GNS Protocol — Vertical Case Studies

How Proof-of-Trajectory Creates Value Across 7 Industries

GNS Foundation · February 2026 Confidential — Investor & Partner Materials

Overview

GNS answers the question every digital platform needs answered: "Is this a real human?"

Unlike biometric approaches (WorldCoin's iris scanning) or document-based verification (traditional KYC), GNS proves humanity through behavioral proof — the unforgeable pattern of movement through the physical world over time. This approach is:

• Privacy-preserving — no biometrics, no document uploads
• Continuously verified — not a one-time check that can be replayed
• Cryptographically provable — Ed25519 signatures, SHA-256 hash chains
• Cost-efficient — $0.01/verification vs $0.07+ (Auth0) or $60-500 (KYC)

Each vertical below represents a distinct buyer persona, revenue stream, and go-to-market motion — all built on the same core protocol.

1. Space Insurance — Orbital TrIP

Status: 🟢 LIVE IN PRODUCTION

Business Workflow

The Market

The space insurance market collects approximately $600M in annual premiums covering roughly 300 actively insured satellites. In 2023, the sector experienced a catastrophic 179% loss ratio with claims approaching $1B. Notable losses include the Intelsat 33e breakup (October 2024, uninsured, 700+ debris fragments from a $500M satellite), SiriusXM SXM-7 ($225M total loss), and Viasat-3 ($420M potential loss from antenna deployment failure).

The core problem: unlike terrestrial insurance, satellite losses often cannot be independently investigated. Determining whether failure resulted from technical malfunction, environmental collision, or operator negligence remains largely guesswork. Underwriters price risk using actuarial tables from the 1990s because they have no continuous monitoring data.

The Buyer

• Insurance brokers: Aon (35%+ market share), Marsh McLennan, Lockton, Gallagher
• Underwriters: AXA XL, Lloyd's syndicates (Beazley, Atrium/ASIC), Munich Re
• Regulatory bodies: ITU, national space agencies requiring compliance reporting

GNS Solution: Orbital TrIP

Orbital TrIP applies the same Proof-of-Trajectory mechanism used for human identity to space objects. Every satellite receives:

• Ed25519 cryptographic identity — deterministic keypair from NORAD catalog number
• Breadcrumb chain — 72-hour window, 30-minute intervals, SGP4-propagated positions signed and hash-chained
• Trust score (0-100) — five-axis evaluation: consistency, compliance, maturity, corroboration, integrity
• Tier classification — Odysseus (85+), Voyager (70-84), Pathfinder (50-69), Explorer (30-49), Seedling (<30)

Live today: 261 satellites tracked, 177 insured fleet flagged, 5 story satellites with detailed narratives, CelesTrak live data refreshing every 3 hours.

Integration Example

# Query a specific insured satellite
curl https://orbital-trip-production.up.railway.app/api/satellites/SES-1

{
  "name": "SES-1",
  "norad": 36516,
  "category": "GEO Comms",
  "operator": "SES",
  "insured": true,
  "trust": {
    "total": 87.4,
    "tier": "Odysseus",
    "consistency": 33.2,
    "compliance": 24,
    "maturity": 20,
    "corroboration": 8,
    "integrity": 10
  },
  "trip": {
    "pk": "a3f8c1d2e4b5...",
    "len": 144,
    "genesis": "7a2b3c4d...",
    "head": "9e8f7a6b..."
  }
}

Four-Layer Revenue Model

Revenue Projection

Why It Matters for Investors

Orbital TrIP revenue validates the entire GNS thesis. If insurance brokers pay for trajectory-derived trust scores on satellites, that proves the same mechanism works for terrestrial identity. Real B2B revenue from Proof-of-Trajectory — before a single consumer downloads the app.

2. Digital Advertising & Ad Fraud

Status: 🟡 READY TO BUILD — largest TAM

Business Workflow

The Market

Ad fraud costs the global digital advertising industry approximately $84 billion per year, with over $35 billion lost in the US alone. The problem is structural: advertisers pay per impression, click, or install — and bots can generate all three. Current anti-fraud solutions (DoubleVerify, IAS, HUMAN Security) use behavioral heuristics and device fingerprinting, both of which sophisticated bot farms increasingly evade.

