Registry function specification

Layer 3 function that turns attested measurement into Earth Credits — full specification.

The registry is the function that turns attested measurement into commodity. It is the architectural component that mints Earth Credits, sells them, and routes proceeds. Until this document, the registry was referenced but underspecified. This document fixes that.

The registry is the most architecturally important coalition function. Its integrity is the integrity of Earth Credits as a commodity.

What the registry is

The registry is a function (initially a Landseed PBC function; long-term, possibly its own foundation/cooperative entity) that:

Receives cryptographically attested ECI scores for properties under EC-M methodology
Verifies the property is properly registered (NRD-lite recorded, wrapper LLC operational, beneficiaries KYC’d)
Calculates Earth Credit volume from ECI per methodology issuance rules
Issues credits in registry accounts (assigns serial numbers, links to attestation receipt)
Sells credits to buyers (direct, via Exchange, via Fund)
Routes proceeds to property’s wrapper LLC treasury
Tracks credit lifecycle (issued → held → sold → retired or rolled forward)
Publishes attestations for all of the above

The registry is the assay machinery. The methodology produces measurement; the registry produces commodity.

Registry governance

Initial governance — a Landseed PBC function (Year 1)

For initial deployment, the registry is a function within Landseed PBC, with these characteristics:

Aspect	Specification
Issuance approval	Multi-key requirement: at least two designated Landseed PBC officers + one external auditor (rotating audit committee)
Issuance rules	Documented; published; not modifiable without methodology stewardship sign-off
Audit committee	3 members: one Landseed PBC officer (designated rotating chair), one independent conservation expert, one independent finance/audit expert. Quarterly review of issuance decisions.
Conflict of interest	Audit committee has authority to recuse any officer with conflict; recused officer cannot influence specific issuance decisions for properties they have personal interest in
Transparency	All issuance decisions and rationale published; all attestation receipts referenced; all credit serial numbers tracked publicly

This is interim governance. It works for the first 3–10 properties. As deployment scales, governance must evolve.

Mature governance — Methodology Foundation (Year 2+)

By Year 2, the registry’s governance should transition to a separate Methodology Foundation (see 07-methodology-foundation.md). Specifically:

Aspect	Specification
Holding entity	Landseed Methodology Foundation (Vermont nonprofit corporation, or equivalent)
Foundation board	5–7 members: methodology stewards (3), independent ecologists (2), independent finance/audit (1), Landseed PBC representative (1)
Issuance authority	Delegated to a registry committee within the Foundation
Issuance rules	Documented in Foundation bylaws; modifiable only by Foundation board supermajority
Independence from Landseed PBC	Foundation is independent legal entity; Landseed PBC is a single board member, not controlling
Methodology IP	Held by Foundation under irrevocable open-source license; Landseed PBC and any successor entities can use under license
Audit committee	Foundation-level audit committee oversees registry activities; reports to Foundation board

This is what makes the architecture continuity-safe even if Landseed PBC itself fails (Test 16 in 06-risks/).

Issuance rules

The registry’s issuance rules govern how cryptographically attested ECI scores translate to Earth Credit volumes. These rules are part of the methodology, but they are operationalized by the registry.

Issuance formula (proposed; to be confirmed by methodology stewards)

Earth Credits = Verified Acres × ECI_conservative × Threat_Multiplier × Methodology_Constant

Where:

Verified Acres is the property’s measured area (from NRD-lite recording + survey)
ECI_conservative is the lower bound of the ECI confidence interval (typically ECI - 1.645 × SE for 90% CI)
Threat_Multiplier is the threat-tier weighting from EC-M-1.1 (typically 0.4–0.8)
Methodology_Constant is a calibration constant (per methodology version; allows adjustment without re-deriving formula)

Worked example

A 1,200-acre Vermont conservation property with:

ECI = 0.74 (mean), 0.65 (conservative bound)
Threat multiplier = 0.55 (moderate threat)
Methodology constant (illustrative) = 1.0

Earth Credits = 1,200 × 0.65 × 0.55 × 1.0 = 429 Earth Credits per assessment cycle

Per-acre per-year: 0.36 credits. Annual issuance against the property: 429 credits. Cumulative over 10 years (assuming stable condition): ~4,290 credits.

These numbers are illustrative. Actual per-acre yields depend on methodology calibration which is methodology stewards’ work.

Issuance frequency

Per-property issuance frequency:

Annual baseline assessment: triggers up to one full annual issuance
Interim updates: do not trigger new issuance; they refine the next annual issuance
Catastrophic event re-assessment: may trigger reverse issuance (credits invalidated) if buffer pool exists

The methodology determines specific rules. The registry executes them.

