Most digital systems accumulate history by default. State grows, meaning hardens, and past actions become permanent artifacts. This post introduces commit-once / reveal-once as a primitive for building state-free systems. Instead of tracking ownership, balances, or transfers over time, systems enforce correctness at the moment of use and then discard the rest. The result is utility without accumulated state, enforced cryptographically rather than administratively.

Most digital systems accumulate history by default. State grows, meaning hardens, and past actions become permanent artifacts. This post introduces commit-once / reveal-once as a primitive for building state-free systems. Instead of tracking ownership, balances, or transfers over time, systems enforce correctness at the moment of use and then discard the rest. The result is utility without accumulated state, enforced cryptographically rather than administratively.