The industry's core assumption is broken: "a device requesting an ad is a real person viewing it." There is no way to verify the physical existence of the entity behind the request.

The Buyer

• Ad networks: Google Ads, Meta Ads, Amazon Advertising
• Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs): The Trade Desk, DV360, MediaMath
• Brand safety platforms: DoubleVerify, Integral Ad Science (IAS), HUMAN Security
• Major advertisers: Fortune 500 brands spending $10M+/year on digital ads

GNS Solution

GNS Verify API adds a definitive signal to every ad request: "Is the device behind this impression operated by a verified human?"

A device running the GNS protocol accumulates breadcrumbs over weeks and months. A bot farm in a data center in Moscow cannot produce 6 months of realistic human movement patterns across a real city. This isn't behavioral heuristics — it's cryptographic proof of physical existence.

Integration Example

// Ad exchange verifies impression before bidding
const response = await fetch('https://api.gns.foundation/v1/verify', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'Authorization': 'Bearer sk_live_...' },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    device_tit: 'a3f8c1d2e4b5...', // Trajectory Identity Token
    context: 'ad_impression',
    minimum_trust: 0.4              // Reject devices below 40% trust
  })
});

const { verified, trust_score, breadcrumb_count, verification_level } = await response.json();

if (verified && trust_score > 0.4) {
  // Bid on this impression — verified human device
  submitBid(impressionId, bidAmount);
} else {
  // Skip — likely bot or unverified device
  logFraudSignal(impressionId, trust_score);
}

Revenue Model

Unit economics: At $0.001 per verification (bulk), a platform processing 100M ad requests/day and filtering 30% as fraudulent saves $30M/year in wasted ad spend. GNS charges ~$100K/year for unlimited verification. The ROI is 300:1.

Why It Matters for Investors

Ad fraud is the largest addressable market for GNS by revenue potential. The $84B problem is growing as AI-powered bots become more sophisticated. GNS offers something no existing solution can: proof of physical existence, not just behavioral analysis. A single enterprise contract with a top-5 DSP could generate $500K+ ARR.

3. Social Media & Creator Economy

Status: 🟡 READY TO BUILD — B2C beachhead

Business Workflow

The Market

Social platforms collectively spend billions annually on content moderation, bot detection, and trust & safety. Twitter/X reported 5% of accounts are bots — independent researchers estimate 15-25%. Instagram influencer fraud (fake followers, engagement pods) costs brands an estimated $1.3B/year in wasted marketing spend. Creator platforms like Patreon, Substack, and Linktree have no way to verify that a creator is who they claim to be.

The verification problem runs deeper than blue checkmarks: "is this account operated by a real, unique human being?" is a question no current social platform can definitively answer.

The Buyer

• Social platforms: Twitter/X, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Reddit, Discord
• Creator tools: Linktree, Patreon, Substack, Gumroad, Ko-fi
• Community platforms: Discord (server verification), Reddit (subreddit moderation)
• Influencer marketing: CreatorIQ, Aspire, impact.com

GNS Solution

For platforms: "Login with GNS" — OIDC-compatible authentication that returns not just "who is this?" but "is this human, and how confident are we?" Every GNS login includes a trust score backed by months of cryptographic movement proof.

For creators: gSite — a verified identity page (Linktree killer) where every link, bio element, and social connection is backed by trajectory-verified identity. Not "this person paid $8 for a checkmark" but "this person has 6 months of verified human existence."

For communities: One human = one account. Discord servers can require GNS verification to eliminate raid bots. Subreddits can weight votes by trust score.

Integration Example

// Platform implements "Login with GNS" (standard OIDC flow)
app.get('/auth/gns/callback', async (req, res) => {
  const token = await exchangeCode(req.query.code);
  const identity = await verifyGNSToken(token);

  // identity contains:
  // {
  //   handle: "@alice",
  //   tit: "a3f8c1d2...",       // Trajectory Identity Token
  //   trust_score: 78.5,
  //   verification_level: "advanced",
  //   breadcrumb_count: 612,
  //   is_human: true,            // Flocking Energy classification
  //   chain_valid: true
  // }

  if (identity.trust_score >= 50) {
    grantVerifiedBadge(identity.handle);
  }

  createOrUpdateUser(identity);
});