Issuance review process

For each attestation receipt, the registry:

Verifies prerequisites (5 minutes):
- Property is registered (NRD-lite hash matches)
- Wrapper LLC is operational (registry has signed operating agreement on file)
- Beneficiaries are KYC’d (compliance-officer attestation)
- No outstanding compliance issues
Calculates volume (automated):
- Pulls ECI_conservative and threat_multiplier from attestation receipt
- Applies issuance formula
- Generates proposed credit volume
Multi-key signoff (human in loop):
- Two Landseed PBC officers + one audit committee member sign off
- Signoff is recorded and cryptographically attested
- Any officer can request additional review if issuance volume is anomalous
Mints credits (automated):
- Each credit assigned unique serial number (e.g., EC-2026-0001-NULHEGAN-001 through EC-2026-0001-NULHEGAN-429)
- Registry account credited; attestation anchor recorded
- Property’s wrapper LLC notified
Publishes attestation:
- Issuance event published (registry-level attestation)
- Credits become available for sale

Total turnaround: typically 5–10 business days from attestation receipt to credits available for sale.

Credit lifecycle

Each credit has states:

Issued (held in registry): minted but not yet sold
Held (in buyer’s registry account): sold; held for compliance, retirement, or further transfer
Listed (on Exchange): held but listed for further sale (when Exchange exists)
Retired: claimed by holder; no longer available for transfer
Invalidated: methodology determines original issuance was invalid (e.g., catastrophic loss); buffer pool replacement

Each state transition is cryptographically attested. Public registry shows the lifecycle.

Credit sale mechanics

Year 1 — Bilateral sales

Initial sales are bilateral negotiations:

Buyer engages with registry directly (or via Landseed PBC’s BD function)
Sale price negotiated per credit (no established market price; first cohort is price discovery)
Purchase agreement executed
Credits transferred from registry account to buyer’s registry account
Sale proceeds → registry → routed to property’s wrapper LLC treasury
All transactions cryptographically attested

Anticipated Year 1 buyers:

Mission-aligned philanthropic buyers (foundations supporting conservation)
Forward-looking corporate buyers (TNFD/CSRD anticipation)
Conservation-aligned investors

Year 1 sale prices: unknown. The first 10–20 properties’ sales will establish market price points.

Year 2+ — Exchange-mediated sales (when Exchange operational)

As the Exchange comes online:

Registry lists credits on Exchange
Buyers purchase via Exchange
Exchange handles execution; registry handles transfer
Exchange fees applied; net proceeds routed
Listing and execution all cryptographically attested

The Exchange is a separate entity (per 02-coalition-entities.md); its design is separate from the registry. The registry’s interface to the Exchange is just credit listing and execution recording.

Year 3+ — Institutional Fund (when Fund operational)

Institutional Fund buys credits at scale. From the registry’s perspective, this is a large bilateral or Exchange-mediated buyer. No special interface; the Fund is just a large buyer.

Revenue routing

When credits are sold:

Buyer pays sale price
        │
        ▼
Sale price received in registry account
        │
        ▼
Registry deductions:
  • Methodology buffer (% reserved for catastrophic-loss reversal)
  • Registry service fee (% to Landseed PBC for registry operation)
  • Exchange fee (if applicable)
        │
        ▼
Net proceeds routed to property's wrapper LLC treasury
        │
        ▼
LLC treasury distribution per Economics module:
  • Beneficiaries (per template percentages)
  • Stewardship reserve (per template)
  • Landseed protocol fee (per template)
  • LLC treasury (residual)

All routing is cryptographically attested. End-to-end traceability from buyer payment back to specific cryptographically attested ECI score.

Registry service fees

Proposed Landseed registry service fees:

Fee	Rate	Notes
Per-issuance fee	$0.50 per credit	Covers registry operational costs
Per-sale fee	1–2% of sale proceeds	Covers credit transfer and lifecycle tracking
Methodology buffer contribution	5–14% of issuance (risk-adjusted)	Issued directly to Foundation buffer pool registry account; NOT a fee paid by the property — these are buffer credits the property generates per the issuance split

These rates are proposed. Methodology stewardship and Landseed PBC business decisions finalize.

The methodology buffer is operationally specified in 05-interfaces/05-buffer-pool-specification.md (adversarially hardened in iteration 4). Key cross-references for registry-function operators:

