This question raised by Michael Soussan in BAZAAR  Magazine (link at bottom of this post) should be answered in all sectors dealing in cryptocurrency, digital transactions, global payments, financial services, insurance, government and much more. The pressure to adopt Agentic AI, and other AIs, to automate ‘simple’ decision making is immense and many company CEOs will rue early adoption without the layer of trust that is fundamantal to international trade and payments.

Soussan states that "While the first revolution focused primarily on digital currencies and payment rails, the second extends blockchain’s capabilities into a much wider range of transactions—many of which have traditionally relied on paper documentation, centralized registries, and notarized verification.

In this new phase, blockchain technology is evolving from a tool for digital money into a foundational infrastructure for secure, authenticated, and regulated digital transactions."

In the early days of blockchain crptography innovator David Chaum researched the role  and requirements of digital cash platforms that leveraged cryptographic technology to secure payments. This lead him to define ‘blind signatures ’and cryptographic privacy that would allow individuals to exchange digital assets withiut revealing private and sensitive information. 

His innovations needed other key parts of digital payments and transactions to mature including crptocurrencies, blockchain and dfistributed networks/ledgers, compute power and decentalised global payments.

The introduction of stablecoin backed by governmental regulatory approval and compliance standards has accelerated this trend. Yet there is still a missing layer especially as digital workers, aka agents are promoted to automate decision making for both individuals and corporate teams.

Soussan describes this missing layer as the proof of intent.

Proof of Intent

"The motivation behind Proof of Intent reflects a growing challenge in the digital age. As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly capable of mimicking human behavior, the question of who is truly responsible for a transaction becomes more urgent.

Blockchain solved one problem exceptionally well: it proved that digital assets such as coins could be securely tracked and transferred. But as blockchain moves into broader economic applications that is not enough".

And David Chaum is at the heart of the breakthrough that makes this not just possible but also practical. 

He has joined, as co-founder, ReLeaf Financial. 

US Patent 12,505,416 B2, invented by Christopher Walter Surdak and assigned to ReLeaf Financial Inc. heralds a significant new business model for business and consumers. The system employs a "Proof-of-Intent" consensus mechanism, leveraging notaries and witnesses for efficient transaction validation. Drawing from Surdak's expertise in infonomics and ecosystem economics—where idle resources like data and compute are treated as monetizable assets—the ecosystem creates value through distributed participation, low-cost operations, and incentives aligned with emerging market needs. 

For decades, institutions have attempted to digitize traditional paperwork. Electronic signature platforms, digital document management systems, and centralized databases have replaced many paper-based processes.

However, these systems still rely heavily on centralized verification and fragmented record-keeping. Documents may be stored on one platform, signatures verified by another, and regulatory compliance handled by yet another system. Frictionless, fast and secure payments and transactions are hindered by these bottlenecks.

Blockchain allows the verification itself to be embedded within the transaction record. Instead of simply signing a document stored elsewhere, parties can execute transactions directly on a blockchain ledger. The transaction becomes the record, the verification, and the timestamp simultaneously.

The Proof-of-Intent (POI) shifts blockchain economics from resource waste (Proof-of-Work) to efficient utilization, reducing environmental footprints. 

Proof of Work does not explicitly prove why a transaction exists or whether it was intentionally authorized beyond a cryptographic signature.

In all pre-existing authentication mechanisms (POW, POS, PBFT, Nakamoto Consensus, etc.) intent is implicit rather than explicit:
1) A signed transaction is assumed to be intentional
2) Fraud prevention relies on private key security alone

Proof of Intent answers a different question:
“Did the sender genuinely intend this specific transaction at this time?”
It does this by requiring third-party confirmation of intent before the transaction is finalized.

Core idea:
A transaction is not valid just because it is cryptographically signed
It must also be affirmed by independent systems (notaries + witnesses)
Only after sufficient confirmations is the transaction committed
This makes intent an explicit, externally verified property, not an assumption."

Michael Soussan writes “Because the ledger cannot easily be altered, it functions as a trusted record of the transaction’s existence and authenticity”.

Importantly, this transformation does not necessarily eliminate regulatory oversight or institutional involvement. Instead, blockchain can serve as a neutral verification layer that supports regulated environments".

He highlighs the wide speectrum of applications that POI will enable.

  • Financial services and banking

  • Government registries and public records

  • Healthcare documentation and patient records

  • International trade and customs documentation

  • Corporate procurement and supply chains

  • Payroll and employment records

  • Property ownership and land registries

  • Insurance contracts and claims processing

  • Identity verification and digital credentials

  • Cross-border regulatory compliance

Some may say that POI does not answer a compelling problem and that ReLeaf Financial is a solution hunting for a problem. Google disproves that notion as it launched its Agentic Payments Protocol AP2 anticipating the need to include proof of intent in any agentic AI deployment. 

By combining encryption, distributed ledgers, and programmable agreements alongside crptocurrency, blockchain technology can enable secure transactions across sectors that require strong identity verification, regulatory compliance, and privacy protection.

ReLeaf Financial has gone one other major step forward- it will unleash the latent compute that every smartphone offers. This brings mobile network operators and mobile virtual network operators into play who have already leapfrogged banks to provide MOBILE MONEY services to peoples without access to bank accounts. This is fully described in the article Mobile Money, Financial Ecosystems, MNOs and MVNOs

The impact of MNOs, MVNOs and Fintechs/Insurtechs in Africa should not be ignored in complacent markets like Europe, North America and the richer countries of Asia. Innovating despite having scarce resources means they have cut out the often obscenly high margins retained by payments platforms, card providers, traditional banks etc. What works in Africa will also work in richer countries where there is already a high level of compliance and regulatory control. If the likes of Safaricom, MTN, Vodacom and Orange can deliver a bundle of smartphone subscriptions plus digital payments to clients on low incomes then imagine the impact such platforms can make in Europe, the US and Japan! 

Especially as they now bundle insurance, loans, savings and other financial services with fast developing ecosystem partners. Services designed for different needs, cultures and income levels.

As AgenticAI and other AIs spread, proof of intent becomes an essential trust layer underpinning these services. David Chaum's work back in the 70s and 80's is coming to fruition to meet a compelling issue.