Revenue Model

Go-to-Market: Discord/Gaming Beachhead

The B2C launch strategy targets gamers and Discord communities first:

1. Trajectory Badge — gamified 5-tier progression (Seedling → Odysseus) that rewards movement
2. Discord bot — /verify command checks GNS trust score, assigns server roles
3. Verified link-in-bio — gSite as the identity-native alternative to Linktree
4. Creator verification — brands can filter influencer partnerships by trust score

Why It Matters for Investors

Social/Creator is the B2C on-ramp that builds the user base for all other verticals. Every person who claims a @handle and builds trajectory history becomes a verified identity that ad-tech, fintech, and enterprise buyers can later query. The viral loop: users verify to join communities → communities require verification to stay spam-free → more users verify.

4. Fintech & KYC/AML Compliance

Status: 🟡 READY TO BUILD — highest per-customer value

Business Workflow

The Market

Financial institutions globally spend approximately $8 billion per year on Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance. The average cost per customer verification ranges from $60 to $500, with banks processing millions of checks annually. Despite this spending, regulatory fines for KYC/AML failures exceeded $5B in 2023 alone.

The fundamental flaw: KYC is a point-in-time document check. A person scans their passport once, and the system trusts them forever. Identity theft, synthetic identity fraud ($20B+ annually in the US), and account takeover attacks all exploit the gap between initial verification and ongoing trust.

The Buyer

• Neobanks: Revolut, Wise, N26, Monzo
• Traditional banks: JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, HSBC (compliance departments)
• Payment processors: Stripe, Adyen, Square
• Crypto exchanges: Coinbase, Binance, Kraken
• KYC providers: Jumio, Onfido, Veriff (as integration partners)

GNS Solution

GNS transforms KYC from a one-time document check into continuous behavioral verification. A customer with 1,000 breadcrumbs across 12 months, moving through recognizable patterns in Rome, is demonstrably real — without uploading a single document.

Key differentiator: Traditional KYC answers "does this document match this face?" GNS answers "has this cryptographic identity been controlled by a real human being for the past 6 months?"

This doesn't replace document KYC — it augments it with an ongoing trust signal that makes re-verification and ongoing monitoring vastly cheaper and more reliable.

Integration Example

# Bank's ongoing customer verification (runs daily)
import gns

client = gns.Client(api_key="sk_live_...")

def daily_customer_check(customer_id, gns_handle):
    result = client.verify(
        handle=gns_handle,
        checks=["trust_score", "chain_validity", "trajectory_anomaly"],
        minimum_trust=0.6
    )

    if not result.chain_valid:
        # Breadcrumb chain broken — potential account compromise
        flag_for_review(customer_id, "chain_integrity_failure")

    if result.trajectory_anomaly:
        # Sudden location change inconsistent with history
        # e.g., account used from Lagos 2 hours after Rome breadcrumb
        trigger_enhanced_due_diligence(customer_id)

    if result.trust_score < 0.3:
        # Trust degradation — account dormant or pattern changed
        request_step_up_verification(customer_id)

    # Log for compliance audit trail
    log_verification(customer_id, result)

Revenue Model

Cost comparison:

Why It Matters for Investors

Fintech/KYC has the highest per-customer revenue of any GNS vertical. A single neobank with 5M customers paying $0.10/month for continuous verification = $6M ARR. The regulatory tailwind is strong: FATF Travel Rule, EU MiCA, US FinCEN increasingly mandate ongoing customer due diligence that goes beyond one-time document checks.

5. Enterprise IAM (Identity & Access Management)

Status: 🔵 PHASE 2 — requires SOC 2

Business Workflow

The Market

The enterprise IAM market exceeds $18 billion annually, dominated by Okta ($2.5B revenue), Microsoft Entra ID, and Auth0 (acquired by Okta for $6.5B). Despite massive spending, identity remains the #1 attack vector: 80% of breaches involve compromised credentials (Verizon DBIR 2024). Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is increasingly bypassed through MFA fatigue attacks, SIM swapping, and adversary-in-the-middle phishing.

The gap: current IAM systems verify credentials (something you know, something you have), but cannot verify physical presence. A stolen laptop with cached MFA tokens works the same in the hands of a thief as in the hands of the legitimate user.

