Vouching System

The vouch is the atomic unit of trust in OMXUS. It's a cryptographic statement: "I have met this person in physical reality."

Requirements

To vouch for someone:

1. You must have a valid OMXUS token - You're already in the network
2. You must have met them in person - Physical presence is the test
3. You accept reputation risk - Bad vouches reduce your weight

Vouch Data Structure

{
  "voucher": "your_pubkey",
  "recipient": "their_pubkey",
  "timestamp": "2026-01-14T12:00:00Z",
  "signature": "Ed25519_signature"
}

The 3-Vouch Rule

Minting a token requires exactly 3 vouches. Why 3?

• 1 is too easy - Single point of failure
• 2 creates ties - No consensus possible
• 3 is consensus - Odd number, distributed trust
• More is burden - Harder to onboard, less inclusive

Reputation Stakes

When you vouch, your reputation is linked:

• If the person behaves well: Your weight stays stable
• If they turn out to be sybil: Your weight decreases
• Cascade effect: Bad vouches hurt your vouchers too

This creates natural quality control without central authority.

Anti-Gaming

Attacks we've considered:

Vouch Revocation

Coming in v2: Ability to revoke vouches for people who:

• Turn out to be sybil
• Behave maliciously
• Were vouched under false pretenses