The box of color
Most NFTs are a picture. This is a box of color.
Permuta is 5,000 Conserved Composable Tokens (CCT), minted on Ethereum and rendered fully on-chain. You don't buy an image - you receive a fixed bag of colored dots and arrange it into any shape, forever.
#Material vs Image
Every other NFT sells you a fixed picture. A CCT splits the token into two layers:
- Genome - immutable. A fixed bag of colored dots assigned once at mint. It decides rarity and is your identity. It never changes.
- Appearance - mutable. How you arrange the dots into a shape. Reshape any number of times, same token ID.
You own the material, not a picture - like a fixed handful of beads: arrange them however you like, but it's always the same beads.
#The CCT Standard
A CCT is an ERC-721 NFT plus a custom logic layer. To wallets and marketplaces it's an ordinary NFT; the "conserved" rule is added on top.
The core rule - the conservation invariant: on every reshape, the multiset of colors in the new layout must exactly equal the genome. You can permute the dots into any shape, but never add, remove, or recolor a single one.
Technical · interface & invariant
interface ICCT {
function genome(uint256 id) external view returns (bytes32); // immutable
function layoutOf(uint256 id) external view returns (bytes memory);
function reshape(uint256 id, bytes calldata layout) external; // require(_multiset(layout)==genome[id])
event Reshaped(uint256 indexed id, bytes32 layoutHash, uint64 nonce);
}
Each reshape checks conservation, then writes an event into a hash-chain (nonce) - a tamper-proof edit history. tokenURI builds SVG from genome + layout at read time, so viewing costs no gas.
#Anatomy of a Token
Each token is a 50×50 = 2,500 grid of round, solid-color dots. A luminance ladder (dark → light) is what enables depth; hue sets the identity.
Hover the token - every dot of the same color lights up. That's one "trait" in your bag:
#Traits & Rarity
Every token has exactly 5 traits - five dimensions that together decide its tier: Spectrum (hue family), Range (tonal spread), Palette Size (how many colors), Composition (how the colors are balanced), and Finish (surface character). They are distributed across a 6-tier curve:
| Dimension | What it sets | Example values |
|---|---|---|
| Spectrum | The hue family of the bag. Independent of tier. | Teal, Ember, Verdant, Violet, Amber, Prismatic, Indigo, Azure, Ash, Rose |
| Range | How far the colors spread from dark to light. | Flat, Narrow, Mid, Wide, Full |
| Palette Size | How many distinct colors are in the bag. | 5 to 40 |
| Composition | How the color counts are balanced across the bag. | Scattered, Clustered, Balanced, Layered, Structured |
| Finish | Surface character of the rendered dots. | Matte, Satin, Gloss, Metallic |
| Tier | Palette Size | Supply |
|---|---|---|
| Common | 5 colors | 3,000 |
| Uncommon | 8 colors | 1,400 |
| Rare | 12 colors | 400 |
| Epic | 18 colors | 150 |
| Legendary | 28 colors | 45 |
| Mythic | 40 colors | 5 |
Common (5) and Mythic (40) are fixed anchors; the values between follow the curve. Spectrum is independent of tier - a Common can be Prismatic, a Legendary can be a single Teal family.
At 2,500 dots (versus 1,024), every color still gets enough dots to read clearly, so a bag can hold far more colors and finer tonal steps without turning to noise. That is what raises the ceiling to 40 colors and lets the luminance ladder run in smaller, smoother steps.
Two things make this economy exemplary: rarity is tied to capability (wide Range = can paint detailed portraits), and there are no dead traits (a "Flat" bag excels at bold graphic art). Compare the extremes:
The five Mythic grails are not random. Each is hand-crafted by the founder with a fixed concept and metallic tone: The Hand (Aurum, gold), The Cosmos (Argentum, silver), The Current (Cuprum, bronze), The Black Hole (Singularity, galaxy), and Wisdom (Lumen, black and white). They stay sealed until launch. See the Vault.
#Reshaping your PFP
In the Studio (Phase 2) you drag dots onto the grid or pick a template. The interface only lets you use the exact bag you own - run out of a color and you can't place more of it.
- Preview is free. Play and preview at no cost.
- Commit = one transaction. Saving a new shape is an on-chain transaction (gas). After saving, your PFP updates everywhere that reads on-chain.
- History is permanent. Every arrangement ever made lives in the token's history, recallable any time.
#Originals × Prints
These are two asset types, two markets:
- Original = the source token. Conserved, morphable, owns the dots. This is the identity.
- Print = a certified snapshot of a specific shape (records originId + formHash + timestamp). Immutable.
#The Prints Market
An Original is a living token that can wear infinite shapes. A Print is a signed, dated certificate of one exact shape. Anyone can copy how a shape looks, but only one person can hold its certificate.
Two assets, two markets
Permuta has two separate things you can own and trade. The Original is your fixed bag of colored dots (the genome). The genome never changes and sets your rarity. You arrange those dots into any shape, as many times as you like, forever. It is the living entity, your identity, one of a kind.
The Print is what you get when you certify a shape you love: a permanent, unchangeable record that says "this exact shape, made from this exact Original, existed on this date, created by this person." A Print is its own token, in its own collection, with its own market. One Original can give birth to many Prints over its life, so the supply is lopsided on purpose: one living body, many certified moments.
How a Print is created
When the owner of an Original certifies a shape, three things happen on-chain:
- The shape gets a fingerprint. The contract reads the exact arrangement of all 2,500 dots and turns it into a unique code (a hash). Two arrangements identical down to the last dot produce the same code. Change a single dot and the code is completely different.
