Future Extensions

Multi-Chain Support

The ECDH-based session binding is chain-agnostic and can be implemented on:

• Ethereum — Use EIP-3009 for meta-transactions
• Base, Arbitrum, Optimism — L2s with low fees
• Other EVM-compatible chains

Advanced Payment Models

Current: Unidirectional Channels (V1)

SeedPay V1 uses unidirectional channels (Leecher → Seeder only) because:

• Seeders earn, Leechers pay (one direction of value flow)
• Simpler state management (no need for both parties to sign updates)
• Lower risk (only Leecher's deposit is at risk)
• Sufficient for the core use case of paid file downloads

Future: Bidirectional Payment Channels

Bidirectional channels would allow both parties to send payments, enabling:

• Refunds or disputes
• Two-way value exchange
• More complex payment flows

These require more complex state management with both parties signing updates.

Future: Probabilistic Payments

Lottery-style micropayments for extreme scalability:

• Trade certainty for reduced transaction count
• Useful for very high-frequency, low-value transactions

Future: Multi-Hop Payment Routing

Allow payments through intermediate nodes (similar to Lightning Network):

• Enables payment channel networks
• Requires routing protocol and liquidity management

Ratio Credits (V2 Consideration)

V2 MAY add ratio credits if user research indicates:

• Strong demand for non-monetary credits
• Need for better privacy (credits vs direct payments)
• Anti-Sybil mechanisms that credits can provide
• Demand from non-crypto users

Design Challenges

• Preventing Sybil attacks (users farming credits with fake seeders)
• Ensuring credits have real value (tied to actual bandwidth provision)
• Cross-torrent credit portability
• On-chain vs off-chain credit ledger
• Credit verification mechanisms

Reputation Systems

Planned reputation features for future versions:

• Seeder reputation based on successful channel closes
• Leecher trust scores
• Rate limiting for channel creation per wallet
• Proof-of-bandwidth mechanisms