Aligned Institute — Investor FAQ

The global AI ecosystem is projected to represent approximately $16.2 trillion in economic impact by 2030. Yet the funding infrastructure governing how AI is built is dangerously concentrated: approximately 90% of all AI research capital — roughly $1.35 trillion — is controlled by a small number of closed-source corporate entities, primarily in the United States.

This creates two compounding risks:

• Mission Drift: When commercial timelines govern AI development, safety research is at risk. Investor exit horizons may be structurally incompatible with the patient capital alignment research requires.
• Centralization Risk: Geographic and financial concentration means that global perspectives — essential for building AI that is pro-human across cultures — are systematically excluded from the development process.

Aligned Institute operates two distinct products under one mission:

• ASIP (Aligned Sovereign Intelligence Protocol): A dual-governance, treasury-backed protocol that funds AI alignment research through milestone-driven grants. It operates via two governance tokens — ABC (Aligned Beacon Capital, public market) and AIC (Aligned Institutional Capital, private market) — underpinned by SAT (Sovereign Asset Treasury) reserves. Grants are non-dilutive; researchers retain 100% ownership of their work. However, grants are KPI driven – meaning the research team continues to earn capital by meeting their commitments.
• R&D Platforms: As a research organization we also do our own R&D. Such as the Signals platform. It is the first independent platform for AI economic risk intelligence — it is basically a Consumer Reports for the AI ecosystem – from energy to robotics. It deploys autonomous agents to stress-test AI models on actual production cost, reliability, and safety, generating objective data for investors, enterprises, and capital allocators who cannot afford to rely on vendor-curated claims.

These two services are interdependent by design: the ASIP grant protocol produces the alignment research that makes the Signals’ methodology continuously more rigorous, while Signals generates the proprietary data and ARR that strengthens the SAT treasury. Signals is a Phase II project, as our focus in 2026 is on launching ASIP.

Three conditions have converged in 2026 that make this model both legally and commercially viable for the first time:

• Market Demand: AI due diligence has become a board-level concern. Capital allocators need independent risk intelligence, not vendor benchmarks. The Signals Platform addresses a gap that did not have a credible commercial solution twelve months ago.
• First-Mover Window: The institutional exchange for AI safety governance — the protocol that sets the price discovery standard for alignment research funding — does not yet exist. The first credible entrant establishes the standard. That window is finite.
• Regulatory Clarity: The Swiss Foundation structure we use for token-governed protocols is now well-established providing a strong international institutional-grade compliance framework that sovereign and TradFi capital requires.

Aligned Institute is conducting a single-partner, two-tranche raise totaling $25M in exchange for 5,050,000 AIC tokens under one SAFT. Tranche 1 (Pre-Seed): $4M at $1.00 per token — 4,000,000 AIC. Tranche 2 (Seed): $21M at $20.00 per token — 1,050,000 AIC. Blended entry price: $4.95/AIC — 96.7% below the $150 Phase I launch price, which carries exact 1:1 SAT treasury parity and zero speculative premium at launch. This is not a syndicated raise. One institutional Lead Architect with the capacity to anchor and rally strong follow-on institutional capital. One cap table entry. Full strategic alignment. The raise is sized to fully capitalize the protocol, treasury, team, and architecture in one move. This is the last capital ask. This allocation mirrors the anchor position taken by a16z in Uniswap and Paradigm in Compound — the historical ceiling for a single institutional partner in a governance protocol.

The two-tranche structure protects both parties: the Pre-Seed funds the work required to hit the testnet milestone; the Seed unlocks automatically upon verified completion. The partner is not being asked to commit $21M on promise alone. Blended effective price: $4.95 per AIC — 96.7% below the $150 Phase I launch price. Phase II institutions enter at $200/AIC minimum — a 40x step-up that validates, not dilutes, the Lead Architect position.

This is a deliberate business decision, not a constraint. Managing a syndicate of investors during a critical protocol build — testnet deployment, tokenomics operation, governance framework, GTM launch, etc — introduces friction at a time that requires pure focus. Focus means one diligence process. One SAFT. One strategic partner whose interests are fully aligned with the protocol’s success.

The partner we are seeking is a capital allocator that understands the long-term importance of AI safety to humanity. The single-partner model will attract exactly that kind of capital and exclude the kind that could compromise it.

• 5,050,000 AIC tokens (5.05% of total supply / 15.3% of effective float) — the single largest non-treasury, non-fund position in the protocol. No Phase II institution will exceed this allocation. This mirrors the anchor position taken by a16z in Uniswap and Paradigm in Compound — the historical ceiling for a single institutional partner in a governance protocol.


