The interface between
matter and math

A standard QR code is a grid of black and white squares. Copy it with any printer and you get a perfect clone. There is no information lost because there is no information density to lose.

Fractal QR is different. Each pattern is generated over the finite field GF(256) — the same algebraic structure used in Reed-Solomon error correction. Data is encoded not just in the position of marks, but in the precise geometry of nested sub-patterns. These sub-patterns exist at scales that approach the resolution limit of consumer printing.

When you photocopy a fractal QR label, the printer cannot reproduce the fine-grained structure. The entropy of the pattern measurably decreases. The verification algorithm detects this entropy loss and flags the copy — no database query needed, no network connection required.

Most location-based systems use geofencing: the server checks if you're inside a boundary, then sends you the content. The content exists in decrypted form on the server. The boundary is enforced by software, not physics.

Wormhole inverts this model. GPS coordinates are fed through BLAKE3 to derive a key, then content is encrypted with XChaCha20 using that key. The encrypted payload can be stored anywhere — on a CDN, in a QR code, in a poster. But it cannot be decrypted until a device physically present at the coordinates derives the same key.

The content does not exist in decrypted form until someone is standing in the right place. The location isn't a gate — it's the key itself.

Traditional watermarking adds visible noise to images — a compromise between protection and aesthetics that satisfies neither. Creators hate the visual degradation. Thieves crop or clone-stamp it away.

Wing modulates provenance data into the luminance channel at frequencies invisible to the human eye but readable by cameras. The pixel data itself becomes the proof. No overlay, no border, no metadata that can be stripped. The artwork looks identical to the naked eye, but a camera phone can extract the embedded identity.

This means an artwork posted on Instagram, screenshotted, or printed still carries its creator's signature in the pixel values themselves.