№ 10·0410 · Node joining1 min read · Section 4 of 7
10.4 Seats and authorization
The seat is the position; authorization is the boundary. Four seat axes and four authorization levels map to KPIs and evidence duties. The closer to settlement, the narrower the authorization.
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10.4 · Seats and authorization
The seat is the position; the authorization is the boundary.
Without clear permissions, a multi-party network decays into a group chat. The Web3 Capital Network (WCN) separates the seat from the authorization. The seat is the position an institution holds in the network and the duties it carries. The authorization is the specific, auditable set of what it can read, write, and settle. The closer to settlement, the narrower the authorization.
Core questionHow is a node's position in the network made formal?
A seat can combine axes. Together they fix the workflow template and the KPI category that apply to a node.
Function seatThe principal role: capital, project, service, distribution, region, or agent. It sets the default workflow and KPI category.
Region seatCountry, city, or time-zone coverage. Country and city seats carry exclusivity, with one partner per market, to prevent internal competition and reputation dilution.
Track seatA domain such as AI, RWA, payments, or infrastructure. It drives match weighting and eligibility for joint activity.
Task seatBound to a specific deal, task, or activity. Permissions are time-boxed and recovered or reduced when the task ends.
Four authorization levels
Authorization is symmetric with responsibility. Each level grants reach and, with it, a matching duty.
Access (read)Which deal rooms, document versions, and metrics are visible. It can be scoped to the field level on a need-to-know basis.
Participation (engage)Bid, comment, claim tasks, and join the meeting sequence. A conflict declaration is usually required first.
Operation (act)Onchain or API actions: mint credentials, trigger an allocation, invoke an agent batch. Double review or a time lock is usually required.
Settlement eligibility (settle)The condition for entering PoB attribution and the Carry waterfall: a complete evidence package, the reviewer's signature, and no open dispute. If unmet, permissions can be frozen while the seat remains.
The seat answers "what institutional responsibility does this node represent." The authorization answers "what can it move this round." Upgrading a seat does not automatically widen authorization; compliance and security review applies first.
Why the network depends on this layer
Without seats and authorization, the collaboration map cannot be automated. Match logic, risk control, and the audit record would lose their subject. WCN records not "who knows whom" but who did what, to which object, at what time, under which authorization.
Seat, authorization, and evidence chain form the smallest structure that scales at the institutional level. Remove one, and favors and verbal promises return.
