Functionality

Use cases for a general purpose "time-chain"

Continuum is a universal, cryptographically verifiable “clock-and-queue” that any blockchain component can lean on, and it sketches four principal arenas where that service is immediately useful.

First, layer-2 rollups can swap their discretionary, often centralized sequencers for Continuum’s feed. Transactions would flow to a shared Continuum network, be time-stamped every 100 µs, and the resulting ordered log would become the rollup’s canonical block input. Because the order is provably tied to arrival-time, the rollup operator loses the ability to reshuffle trades or slip in private transactions, and users see millisecond-level finality long before the batch is posted to L1.

Second, decentralized exchanges and wider DeFi protocols can use Continuum to neutralise MEV. Swaps or order-book instructions submitted through the Continuum sequencer land on-chain in the exact sequence they reached the network, removing fee-based “bidding wars,” sandwich attacks, and intra-block arbitrage. The paper notes that even liquidation queues, oracle updates, or auction bids could be sorted by these immutable timestamps rather than by gas-price auctions.

Third, cross-chain bridges and multi-chain settlement layers gain a single, fair timeline. If each chain executes bridge events in Continuum’s order, an attacker can no longer reorder withdrawals on one side to exploit price moves on the other, and batch auctions that span several networks can settle against one consistent event stream .

Finally, smart-contract designers can import Continuum’s timestamps directly as a trust-minimised notion of time. A contract on Ethereum, for instance, could require every call to carry a Continuum proof, rejecting any pair of transactions that violate chronological order or contain duplicated ticks. This offers a more precise and tamper-resistant alternative to block.time or external time oracles.

Continuum is not as another execution environment but as an “ordering utility”—a slim, high-frequency layer that any rollup, DEX, bridge, or contract can tap to inherit sub-millisecond FIFO fairness and cryptographic auditability.