the Button Covenant

An open, global, people-to-people model for cross-civilisational dialogue

Launched from China · open worldwide on many levels ｜ October 2026

1. Project positioning and definition of parties

(1) Overall form of the project

The Button Covenant is an open, global, people-to-people model for cross-civilisational dialogue. It belongs to CIEDA's “Carbon-Based Guardianship · the Memory Wall” flagship system, and it uses antique garment buttons as its cultural symbol to carry cultural exchange between ordinary people of different countries.

Launched from China and open to multi-dimensional participation worldwide; the China–Norway pairing is the first to put the model into practice.

      Core positioning:The covenant produced by this project is a people-to-people document of symbolic friendship. It has no legal force of any kind and does not replace treaties or agreements between governments. Participants from each country may be sovereign states, or individuals, institutions and social organisations from sovereign states.

(2) Division of roles and responsibilities

Party role	Description
Project initiator(s)	May be any two sovereign states, or individuals, institutions and social organisations from any two sovereign states. The model is launched from China; the China–Norway chapter is the first case in practice.
Project operator (fixed)	Center for International Exchanges Digital Alliance (CIEDA). It handles all liaison, coordination and overall implementation of the project.
Project witness (fixed)	The operating body of the NFE ecosystem. It coordinates every kind of technical means and provides technical assurance across the whole Button Covenant process.

2. Origins and intellectual sources

Taking the United Nations' Memory of the World concept as its base, CIEDA has built a two-track vision of “carbon-based guardianship + silicon-based life” and created “Carbon-Based Guardianship · the Memory Wall”, using distributed blockchain technology to preserve humanity's cultural heritage in digital form.

The project's intellectual sources draw on three lineages:

Mr Nan Huaijin's thinking on East–West cultural dialogue
the idea of sustainable development put forward by the Brundtland Commission
biodiversity and the proposition of shared human values

      The button as a cultural carrier:“纽” (niǔ) is the hub that links, “扣” (kòu) the clasp that joins and grows together; the traditional garment buttons of different countries and peoples are the material carriers of local identity. Through this miniature object, the project conveys that “a boundary is itself a connection” — that different civilisations are not barriers but bridges where they meet in dialogue.

3. Three core ideas

Shared destiny

Drawing on people-to-people strength, it deepens understanding and trust between peoples, respects the diversity of civilisations, guards shared human values, and ensures that no ordinary person is left behind by the times.

Shared custom

Respecting each country's local traditions and folk culture, and using garment buttons and ornament as the medium, it promotes mutual learning in craft, festivals and custom, so that custom becomes a language of communication rather than a wall of separation.

Shared development

On the premise of cultural protection, it builds a button dataset and an International Button Data Alliance, turning physical cultural heritage into data assets that can be shared, studied and grown sustainably.

4. Core mechanism: exchange of ownership, retention of custody

This mechanism is the core operating rule of the Button Covenant model. The China–Norway practice applies it in full, and countries joining later follow the same rule:

Mechanism	Description
Objects do not travel	The traditional buttons exchanged by participating countries stay within their own borders; the initiating party in each country bears responsibility for their custody, maintenance, display and security. No physical object crosses a border.
Symbolic exchange of ownership	Ownership is exchanged through the covenant ceremony, the mutual gift of tokens and the factual terms of the covenant document; the handover of a physical object is not a condition of effect.
Digital rights confirmation	The NFE ecosystem coordinates the technologies: 3D scanning and high-resolution imaging of each button, on-chain attestation of the ownership-exchange record, and issue of a blockchain attestation certificate.
Effect of the document	All exchanges of ownership are people-to-people symbolic acts and produce no change of property rights in law.

      Multilateral rule:Each new party applies the same ownership-exchange rule: the physical buttons remain in the custody of their own country, symbolic ownership is held in common by all contracting parties, and digital rights confirmation and on-chain attestation are completed at the same time.

5. Mechanism for extending the covenant

Backed by blockchain and a range of technologies, the covenant records of the Button Covenant are openly visible and verifiable to people, organisations and institutions in every country. The covenant is open-ended and not limited to the initial bilateral cooperation: any overseas individual, social organisation or institution that endorses the three core ideas may apply to join.

(1) Application and joining process

The interested party may approach the operator, CIEDA, or any existing party to the covenant, and state its intention to join;
the party approached relays this to all contracting parties, the applicant's eligibility is confirmed, and a date for formal accession is agreed;
a formal signing ceremony is held, at which the covenant document is signed and button tokens are symbolically exchanged;
the witness coordinates the technical resources, completes digital capture of the physical buttons and on-chain attestation, and issues a blockchain attestation certificate.

(2) Multilateral rule

Once the existing contracting parties approve, the applicant joins; there is no need to draft a whole new set of terms. The original bilateral covenant is automatically upgraded to a multilateral, multi-party covenant, and all participants are fully equal in status — no first or last, no primary or subordinate.

6. Overall implementation phases

Phase	Core content
Preparation and covenant phase	Confirm the bilateral/multilateral participants and the text of the covenant; register and assess the tokens; hold the ceremony of mutual token exchange and signing; the witness coordinates the technology to complete on-chain attestation and issue a blockchain attestation certificate.
Data-building and outreach phase	Complete digital capture of the physical buttons and open the dataset to the public; carry out cultural outreach to the public and the international community, and run aesthetic-education outreach.
Multilateral expansion phase	Bring more national participants into the Button Covenant; keep expanding the International Button Data Alliance; run the annual Button Dialogue on a regular basis.

7. Value and significance

A replicable, scalable model for people-to-people international cultural exchange:Starting from a tiny object, it steps around the framework of official treaties and lets people-to-people actors anywhere in the world conduct civilisational dialogue on their own terms; the China–Norway pairing has validated the whole model in practice.
A path for digitising cultural heritage:Drawing on the technical capabilities coordinated by the witness, it turns the traditional button cultures of many countries into openly shared data assets that serve ICH protection and academic research worldwide.
Putting the idea of the diversity of human civilisations into practice:It promotes mutual understanding between civilisations, delivers sustainable exchange, and gives people-to-people diplomacy an innovative lever.

Conclusion

A single button: 纽 as the hub, 扣 as the clasp. The project is launched from China, with the China–Norway pairing putting the model into practice for the first time, while remaining open worldwide on many levels to new participants.

The object stays on its native soil, the sentiment crosses borders — a people-to-people clasp that links the button of civilisation.

Operator: Center for International Exchanges Digital Alliance (CIEDA)
Witness: the operating body of the NFE ecosystem