# Characteristics & Utility \[NEWT token characteristics, utility, and role in the Newton Protocol ecosystem]

## **Token Summary**

* Token Name / Ticker: NEWT
* Contract Address: 0xd0ec028a3d21533fdd200838f39c85b03679285d
* Blockchain: Ethereum
* Token Standard: ERC-20
* Total Supply: 1,000,000,000 NEWT

## **Supply and Economic Model**

NEWT has a fixed total supply of 1,000,000,000 tokens. No inflationary minting or deflationary mechanics are intended post-launch.

## **Token Type and Technology**

NEWT is the native coordination token of Newton Protocol, deployed as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum. Newton Protocol is designed to operate as an Actively Validated Service (AVS) built on EigenLayer. Operators stake collateral through EigenLayer's AVS framework and register BLS keys through EigenLayer's registry contracts, with eligible collateral types determined by the Foundation and eventually protocol governance.  NEWT serves as the economic coordination and governance asset within this operator network. In no way are NEWT tokens an investment or income-producing asset, either in the United States or elsewhere, and they are not marketed as such.

## **Core Functions**

NEWT is a multifunctional utility token used throughout Newton Protocol for the following purposes.

**1. Operator Staking and Network Security**

Operators participating in policy evaluation stake NEWT to register and maintain active status within the Newton Protocol AVS. Staking aligns economic incentives: operators are eligible to receive fees for accurate and timely policy evaluations and are subject to slashing penalties for provable misbehavior, downtime, or submission of invalid attestations. Token holders who do not wish to operate infrastructure directly may delegate NEWT to operator nodes. Staked NEWT is subject to a 14-day unstaking (cool-down) period, during which tokens remain locked and non-transferable. Partial withdrawal of staked NEWT is not available.

**2. Policy Evaluation Fees**

Applications that submit transaction intents or policy evaluation requests to the network pay service fees for protocol usage. Fees are distributed to active operators in proportion to their contribution to the policy evaluation process, including WASM instruction execution, data provider calls, and bandwidth consumed. This fee structure is intended to incentivize continuous participation and performance among the operator set.

**3. Challenge and Dispute Resolution**

Challengers help maintain accountability by verifying operator responses and submitting fraud proofs during challenge windows. Challengers stake NEWT to raise a dispute and may receive rewards if a challenge is upheld, creating adversarial checks within the system.

**4. Governance**

Once the Protocol achieves sufficient decentralization, NEWT holders who stake their tokens will be able to participate in governance. This includes voting on matters such as treasury disbursements, protocol parameter changes, and ecosystem priorities. Core protocol upgrades require validator coordination and are not upgradeable via governance vote alone.

## **Network Fees and Operator Rewards**

Operators receive fees for securing the network and processing policy evaluation operations. Fee distribution to operators is determined programmatically at the Protocol level. Rewards, neither in form nor in function, serve as any kind of "interest," "dividend," or return on any "investment."