Issuance split is atomic. Of total credits X generated, X − X_buffer go to the wrapper LLC and X_buffer (5–14%, risk-adjusted) go to the Foundation buffer pool registry account. Buffer credits are never wrapper LLC property; the registry function records this split at issuance and cannot unwind it.
Risk-tier rate criteria are parametric, not discretionary. The registry function consults the methodology version’s parameter table (low/moderate/high/frontier) and the property’s threat multiplier, stewardship history, and jurisdiction. Rate determination is mechanical.
Replacement-credit flagging. When a catastrophic event triggers buffer pool draw, replacement credits are issued with isReplacement: true and replacementFor: <original_receiptHash> flags. Registry function delivers notifyReplacement(receiptHash, replacementFor) to affected DAOs’ M5 modules. Per Fix 9 in 02-governance-templates/02-modules.md, replacement credits do not trigger fresh M3 distribution — they are zero-revenue events at the DAO layer (the original revenue was already distributed).
Subrogation. When the buffer pool draws because of deliberate destruction, the Foundation is subrogated to the property’s NRD-lite enforcement rights to the extent of the draw. The registry function records the subrogation event but does not execute enforcement; that is counsel-led.
Year 1 fiduciary structure. Until the Methodology Foundation is operational (Months 0–18), the buffer pool sits at the registry function held in a fiduciary structure (bare trust or escrow with named successor trustee). Counsel-confirmation required before any first issuance. The registry function cannot begin issuance until this structure is documented.
Replacement-credit registry entries must be visible in the same public registry as original issuances, with cryptographic anchor to the original event documentation per the buffer pool spec’s triple-archive commitment.

Audit and oversight

The registry is audited:

Audit type	Frequency	Auditor
Quarterly issuance review	Quarterly	Audit committee
Annual operations audit	Annual	External auditor (typically a firm with conservation finance experience)
Methodology compliance review	Annual	Methodology stewards
Per-issuance review	Per issuance	Audit committee member during multi-key signoff
Public scrutiny	Continuous	Anyone can verify attestation chain end-to-end

Audit findings published. Anomalies escalated to Landseed PBC governance and (in Year 2+) Foundation board.

What the registry does NOT do

For clarity:

Does not hold benefit units — only registry credit accounts and registry treasury
Does not have governance rights in any DAO/LLC — counterparty only
Does not mediate disputes between DAO members — that’s DAO-internal
Does not produce ECI scores — methodology stewards do that
Does not deploy sensors — Earth Pulse Network does that
Does not market credits to investors — registry is operational; marketing is separate function
Does not set credit prices — buyers and sellers do (registry executes)

Registry vs. Methodology Foundation

The registry function is operationalized by Landseed PBC (initially) and by the Methodology Foundation (Year 2+). The distinction:

Function	Where it lives
Methodology development (EC-M-1.1, future versions)	Methodology stewards (Landseed PBC initially → Methodology Foundation)
Methodology validation	Audit committee + external review
Issuance rules	Methodology stewards (Foundation Year 2+)
Issuance approval	Registry committee (Landseed PBC officers + audit committee Year 1; Foundation Year 2+)
Credit lifecycle tracking	Registry committee
Buffer pool management	Foundation (Year 2+); Landseed PBC initially
Registry service fees	Set by Landseed PBC initially; Foundation Year 2+

Critical operational decisions before first issuance

These must be resolved before any Earth Credit can be issued:

Decision	Owner	Status
Issuance formula confirmed (Verified Acres × ECI_conservative × Threat × Constant)	Methodology stewards	Proposed; to be confirmed
Methodology buffer percentage	Methodology stewards + Landseed PBC	TBD
Registry service fee rates	Landseed PBC	TBD
Audit committee composition	Landseed PBC	To be assembled
First-cohort buyers identified	BD function	In progress
Methodology Foundation formation timeline	Landseed PBC + the co-architect	TBD (recommended Year 1.5)

These are operational decisions, not architectural. They must be made before Phase 5 of the sensor-to-credit walkthrough.

What this resolves

This document closes a real gap. Before this document, the registry was referenced but unspecified. Now:

Registry governance is defined (interim and mature)
Issuance rules are specified (formula + worked example + frequency + review process)
Credit lifecycle is documented
Sale mechanics are described per cohort
Revenue routing is specified end-to-end
Audit and oversight is defined
Critical pre-first-issuance decisions are listed

The registry is no longer a black box in the architecture. It is a defined function with specified governance, rules, and operational flow.

What this does NOT resolve

For clarity:

The Methodology Foundation formation is recommended but not formed; this requires Landseed PBC corporate action
The first cohort of buyers is conceptually identified but not contractually committed
The first methodology issuance has not happened; specifications are theoretical until first execution
Long-term Foundation governance evolution is sketched but not specified in detail (5-year and 10-year governance evolution will be its own work)

These are next steps. The registry function specification provides the substrate for them to happen.

Cross-references

Methodology Foundation: 00-foundations/07-methodology-foundation.md
Sensor-to-credit walkthrough: 00-foundations/06-sensor-to-credit-walkthrough.md
Trust direction: 01-trust-direction.md
Coalition entities: 02-coalition-entities.md
Buffer pool concern: 06-risks/02-pressure-tests.md Test 4
Landseed PBC continuity: 06-risks/02-pressure-tests.md Test 16