SEMATECT

Proof-of-Forage: one public nest, storefront deeds, and shop Tickets

Working paper · Beta v6.0 · 22 September 2026
Planned ticker STCT · Planned network Base · ERC-20 postage + ERC-721 storefront deed
Status: draft for builders — not a securities offering, not a live ticker

Print this page (Save as PDF) for a file copy. The live document is www.sematect.org/SEMATECT-whitepaper-v6.0.html. v6.0 keeps every formula and citation from v5.9. It adds Tickets.

Abstract

SEMATECT is a protocol in which miners are represented as insects on one public hex nest that does not reset. A shop posts a work order with a required STCT stamp. Optional bait may sit in a second pile. The first miner who submits a valid forage certificate receives 1 STCT on the first finish of that coordinate and 95% of construction bait. The work-order poster receives the ERC-721 storefront deed. The miner does not receive that NFT.

v6.0 adds a third object that is not money: a Ticket. A Ticket is a shop-funded coupon that sits on a finished storefront hex. A miner who steers onto that hex may pick it up. Autopilot may not. A Ticket is not STCT, not bait, and not a second ticker. It does not raise the $1{,}000{,}000{,}000$ mint cap. It expires with the shop clock. Bags of STCT do not.

0. What this paper replaces

v5.9 is still the lock for mint, deeds, reopen, and two bowls. v6.0 adds Tickets on top. It does not unwind v5.9.

1. Name and library

Stigmergy (Grassé, 1959) [1]: insects coordinate by changing the ground, not by talking. A pellet on a pile is an instruction. The hex board works the same way.

Sematectonic (Wilson, 1975; Heylighen, 2016) [2, 3]: the work itself is the sign. SEMATECT is Wilson’s word.

A visible commons (Ostrom, 1990) [12]. Hayek [13] is why the puzzle stays private. Nakamoto [14] is why hexes can continue while the subsidy cannot.

2. Representation

Miners are representations of insects for the mathematics. Formica, Apis, and Macrotermes name three local rules a certificate may use. On the nest camera a miner is a unit: cream for you, purple for others. Jobs name rooms. They are not species and they do not print extra coin.

3. Objects

4. Public nest, private puzzle

$$\mathrm{Map} = G(\mathrm{hex},\ \mathrm{wallet},\ \mathrm{caste},\ \mathrm{nestRoot})$$

Copying a neighbor’s path fails. There are no wall-clock rounds. Coins already held do not evaporate.

Proof-of-Forage — four checks

1. The path $P$ is on that miner’s map for that hex.
2. $S(P;\ \mathrm{map},\ \mathrm{caste})$ beats $T(\mathrm{hex},\ \mathrm{caste},\ \mathrm{nest})$.
3. $\mathrm{SHA256}(\mathrm{seed}\,\|\,\mathrm{caste}\,\|\,P\,\|\,\mathrm{miner}\,\|\,\mathrm{nonce}\,\|\,\mathrm{hex})$ shows $k$ leading zero bits.
4. First valid certificate for that open job wins. A click is not a certificate.

5. Caste mathematics

These are the local rules a certificate may instantiate. They are not costumes on the camera.

Formica (ant)

Dorigo Ant System / ACO [4, 5].

$$P_{ij} = \frac{\tau_{ij}^{\alpha}\eta_{ij}^{\beta}}{\sum_k \tau_{ik}^{\alpha}\eta_{ik}^{\beta}},\quad \eta_{ij}=1/d_{ij},\quad \tau \leftarrow (1-\rho)\tau + \Delta\tau(L)$$

Apis (bee)

Seeley; von Frisch; Hales; orienteering [6, 7, 8, 11].

$$S_{\mathrm{bee}}(P)=\sum_{v\in P}n(v)\quad\text{subject to}\quad \mathrm{load}(P)\le C$$

Macrotermes (termite)

Bonabeau–Theraulaz–Deneubourg; Camazine [9, 10].

$$P_{\mathrm{pick}}=\left(\frac{k_1}{k_1+q}\right)^2,\qquad P_{\mathrm{drop}}=\left(\frac{q}{k_2+q}\right)^2$$

$T$ tightens as the nest gets busier. Later hexes take longer to chew. They still mint 1 STCT on first finish.

