Attesters

Proof of Reputation

Attesters are the protocol's final line of defense in the pursuit of truth. They serve as the highest arbiters in Truemarkets' dispute resolution system and are composed of provably reputable individuals whose credibility is earned externally to the protocol.

These individuals include high-ranking governance delegates, respected founders, and other prominent contributors within the Ethereum ecosystem who are willing to stake their reputations behind their decisions. Over time, this set may expand to include reputable individuals outside of crypto as well.

The Sybil-resistance mechanism used for attesters is referred to as Proof of Reputation. Rather than relying solely on economic stake, Proof of Reputation leverages long-standing social, professional, and governance credibility that cannot be cheaply fabricated or forked.

The genesis attester pool is composed of individuals with a demonstrated history of coordinating in decentralized environments to reach consensus and vote on proposals. This behavior closely mirrors the critical reasoning required to evaluate subjective disputes through a decentralized process.

When disputes escalate beyond token holder arbitration, attesters are responsible for submitting a final verdict. Their role is to provide a credibly neutral, high-integrity perspective at the final layer of dispute resolution.

This human, reputation-backed layer introduces nuance that purely algorithmic systems cannot replicate. It enables discretionary judgment over subjective real-world information, allowing such information to be credibly verified onchain.

This human element becomes increasingly important in the presence of AI. Over time, it is expected that most low-level resolutions and disputes will be handled by AI agents, with humans serving as optimistic verifiers and, ultimately, the final arbiters of truth.

Selection Process

Attesters are selected through protocol governance. Once admitted to the attester pool, participants may opt into the dispute resolution system. Participation is voluntary, but incentivized.

Lottery System and Incentives

To encourage attesters to remain active and available, Truemarkets employs a lottery system for attesters who register for "jury duty" each epoch.

During each epoch, a random subset of registered attesters is selected to receive a reward denominated in TRUE tokens. By registering, attesters signal their readiness to participate in dispute resolution if called upon.