Cross-DAO Reputation Portability

Verifiable Credentials are tamper-evident digital claims (like attestations or badges) issued by a trusted entity. They form the core data unit for portable reputation.

• Use W3C standards for interoperability.
• Enable selective disclosure, so users share only relevant credentials.
• Example: A Proof of Contribution VC from one DAO can be presented to another without revealing the user's full history.

Decentralized Identifiers are user-owned, globally unique identifiers that are the anchor for a portable reputation system.

• They are independent of any centralized registry, provider, or blockchain.
• A user's DID Document contains public keys and service endpoints for verifying credentials.
• This provides a self-sovereign identity foundation, allowing the same identity to be used across multiple DAOs and platforms.

Specialized protocols create, store, and query on-chain attestations that form a user's reputation graph.

• Ethereum Attestation Service (EAS) and Verax provide schemas and registries for creating standardized attestations.
• Graph protocols like The Graph or Hypercerts index this data, making a user's cross-DAO contribution history queryable and composable by other applications.

Portable reputation systems require mechanisms to prevent fake identities (Sybil attacks) from gaming the system.

• Proof of Personhood solutions (e.g., Worldcoin, BrightID) verify unique humanness.
• Social graph analysis and consensus-based vouching within communities help establish trust.
• These primitives ensure that portable reputation reflects genuine, non-sybil contributions.

These are middleware layers that aggregate and interpret credentials from multiple sources into a unified reputation score or profile.

• Projects like Gitcoin Passport and Orange Protocol aggregate stamps and credentials from various Web2 and Web3 sources.
• They apply scoring algorithms to create a composite reputation that DAOs can use for governance weight, access control, or rewards.

For reputation to be truly portable across ecosystems, secure communication between different blockchains is essential.

• Protocols like LayerZero, Axelar, and Wormhole enable the cross-chain transmission of verifiable messages and state proofs.
• This allows a credential minted on Ethereum to be trustlessly verified and utilized on a DAO operating on Solana or Cosmos.

New DAOs can instantly assess a prospective member's verifiable work history from other organizations, reducing onboarding friction and trust barriers. This allows for:

• Credential-based access to roles and permissions.
• Reduced trial periods by leveraging proven track records.
• Targeted recruitment of contributors with specific, demonstrated skills.

Portable reputation acts as a social proof layer to combat Sybil attacks in token-weighted voting systems. It enables mechanisms like:

• Reputation-weighted voting, where influence is a function of both token holdings and proven contributions.
• Delegation signals, helping token holders identify competent delegates based on their cross-ecosystem reputation.
• Proposal legitimacy filters that prioritize submissions from accounts with established positive history.

Reputation becomes a transferable or stakable asset that can be used across DeFi and governance applications. Use cases include:

• Reputation-based undercollateralized lending, where a user's social capital can serve as supplementary collateral.
• Reputation staking for specific actions or proposals, putting one's standing on the line.
• Curated registries and bounties that are gated by minimum reputation scores from recognized sources.

DAOs can form strategic partnerships and reward systems based on mutual recognition of reputation. This facilitates:

• Cross-DAO incentive programs, where contributions to a partner protocol earn rewards in the native ecosystem.
• Coordinated treasury management, with multi-sig roles granted based on aggregate reputation scores.
• Ecosystem-wide grants programs that evaluate applicants based on a holistic, portable reputation profile rather than isolated achievements.

Real-world implementations demonstrate the concept:

• SourceCred algorithmically generates Cred scores based on contributions to a community (like GitHub commits, forum posts), which could be made portable.
• Degenscore issues on-chain attestations for DeFi user behavior (e.g., "successful liquidity provider"), creating a portable financial reputation graph. These scores can be queried by other protocols for airdrops, access, or credit.

The dual processes for creating and propagating trust. Attestations are statements (like VCs) made by one entity about another. Delegation allows an entity to grant another the authority to make attestations on its behalf.

• Enables reputation graphs where trust is transitive.
• A DAO can delegate attestation power to a sub-DAO or committee.
• Critical for scaling reputation systems without a central authority.

The security property of a system that prevents a single entity from controlling multiple identities (Sybils) to gain disproportionate influence. Portable reputation systems must be Sybil-resistant to be meaningful.

• Prerequisite: A cost (social, financial, computational) to create a new identity.
• Methods: Proof-of-Personhood, proof-of-stake, social graph analysis, or biometrics.
• Without it, portable reputation is easily gamed.