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Ti Protocol consists of four layers, plus a token and governance layer that sits beside them. The top two layers handle information. The bottom two take the user’s signature and move funds. This chapter explains what each layer does and how a single user question passes through them.
L1Conversation
Ti AI
  • Understands the question
  • Calls tools
  • Card + short answer
L2Quote
Ti quote API
  • Route search
  • Prices and pool data
  • Transaction lookup
Above this line: information. Below it, nothing moves without the user’s wallet signature.
L3Execution
User walletCross-chain router
  • DEX liquidity (Uniswap, Curve, …)
  • Gasless relayer
  • Permit · Permit2 · EIP-7702
L4Settlement
BridgesDestination receiver
  • Circle CCTP
  • LayerZero (USDT0)
  • Ti explorer

Figure 8. The top two layers only handle information; the bottom two move funds only after the user’s wallet signature.

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1. Four layers

The conversation layer is home to Ti AI. It understands a question typed in everyday language, chooses and calls the tools needed to answer it, and turns what the tools return into cards and a short answer. It answers in the language of the question and has no function for creating or executing transactions. The quote layer is the Ti quote API and its data services. Given a pair and an amount, it finds pools within the same chain, multi-hop routes and cross-chain routes, and calculates the amount received for each candidate. This layer also handles prices, liquidity pool data and transaction status lookups. Ti AI and the swap screen use the same quote API, so the reference quote the AI shows and the quote on the swap screen come from the same engine. The execution layer is the user’s wallet and the execution contracts deployed on each chain. A transaction the user signs goes to a DEX router if it stays within one chain, or to the cross-chain router if it crosses chains. When needed, the cross-chain router swaps first on the source chain, then hands the tokens and a message to the bridge. With Gasless mode on, a relayer submits the transaction carrying the user’s signature and pays the network fee. The settlement layer is the bridges that connect chains and the receiving contracts on destination chains. USDC moves through Circle CCTP, and USDT moves as USDT0, which is built on LayerZero OFT. The receiving contract on the destination chain takes the tokens that arrive through the bridge, swaps them once more into the target token if needed, and sends them to the user’s wallet. The Ti explorer tracks how far each transfer has progressed. The token and governance layer lives on Polygon mainnet. It consists of the TIP token, seven vesting contracts, the AccessManager permission contract (OpenZeppelin AccessManager) and multisig Safes. This layer is separate from the path users’ swaps take. You do not need TIP to swap, and TIP’s administrative functions do not interfere with users’ swaps.

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2. The path of a single swap

Let us follow a user who asks, “How much will I get if I swap 1,000 USDC on Base for USDT on Arbitrum One?”
  1. 01Ask
    UserTi AI

    “What do I get for 1,000 USDC on Base as USDT on Arbitrum One?”

  2. 02Quote
    Ti quote API

    Finds candidate routes, compares amounts received

  3. 03Review
    User

    Route, fees, minimum received

Steps 1–3Ti AI helps
  1. 04Sign
    User wallet

    Approves after checking chain, token, amount

  2. 05Move
    Bridge

    Burn on the source chain, mint on the destination

  3. 06Arrive
    Ti explorer

    Confirms receipt on the destination chain

Steps 4–6the user’s signature and the chain’s rules decide

Figure 9. A cross-chain swap takes six steps, and funds move only after the wallet signature in step 4.

1

Ask

From the question, Ti AI reads the source chain (Base), the token sent (USDC), the amount (1,000), the destination chain (Arbitrum One) and the token received (USDT), and calls the quote lookup tool.
2

Quote

The quote API builds candidate routes. Here, the typical route carries the USDC on Base as it is over CCTP to Arbitrum One, then swaps it to USDT in a pool there. For each candidate, the API calculates the bridge fee and the result of the swap on the destination chain, and compares candidates by the amount received.
3

Review

Ti AI shows a quote card. The card lists the route, the route fee (reflected in the amount received), the amount received, and the source and timestamp. To proceed, the user moves to the swap screen. The swap screen fetches a fresh quote and shows the route, price impact and minimum received again.
4

Sign

The user checks the chain, token address, amount and fees shown in their own wallet, and signs. This is the only step that moves funds.
5

Move

The cross-chain router sends the USDC to CCTP. The USDC is burned on Base, and once Circle attests to the burn, USDC minus the bridge fee is minted on Arbitrum One and goes to the destination receiver. The destination receiver swaps the USDC to USDT, on condition that it meets the minimum received set at signing, and sends it to the user.
6

Arrive

The user can check progress in Ti using the transaction hash, and the swap is marked complete when the USDT arrives on Arbitrum One.
In this flow, Ti AI is involved only in steps 1 to 3. From step 4 on, the user’s signature and the rules of the blockchain decide everything.

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3. Trust boundaries

The table below sets out what each component can and cannot do. The most important rows in this table are the first row and the two below it. However much the information-side components do, nothing happens unless the user signs. And the moment the user signs, the key conditions of the transaction (token received, minimum received, recipient address, deadline) are locked in.
Information
Ti AI

CanUnderstand questions · call tools · look up reference quotes · cards and summaries

CannotCreate, sign or execute transactions · ask for seed phrases or keys

Quote API

CanSearch routes · calculate amounts received · prepare route data

CannotMove funds · change the signed minimum or deadline

User wallet

CanDisplay the transaction · sign

CannotSign anything the user has not approved

Locked the moment the user signs
  • Token received
  • Minimum received
  • Recipient
  • Deadline
Execution after signing
Cross-chain router and DEXs

CanExecute signed transactions · check minimum and deadline

CannotExecute outside the signed terms

Gasless relayer

CanSubmit the signed message · pay the network fee

CannotChange assets, amount, recipient, minimum or fee cap

Bridges (CCTP · USDT0)

CanBurn or lock · verify · mint on the destination

CannotMint outside the protocol’s verification

TIP and vesting admin

CanScoped operations and compliance actions (multisig, time delays)

CannotMint more · upgrade · admin withdrawal · shorten a started schedule

Figure 10. Whatever the information side does, no funds move until the user signs, and signing locks the key terms of the transaction.

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4. Off-chain and on-chain responsibilities

Route search happens off-chain. Reading the state of dozens of pools and calculating the result of every candidate route on the blockchain would cost too much gas and take too long. Instead, so that a route chosen off-chain cannot execute against the user, the conditions that protect the result are checked on-chain.
  • Minimum received If the user would receive less than the minimum received calculated from their slippage tolerance, the transaction fails. In a cross-chain swap, a separate minimum received applies to the bridge leg and to the destination-swap leg.
  • Deadline The signature includes a deadline, and a transaction past its deadline does not execute.
  • Recipient address The address that receives the output is fixed in the transaction data.
  • Signature verification In Gasless transactions, the execution contract executes only after it has verified the user’s EIP-712 signature.
With this split, even if an off-chain component is wrong or under attack, the damage is capped by the conditions the user signed. If the quote API produces a bad route, the transaction simply fails the minimum received check. It does not end in an outcome the user did not agree to.