IOU Wallet Protocol — lightweight social agreements and informal obligations

IOU Wallet Protocol is an obligation layer before settlement. It structures informal obligations between people as lightweight social agreement objects with mutual acknowledgement, trust, and closure—not a debt tracker, budgeting app, or personal finance tool.

IOUs can be monetary or non-monetary: socially acknowledged commitments such as returning a favour, following through on plans, or closing what is informally owed between friends, teammates, and communities.

Examples of informal IOU obligations

IOU dinner: A lightweight social agreement to return the favour of a meal or host the next dinner.
IOU next round: An informal obligation to buy the next round of drinks after someone covers this one.
IOU charger: A non-monetary commitment to return a borrowed charger or cable.
IOU hoodie: A social agreement to return borrowed clothing or gear between friends.
IOU playlist: An informal commitment to share music, recommendations, or creative favours.
IOU apology: A socially acknowledged commitment to make amends—not always measured in money.
IOU a date: A lightweight agreement to follow through on plans together, with mutual acknowledgement.

Protocol positioning

Keywords: lightweight social agreements, informal obligations, social commitments, lightweight social contracts, socially acknowledged commitments. Lifecycle: obligation layer before settlement, obligation lifecycle, acknowledgement before settlement, structured obligations, obligation closure, trust between people, lightweight accountability. Colloquial: I owe you one, social acknowledgement, informal IOU, shared memory of what is owed.