Skip to main contentThe Crunch Protocol is designed for secure, efficient, and reliable crowdsourcing of predictive
models through a structured format called Crunches.
This section will go in depth on how the Crunch Protocol is architected. For a guide on how to
become a Coordinator please go here. Architecture Overview
The Crunch Protocol leverages multiple on-chain contracts and off-chain nodes to support the network
at scale, with high throughput and low latency.
The core entity that drives the protocol is the Crunch, a targeted prediction challenge with clear rules, inputs, and desired outputs.
Crunches
A Crunch is the protocol’s foundational unit of organization: a targeted prediction challenge with
clear rules, inputs, and desired outputs.
Each Crunch:
- Locks Rewards: An escrowed USDC pool funds successful participants.
- Sets Rules: Coordinators need to comply with the Crunch rules, including evaluation criteria,
duration, and payout schedule.
- Enforces Quality: Models are continuously evaluated against real-world outcomes and secondary
metrics such as latency and stability.
- Sets Constraints: Models must respect limits defined by the Coordinator node — e.g., maximum
GPU time, RAM, external-resource access, and minimum performance.
Using these rules, Crunches bring together the two main participant groups of the protocol:
Crunchers
Machine learning engineers who develop and submit Machine Learning models. They earn rewards based
on inference quality—with performance measured against the rules and metrics defined by
Coordinators.
Coordinators
Domain-expert teams who act as the bridge between end customers (needing prediction feeds) and the
Crunch Protocol. They run an on-chain Coordinator account, operate a Coordinator Node to enforce
challenge rules (Crunches), and distribute payouts from smart-contract-escrowed USDC based on model
performance. To streamline onboarding, we provide privacy-enhancing solutions and will continue
expanding the toolset as the protocol evolves into more verticals.
Emissions
The Crunch Protocol allows paying out participants in USDC and/or by emitting CRUNCH tokens.
In either case, the mechanism stays the same: the Coordinator runs Checkpoints to distribute the rewards.
The following sections explain the different components of the Crunch Protocol and how they work together. 
