Validator

The Validator is a core component of the Vibin’ architecture, responsible for verifying encrypted music listening data and generating on-chain proofs of its authenticity. It plays a critical role in maintaining the integrity, privacy and trustworthiness of the data flowing through the Vibin’ network.

Initially, the validator operates as a centralized entity, but future protocol upgrades will transition to a decentralized validator committee using economic collateral and consensus mechanisms to further decentralize trust and enhance resilience.

Key Responsibilities

1. Data Validation

Validators receive encrypted listening history from routers and process it securely within Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs). Inside the TEE, the validator:

❃ Confirms data comes from a verified Spotify source.
❃ Ensures the session is unique and non-duplicated.
❃ Measures quality via volume, diversity and frequency.
❃ Attests to the session’s validity without exposing raw data.

2. Zero-Knowledge Proof Generation

Once the listening session is validated, the validator passes metadata and proof commitments to the ZK Processor, which generates zk-SNARK proofs of the session. These proofs are then batched and submitted to Ethereum, where they serve as tamper-proof records of contribution.

TEEs and Encryption Standards

All validation occurs inside hardware-isolated enclaves (TEEs), ensuring that no raw listening data ever leaves the secure boundary. Validators use client-generated encryption keys and attestations to prove that the TEE ran the correct code, without requiring trust in the validator itself.

This architecture enables:

❃ Privacy-preserving validation.
❃ Secure key exchange and encryption.
❃ Verifiable computation without data exposure.

Security Model

In the current early-phase structure:

❃ Validators operate under independent trust assumptions, as their security is not yet derived from an L1 consensus layer.
❃ If the validator is offline or unavailable, users may be able to submit session attestations directly to L1 for settlement in a future update.
❃ The validator role will eventually be filled by a decentralized set of validators, each collateralized and incentivized to behave honestly under the threat of slashing or loss of stake.

This future structure introduces economic guarantees that prevent any single validator from manipulating the data pipeline or falsifying proofs.