• SAT CD Yield Regime — during the 36-month vesting period, all locked AIC tokens accrue variable SAT yield tied to protocol compliance buyback performance. Base rate 0.25% monthly pre-treasury transition, stepping to 0.50% post-transition. The founding team operates under the identical mandatory regime. One protocol. One set of incentives.


• 1.5x governance voting multiplier, capped at 15% of total voting power per governance v4 — ensuring influence without control concentration.


• Anti-dilution protection — team AIC pool is hard-capped at 10% (10M tokens) including all future hires. Future team members beyond the cap receive ABC, not AIC. The Lead Architect’s position cannot be diluted by team expansion.


• Priority research access — ALI-funded research outputs 48 hours before public release.


• Monthly direct board communication rights.


• Phase II reference rights — as Lead Architect, the Purchaser is the permanent price reference point. Phase II institutions enter at $200/AIC minimum — a 40x step-up from the $4.95 blended price. Phase II validates the Lead Architect’s position; it does not dilute it.

• Phase 1 (Q1/2 2026): Internal development, security, and compliance audits; governance framework finalized; testnet launched.


• Phase 2 (Q3/4 2026): External audits, testnet micro-grants recorded; private and public research partners activated.


• Phase 3 (2027–2028): Domicile move, Mainnet launch, full fund governance operational; international expansion; AIC Phase II institutional placement; pathway to commercial spinoff growth.

The protocol operates a tri-token model, where each token has a distinct function:

• ABC (Aligned Beacon Commons) — Public Governance: The public market governance token for the global research community. Fixed supply of 100M. Operates via conviction voting for bounties and micro-grants ($500–$100K). Feeds the talent and data pipeline that informs AIC-level grant decisions.


• AIC (Aligned Institutional Capital) — Private Governance: The institutional governance token. Fixed supply of 100M. Grants holders milestone-triggered voting rights over large-scale research allocations. Every governance event triggers a compliance buyback — AIC is exchanged for SAT from treasury reserves — creating continuous deflationary pressure on circulating supply.


• SAT (Sovereign Asset Treasury) — Sovereign Reserve: Not a governance token. The settlement layer — initially using an enforced 1:1 peg to USD stablecoins, transitioning to a 150% over-collateralized sovereign currency basket (weighted to mirror IMF SDR allocations) once the protocol sustains a 0.3% monthly buyback rate by Q4 2027.

Initial circulating supply at launch: ~9.7M ABC & AIC (9.7% of total) — among the most conservative initial float structures in governance token history. Industry average is 15–30%. Maximum effective float is 33M tokens — Treasury and Fund pools are largely off-market by design.

Team hard cap: 10M ABC & AIC (10% of total supply). Future hires beyond this cap receive ABC tokens, not AIC. The Lead Architect’s position cannot be diluted by team expansion.

SAT CD Yield Regime: All locked AIC tokens — team and Lead Architect — accrue variable SAT yield tied to monthly compliance buyback performance. Base rate 0.25% monthly (pre-treasury transition), stepping to 0.50% post-transition. Forfeiture on early liquidation above quarterly sell limits. One regime. One set of incentives.

Sell restrictions apply to wallets holding more than 2% of circulating supply: up to 25% of vested tokens per quarter in Year 1, scaling to full liquidity in Year 3+. Violations trigger automatic smart-contract forfeiture per ASIP Allocation v5.

AIC launches at $150/token — exact parity with the SAT treasury backing. There is zero premium to underlying assets at launch. This is a structural choice: unlike pure governance tokens (Aave, Compound, Uniswap) that trade at arbitrary multiples with no asset backing, AIC’s floor is enforced by a real treasury, not market sentiment.

The path to fair value is driven by governance utility, not speculation:

• $150 (Launch / 2027): 1:1 SAT parity. Zero premium.
• $200–$250 (Year 2 / 2028): Governance premium begins as protocol adoption and compliance buyback volume grows.
• $300 (Year 3 Base Case / 2029): 2:1 governance premium to SAT backing — the minimum credible institutional target if ASIP achieves moderate adoption. At $300/token and a $9B market cap, AIC represents less than 0.7% of current annual AI investment volume.

The base case does not require ASIP to become the global standard. It requires the protocol to function as designed.

The SAT treasury is built in three phases, each triggered by verifiable protocol milestones:

• Year 1 — Stablecoin Phase (2026): 100% USD stablecoins at 1:1 SAT backing. Maximum liquidity and operational simplicity. All grants paid in stablecoins.


