOLT specs define the protocol layer.
Result: content stays accessible, and serving it is economically sustainable.
The indexing system: how SatWeb stays
fully indexable
This is the heart.
Indexers are not “special.” They’re a market.
Anyone can run:
- a personal indexer for their world
- a community indexer
- a commercial indexer
But we add verifiability so users can detect manipulation.
Verifiable indexing via hash commitments
Indexers produce:
- an index snapshot (inverted index + metadata DB)
- a Merkle root of that snapshot (or of snapshot shards)
- a checkpoint commitment posted to Bitcoin periodically
Then any light client can:
- download index proofs (not the whole index)
- verify against the committed root(s)
This is conceptually similar to what OPI-LC describes: fetch “valid event hashes,” pull events, then recompute to validate.
Deterministic parsing rules
To avoid “indexers disagreeing” chaos, SatWeb mandates:
- canonical JSON serialization rules
- strict schema versions
- deterministic ordering rules for events
OPI’s approach (event hashing + cumulative hash) is a strong precedent pattern.
“Bitcoin Open Protocol Network” integration
You used a specific phrase, and there are two real things in the ecosystem that match that vibe:
A) OPNet (Open Protocol Network) as a programmable layer
There’s an emerging project that describes OPNet (Open Protocol Network) as a consensus layer built on Bitcoin L1 to run WASM smart contracts (“Solidity for Bitcoin”).
How SatWeb can use OPNet:
- name auctions / renewals / transfers
- storage contracts + escrow logic
- index bounties (pay indexers when they prove inclusion)
- dispute systems (slashing for provable fraud)
B) OPI Network as the indexing backbone pattern
OPI markets itself as “a network of indexers” for Bitcoin-native assets.
How SatWeb uses that pattern:
- multiple indexers reporting
- hash-consensus via checkpoints
- light-client verification
You can absolutely design SatWeb so it plugs into:
- OPNet for programmable incentives
- OPI-style verifiable indexing mechanics
Incentives: sats, not tokens
We want a system where:
- publishers can be sovereign
- storage can be profitable
- search/indexing can be sustainable
- users aren’t trapped by a single platform
Who gets paid, and for what?
- Storage nodes get sats for:
- storing bundles (monthly retention)
- serving chunks (bandwidth)
- Indexers get sats for:
- indexing manifests (publisher-paid bounties)
- answering queries (optional query-fee or sponsorship)
- Publishers can get sats via:
- direct payments/donations
- paid premium content (but keep public manifest indexable)
- pay-per-API
Anti-spam is economic
Publishing is permissionless, but not costless:
- tiny publish fees (or refundable deposits)
- rate limits enforced by cost
- optional proof-of-work for free tiers
This keeps “open” from turning into “garbage dump.”
A concrete user journey (feels like the web, but sovereign)
Step 1: Claim identity + name
- Create did:ion identity
- Register eric.sats via SNS
- Set name record → DID
Step 2: Publish a site/app
- Bundle your site into a content-addressed package
- Generate + sign a manifest
- Anchor the manifest pointer on Bitcoin
Step 3: Indexers discover it automatically
- They watch Bitcoin publish events
- Fetch manifest + metadata
- Update their indexes
- Commit snapshot roots for verifiability
Step 4: Anyone can browse it
A SatWeb browser does:
- resolve eric.sats → DID
- get latest manifest pointer
- fetch bundle from swarm
- verify hashes + signature
- pay sats automatically if bandwidth requires it
No platform. No middleman. No silent deplatforming.
What makes this “a new Internet” and not just “a web3 app”
Because SatWeb upgrades the infrastructure primitives:
- Naming isn’t DNS-rent, it’s Bitcoin-anchored ownership.
- Identity isn’t Google/Facebook login, it’s DID anchored to Bitcoin.
- Publishing is timestamped + immutable pointers on the hardest ledger.
- Serving is paid in sats, so hosting becomes a real market.
- Indexing is open and verifiable (no monopoly search engine).
The hardest problems (and how SatWeb handles them)
1) Censorship at the transport layer
Solution: SatWeb is an overlay that can run over:
- normal internet
- Tor/I2P
- future mesh networks
Truth plane stays anchored; data plane can route around blockages.
2) Centralization pressure (big nodes dominate)
Solution:
- light clients for indexing (OPI-LC style inspiration)
- sharded storage markets
- local-first caching
- pluggable index sources (you can pick 5 indexers and quorum-verify)
3) “Indexability vs privacy”
Rule:
- Public content: fully indexable via manifests
- Private content: encrypted payloads; manifest can expose minimal metadata, but not full text indexing unless you opt in
Build plan (realistic rollout)
Phase 1 — The spine
- Manifest spec (SatWeb v1)
- Publish event format
- Reference browser resolver (name → DID → manifest)
- Gateway so https:// users can access SatWeb content
Phase 2 — Verifiable indexing
- Open-source indexer
- Snapshot roots + verification proofs
- “Index quorum” in clients (verify across N indexers)
Phase 3 — Paid storage + bandwidth market
- Chunked retrieval protocol
- Lightning streaming payments
- Storage contracts (publisher pays for persistence)
Phase 4 — Programmable incentives (optional)
- OPNet integration for escrow/bounties/contracts
If you want, I can take this from blueprint → spec
Next I can produce:
- a formal protocol spec doc (message formats, schemas, state machines)
- a reference implementation plan (modules/repos)
- a SatWeb browser architecture (resolver + verifier + wallet integration)
- a minimal “Hello World” publish flow (manifest → anchor → index → fetch)
Just tell me if you want SatWeb optimized for:
- publishing + websites
- social + messaging
- apps + compute
- or all of it (full stack)