The Buyer

• CISOs at Fortune 500 companies
• IT departments at mid-size enterprises (500-5,000 employees)
• Zero-trust architecture implementers (Zscaler, Cloudflare Access, BeyondCorp)
• Government agencies implementing EO 14028 (US cybersecurity)

GNS Solution

GNS adds an unforgeable third factor to enterprise authentication: "Is this person physically where they should be, moving like a real human?"

Employee authenticates normally (password + MFA). GNS adds trajectory verification — even if credentials are stolen, the attacker doesn't have the physical trajectory that accumulated on the legitimate user's device over months. This is not geofencing (easily spoofed with GPS faker). It's cryptographic proof of consistent physical existence over time, validated by Flocking Energy analysis that detects GPS spoofing.

Integration Example

// Enterprise SSO middleware adds GNS trajectory check
const gnsMiddleware = async (req, res, next) => {
  const session = getOIDCSession(req);

  // Standard OIDC authentication passed — now add GNS layer
  const gnsCheck = await gns.verifyEmployee({
    tit: session.gns_tit,
    org_namespace: 'acme',       // @acme organization
    required_trust: 0.5,
    check_anomaly: true,
    max_location_age_hours: 24   // Last breadcrumb within 24h
  });

  if (gnsCheck.anomaly_detected) {
    // Trajectory inconsistent — possible credential theft
    await notifySOC(session.user, gnsCheck.anomaly_details);
    return res.redirect('/step-up-verification');
  }

  if (gnsCheck.trust_score < 0.5) {
    // New or inactive device — require additional verification
    return res.redirect('/device-verification');
  }

  req.gns = gnsCheck;
  next();
};

Revenue Model

Why It Matters for Investors

Enterprise IAM is a proven $18B market where Okta alone generates $2.5B revenue. GNS doesn't replace Okta — it adds a layer that Okta fundamentally cannot provide (physical presence verification). The integration path is clean: OIDC-compatible drop-in that works with existing IdP infrastructure. The SOC 2 compliance milestone (Q1 2027) unlocks this vertical for enterprise sales.

6. AI Safety & Proof-of-Humanity

Status: 🔵 PHASE 2 — regulatory timing critical

Business Workflow

The Market

AI-generated content is becoming indistinguishable from human-created content. Deepfakes, AI-written articles, synthetic voices, and generated images are eroding trust in all digital media. The US Executive Order 14110 on AI Safety explicitly calls for identity verification standards. NIST is developing AI identity frameworks. The EU AI Act requires disclosure of AI-generated content.

The emerging market for "proof-of-humanity" — verifying that content, interactions, and decisions originate from real humans — is estimated to grow from $2B today to $100B+ by 2030. Every AI company, content platform, and regulatory body needs an answer to: "Did a real human create/approve this?"

The Buyer

• AI companies: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta AI
• Content platforms: Medium, Substack, Wikipedia, news organizations
• Regulatory bodies: NIST, EU AI Office, FTC
• Training data providers: Scale AI, Appen, Surge AI (human-verified data)

GNS Solution

GNS provides cryptographic attestation that a specific piece of content was created or approved by a verified human identity. Not "this account claims to be human" but "this account has months of cryptographically-proven physical existence, validated by Flocking Energy anti-spoofing analysis."

For content platforms: Every post, article, or comment can carry a GNS attestation — a signature from a trajectory-verified identity with a specific trust score.

For AI training data: Data labeled or created by GNS-verified humans carries provenance proof. Training datasets can be filtered by contributor trust score, ensuring human-quality annotations.

For regulatory compliance: GNS attestation provides the kind of auditable, cryptographic proof that EO 14110 and the EU AI Act envision — without requiring centralized biometric databases.