• Transition Phase (2027): Mainnet deployment, integration of XCHF (Swiss Franc stablecoin) reserves alongside the USD stablecoin scaffold, and activation of bilateral peg defense redemptions. Triggered by Swiss legal entity confirmation.


• Full Operation (2028+): 5-currency sovereign basket (weighted to mirror IMF SDR allocations) with 150% over-collateralization ($3 in reserves backs every $2 in SAT obligations at the $150 peg). Triggered when the ABC peg holds for 6 months on mainnet. The basket holds tokenized sovereign instruments and currency equivalents: USDC/T-bills (43%), EURC/EU debt (29%), XCHF (12%), JPYC (8%), and GBPC (5%), with a 3% discretionary rebalancing buffer.

Treasury is managed via multi-signature wallets requiring approval from multiple independent key holders — Board Members and Trusted Ecosystem Leaders. No single signatory can move funds unilaterally.

• 150% Over-Collateralization: $3 in sovereign reserve assets backs every $2 in SAT obligations. The treasury can absorb a 33% basket decline before peg stress begins.


• 50% Emergency Buffer: A separate reserve — never touched in normal operations — provides a final backstop if the basket drops beyond 33%.


• Geographic Custody Diversification: No single jurisdiction can freeze the entire collateral position.


• Dynamic Asset Replacement (APD): The Asset Price Detachment protocol triggers systematic decoupling and weight reallocation if a basket currency deviates by 2–10% from its equilibrium, with full decoupling and replacement at -20%.


• Fiat Circuit Breaker: 10–20% of SAT backing held in liquid USDC/USDT for immediate liquidity if major sovereign reserve currencies experience extreme simultaneous drawdowns.


• 6-Month Runway Mandate: Treasury reserves falling below a 6-month operational runway trigger automatic protocol adjustments — increased AIC sale pace and temporary buyback rate reduction.

Complete failure of the SAT peg requires: sovereign currency basket collapse exceeding 67% AND simultaneous freezing of all fiat reserves AND failure of all custody arrangements concurrently. Full scenario analysis is available in the data room (ALI Integrated Risk Scenarios v1.0).

Every governance event — when a funded research team completes a verified KPI milestone — triggers a compliance exchange. The grant recipient exchanges earned AIC tokens for SAT from treasury reserves. The exchanged AIC is held in escrow or burned per governance vote, permanently reducing circulating supply.

This creates a self-reinforcing dynamic: more grants mean more milestones, more milestones mean more buybacks, more buybacks mean reduced circulating supply, which supports price appreciation toward fair value. The mechanism is structural, not dependent on market sentiment.

A detailed worked example of a compliance buyback event is available in the ASIP Treasury Report (data room).

The Institute operates three interlocking revenue streams, each of which feeds the SAT treasury and strengthens the others:

• ABC Grant Governance: As the ABC ecosystem matures, governance events from the public market add an independent buyback stream into the SAT treasury.


• AIC Compliance Buybacks: Research teams completing KPI milestones exchange AIC for SAT. As governance adoption grows, compliance volume becomes an independent, recurring inflow into the treasury that does not require continuous capital raises.


• ALI Signals Platform: Subscription and institutional API access for investors, hedge funds, and enterprises conducting AI operations risk due diligence. A designated allocation of Signals ARR (~20%) is used to fund the SAT treasury — directly accelerating the treasury’s transition to full SDR-weighted sovereign basket backing.


• ALI Labs & Consulting: Our talented team and network has taken the initiative to launch ALI Labs – an alignment R&D service and ALI Consulting – a sovereign focused alignment service. Both use institutional governance frameworks and operational best practices backed by decades of in the field experience. As alignment experts, we have enough high-fidelity researchers and operators to test and implement a wide range of AI automation scenarios. As with Signals, a designated allocation of ARR will also go into the SAT treasury, signaling our commitment to making SAT a second to none reserve asset.

Beyond 2028, the protocol expands into: research IP licensing, royalties from funded projects, and strategic lending to institutions requiring alternative assets in their portfolios.

The protocol is designed to become cash-flow positive through its own mechanics — not dependent on continuous capital raises — by 2028/2029, assuming moderate governance adoption. The key trigger is the 0.3% sustained monthly buyback rate by Q4 2027, which unlocks the full SDR-weighted sovereign basket treasury and confirms that organic compliance demand is sufficient to support the architecture without external capital infusion.

