Provenance

Provenance records origin, custody, transformation and derivation relationships. It is evidence about history, not automatic proof of truth or ownership.

Minimum useful provenance

Identify the source object/Entity, relationship or transformation, resulting object, time/version context and the evidence supporting that link. Preserve hashes or identifiers that let an independent verifier resolve the exact artifacts.

Derivation

A derivative should link to contributing sources rather than copying attribution into an untraceable text field. Where an economic participation term exists, connect the derivative event to the explicit term rather than assuming all ancestors receive payment.

Protocol origin vs asset provenance

The Shawn → BTG → ENTITY canonical protocol lineage is distinct from the provenance of user assets. The BTDU implementation explicitly records that protocol origin is not asset provenance and does not transfer user ownership.

Historical integrity

Supersession changes current operational status; it does not erase provenance. v3.4.1 is superseded, but its signed release history remains verifiable.