Integration Example

# Content platform verifies human authorship
import gns

def publish_article(article, author_handle):
    # Verify the author is human before publishing
    verification = gns.verify(
        handle=author_handle,
        context="content_creation",
        minimum_trust=0.6
    )

    if not verification.is_human:
        return {"error": "Author humanity verification failed"}

    # Create signed attestation
    attestation = gns.attest(
        content_hash=sha256(article.body),
        author_tit=verification.tit,
        trust_at_time=verification.trust_score,
        timestamp=datetime.utcnow()
    )

    article.gns_attestation = attestation
    article.verified_human = True
    article.trust_score = verification.trust_score

    # Readers can verify: "Was this written by a real person?"
    # Regulators can audit: "What was the author's trust level?"
    return save_and_publish(article)

Revenue Model

Why It Matters for Investors

The timing window is critical. US EO 14110 creates demand. NIST frameworks are being drafted now. The EU AI Act takes effect in stages through 2026. GNS's IETF Internet-Draft positions it as a standards-compliant solution rather than a proprietary vendor. If GNS becomes the IETF-standard method for proof-of-humanity, every AI company and content platform becomes a potential customer.

7. Gaming, Web3 & Airdrop Protection

Status: 🟡 READY TO BUILD — Discord beachhead strategy

Business Workflow

The Market

Bot and multi-account abuse is endemic across gaming and Web3:

• Airdrops: Sybil attackers routinely claim tokens across 1,000+ wallets controlled by a single person. The Arbitrum airdrop (2023) was estimated to have 30-40% Sybil claims.
• Ranked gaming: Smurfing and bot accounts degrade competitive integrity. Riot Games bans millions of accounts per year.
• DAO governance: One person with 100 wallets can capture governance votes, undermining decentralized decision-making.
• NFT minting: Bot farms drain mint allocations, preventing real collectors from participating.

The common thread: there is no reliable way to enforce one human = one account across digital platforms.

The Buyer

• Game studios: Riot Games, Epic Games, Valve, Activision Blizzard
• Web3 projects: Arbitrum, Optimism, Starknet (airdrop distribution)
• DAO tooling: Snapshot, Tally, Aragon
• NFT platforms: OpenSea, Blur, Foundation

GNS Solution

GNS provides cryptographic Sybil resistance: one real human trajectory = one verified identity = one account/claim/vote. A Sybil attacker cannot produce 1,000 distinct physical movement patterns simultaneously — each GNS identity requires months of unique trajectory data validated by Flocking Energy analysis.

For airdrops: Filter claims by GNS trust score. Only identities with 6+ months of verified trajectory receive tokens. Eliminates Sybil at the protocol level.

For gaming: GNS-verified accounts get priority matchmaking, ranked access, and anti-smurf protections. Creating a new account requires building trajectory history from scratch.

For DAOs: Quadratic voting weighted by GNS trust score. One person with one trajectory gets one meaningful vote, regardless of how many wallets they control.

Integration Example

// Web3 airdrop claim with Sybil protection
async function claimAirdrop(walletAddress, gnsTIT) {
  // Step 1: Verify GNS identity
  const verification = await gns.verify({
    tit: gnsTIT,
    minimum_trust: 0.5,
    minimum_breadcrumbs: 200,
    check_uniqueness: true     // Has this TIT already claimed?
  });

  if (!verification.verified) {
    return { error: "GNS verification failed", reason: verification.reason };
  }

  if (verification.already_claimed) {
    return { error: "This identity has already claimed" };
  }

  // Step 2: Scale allocation by trust score
  const baseAllocation = 1000;  // tokens
  const trustMultiplier = 1 + (verification.trust_score / 100);  // 1.0x to 2.0x
  const allocation = Math.floor(baseAllocation * trustMultiplier);

  // Step 3: Record claim linked to GNS identity (not wallet)
  await recordClaim(verification.tit, walletAddress, allocation);

  // One human = one claim, cryptographically enforced
  return { success: true, tokens: allocation, trust: verification.trust_score };
}

Revenue Model

Airdrop economics: A Web3 project distributing $50M in tokens with 35% Sybil loss = $17.5M wasted. GNS Sybil Guard at $0.01/check across 500K claimants = $5K total cost. Prevention ROI: 3,500:1.

Why It Matters for Investors

Gaming/Web3 is the ideal B2C on-ramp. Gamers are early adopters. Discord servers are natural distribution channels. The Trajectory Badge gamification system turns identity verification into an engagement mechanic. Users who verify for Discord/gaming later become verified identities for fintech, enterprise, and ad-tech use cases — building the network effect that powers every other vertical.