6. First finish and the 24-hour reopen

Default clock is 24 hours — the same number shop controls use for restock and Tickets. One clock for the nest.

7. Three marks on a hex

One visit drop and one Ticket per visitor per whole shop per the clock. Extra units from the same wallet count as one visitor. Autopilot takes neither.

8. Tickets (new in v6.0)

A Ticket is how a shop leaves a deal on the ground. It is stigmergy: the mark is the message [1, 3]. It is not Decentraland Marketplace Credits. The protocol does not print Tickets. The shop pays a small STCT stamp from the loaded budget. The nest takes 5% of that stamp at pin, same as other postage.

Pin

1. The hex must already be a storefront the shop owns.
2. The shop writes a coupon line (for example “10% off this listing” or a code).
3. The shop pays the Ticket stamp from budget.
4. The Ticket sits on that hex until a steered miner picks it up, or the clock ends.

Pickup

1. The miner must occupy the hex. Clicking the Atlas is not enough.
2. Autopilot cannot pick it up.
3. One Ticket per miner wallet per that shop per clock.
4. Pickup does not mint STCT and does not mint a 721.

What a Ticket is good for in v6.0

Shop coupon only. The miner spends it on that shop’s listing — the discount, the code, or an extra look at the card. Cheaper postage and aisle passes are not in this version.

What a Ticket is not

• Not an ERC-20.
• Not cashable to ETH or USDC.
• Not a weekly login quest.
• Not a second STCT.
• Not able to melt a bag of STCT. Only the unused Ticket dies with the clock.

9. The storefront deed

The storefront is the ERC-721. It mints only when a work order was posted, a different miner finished it, and this is the first fill. You cannot mint a deed of your own wall. Whoever holds the 721 edits the card and may pin Tickets.

10. In-nest trade and founder royalty

In-nest 721 sales take a 5% founder royalty. Off-site listings use EIP-2981. Protocol also takes 5% when a shop loads a budget or pins a Ticket stamp.

11. Infinite hexes, finite stamp

Filling a rim hex opens each empty neighbor as new dirt [15, 16]. STCT mint is capped at one billion.

$$\mathrm{mint}(q,r)=\begin{cases}1 & \text{if }(q,r)\text{ has never been finished}\\0 & \text{otherwise}\end{cases}\qquad \sum \mathrm{mint} \le 10^{9}$$

Tickets and bait already in a budget are not new mint. The 24-hour reopen does not increment $n$.

12. Who gets what

13. Status

Not live. No official contract address as of 22 September 2026. Do not buy a ticker that claims to be Sematect unless that address appears at www.sematect.org.

How it works · Research · Nest camera

14. References

1. Grassé, P.-P. (1959). La reconstruction du nid et les coordinations interindividuelles chez Bellicositermes natalensis et Cubitermes sp. La théorie de la stigmergie. Insectes Sociaux.
2. Wilson, E. O. (1975). Sociobiology: The New Synthesis. Harvard University Press.
3. Heylighen, F. (2016). Stigmergy as a universal coordination mechanism I: Definition and components. Cognitive Systems Research.
4. Dorigo, M., Maniezzo, V., and Colorni, A. (1996). Ant system: optimization by a colony of cooperating agents. IEEE Trans. Systems, Man, and Cybernetics.
5. Dorigo, M., and Stützle, T. (2004). Ant Colony Optimization. MIT Press.
6. Seeley, T. D. (2010). Honeybee Democracy. Princeton University Press.
7. von Frisch, K. (1967). The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees. Harvard University Press.
8. Hales, T. C. (2001). The honeycomb conjecture. Discrete & Computational Geometry.
9. Bonabeau, E., Dorigo, M., and Theraulaz, G. (1999). Swarm Intelligence. Oxford University Press.
10. Camazine, S., Deneubourg, J.-L., Franks, N. R., Sneyd, J., Theraulaz, G., and Bonabeau, E. (2001). Self-Organization in Biological Systems. Princeton University Press.
11. Golden, B., Levy, L., and Vohra, R. The orienteering problem. Naval Research Logistics.
12. Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the Commons. Cambridge University Press.
13. Hayek, F. A. (1945). The use of knowledge in society. American Economic Review.
14. Nakamoto, S. (2008). Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system.
15. MDN Web Docs. Tiles and tilemaps overview.
16. Chunked tilemaps and camera culling.