- A Print is minted. A new Print token is created, holding the fingerprint, the full layout, the creator, the timestamp, and a link back to the Original it came from.
- The Original signs it. Only the wallet that owns that Original at that moment can mint the Print. This proves the Print truly came from the real Original, not from someone reconstructing the look from outside.
The result is a certificate whose authenticity rests on two unforgeable facts: it was signed by the real Original, and it carries the earliest timestamp for that shape.
What makes it real: provenance, not pixels
Permuta does not try to stop people from copying how a shape looks. That is impossible, and trying to do it creates loopholes. Instead, Permuta protects the thing that actually carries value: the certificate and its history.
Think of the art world. Anyone can paint a perfect copy of a famous painting, and millions of copies can exist. But only one canvas has the documented chain of ownership that proves it is the real one. The value lives in provenance, the proven story of where a work came from, not in the brushstrokes. Permuta works the same way: anyone can arrange their dots to look like a famous Print, but they cannot produce its certificate. Every look-alike that comes later is a copy with no papers, and the chain shows that to anyone who checks.
How the system knows your Print came first
Among millions of Prints, how could anyone tell that an identical-looking Print already existed? The contract never searches through millions of records. It looks up one entry by its fingerprint, instantly. It keeps a registry:
fingerprint -> the first Print, its creator, its timestamp
When you certify a shape, the contract writes its fingerprint into the registry. If someone later arranges the exact same shape and tries to certify it, the contract computes the same fingerprint, opens the registry at that entry, and sees a Print already exists there. It knows immediately, the way you find a word in a dictionary by turning to its page, not reading the whole book.
If you sell your Original after making a Print
Your Print is safe. It is a separate token that stays in your wallet when you sell the Original. The record of "this shape, created by you, on this date" is written permanently into the chain and cannot be erased, rewritten, or claimed by the new owner.
Suppose you own Original 3, certify a shape as Print 1, then sell Original 3. The new owner can arrange the exact same shape, but when they try to certify it, the contract sees Print 1 already holds that fingerprint and refuses. They can copy the look, but they can never mint a rival certificate, and never take the authorship and date that already belong to you. No one can steal the timeline either: minting a Print always requires owning the matching Original at that moment, so the genuine certificate is simply the earliest one signed by whoever held that Original then.
Wearing a certified shape
Most shapes are free. The number of possible arrangements is astronomical, so a shape you casually make is almost never a certified one. You wear those freely, as often as you like. Shape is freedom.
A certified shape is different. To have your Original actually display a shape that has been certified, you need to hold both the Original and that shape's Print together. If you sold the Print, you no longer hold the certified version. You can still arrange something that looks similar, but a near-copy is just an uncertified shape: no certificate, no edition, no recognized identity. The version everyone recognizes as real, the one with papers, stays with whoever holds the Print.
Why Prints are worth collecting
- Inverted scarcity. One Original, many Prints. The Original is the scarce identity; the Prints are an open, growing catalog of an artist's best moments. A standout Print can build its own value.
- Real provenance. Every Print is a signed, dated work tied to a specific Original. The chain proves it is the first and only certificate of that exact shape, trust you verify yourself.
- A catalog with a story. Over its life, one Original produces a body of certified work. As Originals change hands, the Prints scattered across collectors form a small network of provenance around a single living token.
- Power over a moment. If a shape becomes iconic, whoever holds its Print holds the one certified version of that moment. The complete pairing, the Original wearing its own famous certified shape, requires bringing both tokens together.
No. A Print certifies one shape. The Original is the living token and stays with its owner. Buying a Print does not give you the Original.
They can copy how it looks. They cannot mint a second certificate, and cannot take its authorship or date. The first certificate is the only one.
Whoever certifies it first. The second attempt for that exact shape is rejected.
No. The Print is a separate token and stays with you, along with its permanent record of authorship and date.
#Fully On-chain
No IPFS, no server. The contract stores a compact seed plus the current layout; tokenURI deterministically builds the SVG dots at read time. As long as Ethereum exists, so does the art - and every past arrangement is reproducible from history.
#Minting
- Chain: Ethereum mainnet
- Supply: 5,000 · including 5 hand-crafted Mythic 1/1s
- Standard: ERC-721 + CCT extension
- Render: 100% on-chain SVG
Mint price, date and allowlist will be announced on X and Discord.
#FAQ
No. Rarity is in the genome (the bag), which is immutable. Reshaping never touches it.
No. A print is only a certified snapshot of a shape. The original token and its dots stay with the original's owner.
Preview is free. Only saving a new shape on-chain incurs Ethereum gas.
Entirely on Ethereum. No IPFS, no server - rendered directly from on-chain data.
#Glossary
- Genome
- A token's fixed bag of colored dots - an immutable color multiset that sets traits & rarity.
- Layout
- A specific arrangement of the dots into a shape. Mutable.
- Conservation invariant
- The rule forcing every new layout to use exactly the genome - no add/remove/recolor.
- Reshape
- Changing a token's layout (an on-chain transaction).
- Original
- The source CCT token - a living, morphable entity.
- An immutable snapshot of a shape, in a separate contract, recording provenance.
- Trait
- One of the 5 dimensions that set rarity: Spectrum, Range, Palette Size, Composition, Finish. Every token has all five.
- Color (ink)
- A single color in the bag. A token holds 4 to 26 of them; that count is its Palette Size trait.
- Spectrum
- The hue family of a bag (Teal, Ember ... Prismatic). Independent of tier.
- Range
- How far a bag's colors spread from dark to light - Flat to Full.
- Tier
- Overall rarity band (Common → Mythic) from the combination of 5 traits.