The honest distance between here and mainnet.
Tessera is research-stage. Mainnet is real work away, not a marketing claim. This page documents the phases between Phase 0 prototype and a fully operational decentralized protocol — engineering, legal, and decentralization tracks running in parallel.
Local-anvil prototype of the liquidity primitive. Whitepaper complete. Foundation legal work begins. The slowest moving parts (entity formation, banking) kick off here.
- DC-LMSR reference simulator (Python)
- Solidity port with 1e-9 parity
- Foundry test suite (65 tests passing)
- Local frontend with wallet connect
- MMAN v1 design (zkTLS-only)
- Whitepaper v0.2
- Brand identity locked (mark, palette)
- Site live with honest copy
- DLx structuring memo engagement
- Cayman counsel outreach
- DLx structuring memo received and reviewed
- Cayman foundation engagement letter signed
- MMAN v1 design approved
- Engineering on MMAN v1 begun
MMAN v1 ships. Protocol deploys to public testnet. Cayman foundation forms. SAFT round to non-U.S. accredited investors. The first time real outside users touch the protocol.
- MMAN v1 implementation (zkTLS via Reclaim Protocol)
- Off-chain prover service
- Deploy to Base Sepolia
- Frontend updates for resolution UX
- Source allowlist with initial 5-10 sources
- Cayman Foundation formation
- Foundation board constituted (5 signers)
- Cayman bank account opened
- TESS token contract written + audited
- SAFT round: $1-3M to non-U.S. accredited
- 3-6 months of public testnet operation
- 100+ markets resolved end-to-end
- Production audit complete (full protocol)
- Bug bounty program live with no open critical findings
- SAFT capital received and treasury operational
Protocol deploys to mainnet (Base or Ethereum). TESS token issues to public via DEX with strict non-U.S. controls. First real markets, real LP capital, real resolutions.
- Mainnet deployment with full audit clearance
- Real USDC markets begin
- Second attestation provider integration starts (MMAN v2 work)
- Indexer + production observability
- TESS contract deployed; supply minted to foundation
- Initial DEX liquidity seeded (Uniswap V3, 12-month LP lock)
- Public launch with geoblock + sanctions screening
- Tier-2 CEX listing approaches (Gate, KuCoin, Bitget)
- Coinbase / Echo evaluation for U.S. access path
- 12 months of mainnet operation
- 1,000+ markets resolved without dispute
- Foundation veto used < 1% of resolutions
- External code contributors approach 30%
- Initial governance binding votes pass with quorum
Second and third attestation paths ship. Juror staking activates. Binding governance over protocol parameters. Foundation veto phases out.
- Multi-provider attestation aggregation
- Juror staking with quadratic weighting
- Permissionless source registration with TESS bond
- Numeric threshold market types
- Foundation veto phased out
- Binding governance for all protocol parameters
- Multiple independent maintainers with merge rights
- Foundation contributors < 50% of code
- Treasury disbursements above threshold require governance vote
- Reg Crypto Investment Contract Safe Harbor application (if law adopted)
- Formal sufficient-decentralization analysis published
- Foundation transitions to steward role
- Protocol survives a foundation pause
Tessera is a self-sustaining decentralized prediction market protocol. Foundation continues as a long-tail steward but is not necessary for the protocol's operation.
- Multiple independent protocol developers
- Governance-controlled treasury, fee parameters, upgrades
- Decentralized prover network
- Protocol revenue distributed broadly
- Cross-chain deployment (additional L2s)
- Permissionless market creation expansion
- Novel market types beyond binary
- Integration ecosystem (wallets, indexers, bots)