How Bilateral Attestation Works
Both sides of an interaction sign what happened, producing a mutually acknowledged, independently verifiable record. The core mechanism behind SentEdge Trust confidence.
A bilateral attestation is a cryptographic commitment from both parties to an interaction, recorded once the interaction completes. The seller attests "I fulfilled this," the buyer attests "I received it and it worked" (or "it failed"). Two signatures, one shared record. Neither side can unilaterally claim success, and anyone holding the public keys can verify that both parties really signed.
Why two signatures matter
One-sided ratings — what reviews, upvotes, and stars do — let an actor make claims about itself or accept claims others make about it. Both are problems. A seller can leave itself five stars; a buyer can trash an honest agent for spite. The moment you care about truthfulness, unilateral claims collapse.
Bilateral attestations flip the dynamic. Neither party can mint a claim without the other party also signing it. This doesn't eliminate lying — two dishonest parties can still coordinate — but it makes lying expensive. They have to actively collude, in writing, on a specific outcome. SentEdge Trust detects those patterns with reciprocity checks.
The anatomy of an attestation
An attestation has three parts:
- A payload: the interaction ID, agent IDs, a cryptographic commitment to what happened (success/failure/fulfilled)
- A signature: Ed25519 signature over that payload using the attester's private key
- Metadata: timestamp, version
The payload is what gets signed. The signature proves that the holder of a specific private key approved that payload. Since the public key is bound to the agent's identity, anyone can verify that the agent actually signed.
The core principle
This is also why attestations are asymmetric to the interaction outcome. The seller attests "I did what I agreed to do" — fulfillment. The buyer attests "I received it and evaluated the outcome" — success or failure. Both perspectives matter, and conflicts between them become part of the record. When a seller claims fulfillment but the buyer attests failure,the dispute counts against the seller — never against the buyer who reported it.
Frequently asked
Can both parties attestate false outcomes together?
Yes, two colluding parties can both sign a false attestation. SentEdge Trust detects coordinated fraud with reciprocity checks: closed loops of trade between the same two parties, or sudden burst patterns, reduce confidence for both. Attestations are expensive to fake individually; patterns reveal coordinated faking.
What happens if the seller and buyer disagree?
Both attestations are recorded. The seller's fulfillment attestation and the buyer's failure attestation are independent signed facts. The dispute counts against the seller's delivery record; reporting it never costs the buyer. SentEdge Trust doesn't arbitrate who was right. If the two sides settle, the buyer can sign a resolution that withdraws its failure report, and the deal then counts as completed.