The Signals Platform is not primarily a software business — it is a data accumulation business. Its’ moat is proprietary real unit-economics data, operational forecasting, cross-company, and services benchmarks that individual funds, cloud providers, or AI vendors are not aggregating independently.

Key structural advantages:

• Methodology: Standard benchmarks measure potential in lab settings. Signals measures actual production reality — real costs, real failure rates, real safety robustness under adversarial conditions.


• Independence: We do not publish public rankings. Access is restricted to paying institutional clients. Companies evaluated on objective execution metrics have no grounds for reputational challenge.


• Compounding Data: Every audit run expands the proprietary dataset. Marginal cost per analysis trends toward zero as validator participation scales via the governance protocols. The platform becomes more valuable — and more difficult to replicate — with every audit cycle.

In 2026, the ASI Protocol will domicile and launch in Texas, USA, but it operates under a Swiss Foundation governance model — the established standard for token-governed protocols requiring institutional-grade regulatory clarity and neutrality. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) and State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) provide the clearest frameworks for this type of entity globally. The protocol is structured for full Swiss Foundation domicile migration by 2030.

Key structural characteristics:

• ABC — Utility-First Token Classification: ABC is positioned as a governance utility token, not a security, under both Swiss and U.S. regulatory frameworks.


• AIC — Private Governance Token: AIC is offered in a private market to accredited investors under Reg D. Participation requires verified identity and compliance with applicable securities law in the investor’s jurisdiction.


• ALI Signals — Independent Commercial Product: The Signals Platform operates as a standalone SaaS product under the Aligned Institute’s U.S. entity, independent of the token governance structure.


• Not a DAO: Token holders have specific, defined voting rights. Execution is transparent and managed by neutral validators alongside a strong research focused governance board — not by anonymous on-chain participants.

Full legal structure documentation, including entity stack and U.S. participation mechanics, is available in the data room upon NDA execution.

All grant recipients and major governance participants — including Phase I capital partners — undergo full Identity Verification (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks consistent with international financial regulations. The protocol is permissionless for basic on-chain interactions only; any participation involving capital flows or governance rights requires verified identity.

The Catcher State Machine handles authentication, rate limiting, and duplication prevention for all compliance events at the protocol level, ensuring that governance cannot be manipulated through rapid or repeated transactions.

Full risk scenario analysis — including SAT peg failure scenarios, treasury depletion stress tests, and residual risk ratings — is documented in ALI Integrated Risk Scenarios- available in the data room.

Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Arguments of Knowledge (zk-SNARKs) are used to allow funded organizations to prove alignment scores — for example, demonstrating that a model is “95% aligned” against the ALI benchmark — without disclosing sensitive proprietary data, model architecture, or training methodology.

This solves a fundamental tension in AI safety auditing: institutions need to verify compliance, but organizations cannot expose competitive IP to do so. zk-SNARKs allow cryptographic proof of compliance without data disclosure. The result is a verifiable, on-chain alignment record that satisfies governance requirements without creating a proprietary data liability for the audited organization.

The Aligned Institute is led by a multidisciplinary team combining AI/ML operations, blockchain development, institutional finance, regulatory expertise, and cognitive science. Full team bios, credentials, and reference contacts are available on the About page.

• Anthony Monroy (CEO): Veteran (TS/SSBI); 20+ years in ML/DataOps for F500s.
• Dr. Sarah Manski (COO): White House and Pentagon AI Advisor. Blockchain scholar.
• Dr. Mahault Albarracin (CSO): PhD in Cognitive Computing; WEF/Davos speaker.
• Faisal Yasin (CFO): Former KPMG, BNY Mellon; PE/VC G7 and ME market experience.
• Olyamika Oyebanji (CLO): Multiple Web3 deployments. Author of national stablecoin legislation.
• Mateo Bastidas (CTO): President, Yale Blockchain Club; Full-stack blockchain developer.

The ASIP governance model is not a DAO. It is representative, but not direct. The Governance Board — composed of experienced R&D veterans with domain expertise in AI safety, institutional finance, and regulatory compliance — reviews and curates grant proposals to ensure technical merit before they are put to token holders for a final vote.

This two-stage model prevents low-quality proposals from consuming governance bandwidth and ensures that token holder votes are cast on pre-vetted, technically credible initiatives. It is designed to function as a serious research allocation body, not a popularity contest.

Governance Board composition, selection criteria, and conflict-of-interest protocols are detailed in the ASIP Whitepaper and Governance Framework documents available in the data room.