8. GNS Vault — Password Manager with Human Verification

Status: 🟢 LIVE IN PRODUCTION — 111 tests passing, Demo Store active

Business Workflow

The Market

The password manager market is worth $3.5B and growing 12% annually. But traditional managers have fundamental problems:

• LastPass: Breached in 2022 with encrypted vaults stolen. Cloud data is vulnerable.
• 1Password/Bitwarden: Require cloud storage and monthly subscriptions.
• WorldCoin: Requires iris scanning — invasive and requires special hardware.

None of these solve the "are you human?" problem alongside credential management. GNS Vault is the only one that combines:

• Password Manager — credentials encrypted locally
• Human Verification — TrIP badge without biometrics
• Crypto Wallet — Ed25519 = valid Stellar address

The Buyer

• Consumers: Users frustrated with passwords and CAPTCHAs
• B2B SaaS: Platforms wanting "Sign in with GNS" to reduce bots
• E-commerce: Merchants wanting to verify human customers without friction
• Web3: Projects needing Sybil resistance without iris scanning

GNS Solution

GNS Vault unifies three functions in a single Ed25519 key:

Credential Vault: XChaCha20-Poly1305 encryption with Argon2id KDF. Passwords never leave your device. P2P sync between devices without cloud.

Human Verification: Your TrIP trust score is built into the extension. Sites can verify you're human by calling the API — no CAPTCHA, no iris scan.

Crypto Wallet: The same Ed25519 key is a valid Stellar wallet address. Send USDC/EURC to @handles via IDUP layer.

Integration Example

// "Sign in with GNS" integration — just 10 lines
<script src="https://cdn.gcrumbs.com/auth-sdk.js"></script>
<button onclick="gnsAuth()">Sign in with GNS</button>

<script>
async function gnsAuth() {
  const result = await GNS.authenticate({
    challenge: await fetch('/api/challenge').then(r => r.text()),
    minTrust: 20  // Require at least Bronze badge
  });
  
  // result = { publicKey, signature, trustScore, badgeTier }
  if (result.trustScore >= 20) {
    // User verified as real human
    await fetch('/api/login', {
      method: 'POST',
      body: JSON.stringify(result)
    });
  }
}
</script>

Revenue Model

TAM Economics: Password manager market = $3.5B. If GNS Vault captures 0.1% = $3.5M ARR potential. But the real value is the network effect: every Vault user becomes a verified identity that powers all other GNS verticals.

Why It Matters for Investors

GNS Vault is the perfect B2C on-ramp. Users download it to solve a real problem (password management), and in the process become TrIP-verified identities. Every Vault user can then be monetized through:

• Sign in with GNS: B2B revenue from sites integrating the SDK
• Bot Protection: Verify API for e-commerce and SaaS
• Crypto Payments: Transaction fees on USDC/EURC payments via IDUP

User acquisition cost is near-zero (free extension, natural viral loop), while lifetime value grows as users engage with more GNS services. It's the flywheel that connects B2C acquisition with B2B monetization.

Cross-Vertical Revenue Summary

Note: These projections are conservative and assume GNS captures <0.1% of each vertical's TAM by Year 3.

Go-to-Market Priority

Phase 1 (Now — Q2 2026): Revenue Validation 1. Space Insurance — Live today, pursue broker partnerships 2. GNS Vault — Live today, 111 tests passing, Demo Store active 3. Gaming/Web3 — Discord beachhead, Trajectory Badge B2C launch

Phase 2 (Q3-Q4 2026): Scale 4. Ad Fraud — First DSP integration partner 5. Fintech/KYC — Neobank pilot (continuous verification) 6. Social/Creator — gSite launch, "Login with GNS" SDK

Phase 3 (2027): Enterprise 7. Enterprise IAM — Post-SOC 2, organization namespace sales 8. AI/PoH — Regulatory-driven adoption, NIST alignment

The Common Thread

Every vertical asks the same question in a different language:

GNS answers all of them with the same mechanism: cryptographic proof that a physical entity has moved through the real world over time, creating an unforgeable behavioral signature.

One protocol. Eight revenue streams. $148B+ combined TAM.

GNS Protocol · ULISSY s.r.l. · Rome, Italy Patent Pending #63/948,788 · IETF Internet-Draft draft-ayerbe-trip-protocol-02 Contact: @camiloayerbe