State Model

This page introduces Anoma's state model.

A unique feature of the Anoma protocol is its state model. Anoma organizes state in atomic units called resources being created and consumed in transactions. This resource model generalizes the UTXO model: Resources are UTXOs but with arbitrary state and logic predicates. The latter express the constraints under which they can be created and consumed.

A state space containing multiple resource objects: three coins, two leafs, a gear, and a potion.

A state transition consuming a coin and a gear resource to create a coin as well as an ephemeral gear resource, the latter of which is not being shown here.

Affordances

Anoma's unique state model enables the following affordances to developers and users:

• Heterogeneous trust

  • Resources can live on different controllers (e.g., L1's, L2's, three friends in a LAN).

  • A transaction can consume a resource on controller A and create it on controller B, thus enabling fluent cross-chain transfers.

• Information flow control

  • Transactions can be sent transparently, shielded, or privately just by setting a flag.

• Intent-level composability

  • Intents (unbalanced transactions) can be composed and settled across different applications and chains