DIAP: A Decentralized Agent Identity Protocol with Zero-Knowledge Proofs and a Hybrid P2P Stack
Yuanjie Liu, Wenpeng Xing, Ye Zhou, Gaowei Chang, Changting Lin, Meng Han
TL;DR
This work addresses the lack of a decentralized, verifiable, privacy-preserving agent identity substrate by introducing DIAP, which binds an agent's identity to an immutable IPFS CID and uses zero-knowledge proofs to attest ownership in a stateless manner. It contributes a Noir-based ZKP circuit, a zero-dependency ZKP SDK (UniversalNoirManager), and a hybrid P2P stack combining Libp2p GossipSub for discovery with Iroh for high-performance direct connections, all while encrypting P2P endpoints to preserve privacy. The approach enables persistent, trustless interoperability for autonomous agents and agent-to-agent economies in decentralized environments. The work demonstrates end-to-end viability through a suite of demonstrations and discusses practical implications for DePIN and AI-agent ecosystems.
Abstract
The absence of a fully decentralized, verifiable, and privacy-preserving communication protocol for autonomous agents remains a core challenge in decentralized computing. Existing systems often rely on centralized intermediaries, which reintroduce trust bottlenecks, or lack decentralized identity-resolution mechanisms, limiting persistence and cross-network interoperability. We propose the Decentralized Interstellar Agent Protocol (DIAP), a novel framework for agent identity and communication that enables persistent, verifiable, and trustless interoperability in fully decentralized environments. DIAP binds an agent's identity to an immutable IPFS or IPNS content identifier and uses zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) to dynamically and statelessly prove ownership, removing the need for record updates. We present a Rust SDK that integrates Noir (for zero-knowledge proofs), DID-Key, IPFS, and a hybrid peer-to-peer stack combining Libp2p GossipSub for discovery and Iroh for high-performance, QUIC based data exchange. DIAP introduces a zero-dependency ZKP deployment model through a universal proof manager and compile-time build script that embeds a precompiled Noir circuit, eliminating the need for external ZKP toolchains. This enables instant, verifiable, and privacy-preserving identity proofs. This work establishes a practical, high-performance foundation for next-generation autonomous agent ecosystems and agent-to-agent (A to A) economies.