Credence is an on-chain economic identity protocol built on the Stellar network.
It enables individuals and organizations to establish credibility by staking USDC as a programmable reputation bond.

Unlike social or NFT-based identity systems, Credence ties reputation to capital commitment. Trust becomes economically backed, publicly verifiable, and enforceable through smart contracts.

The protocol introduces Trust-as-a-Service infrastructure for the Stellar ecosystem.

Existing Web3 identity systems suffer from structural weaknesses:

• Social reputation without economic accountability
• NFT-based identity without capital commitment
• Easily forgeable credibility signals
• No slashing or enforcement mechanisms
• No programmable trust layer on Stellar

There is no standardized mechanism where credibility is tied to staked capital and enforceable on-chain.

Credence introduces a programmable reputation bond model:

• Users lock USDC into a smart contract
• The bond represents economic commitment
• Reputation score increases with bond size and duration
• Misconduct can trigger slashing
• Third-party attestations enhance credibility

The protocol provides a quantifiable, enforceable trust metric backed by capital.

flowchart TD
    A[User Wallet] --> B[Credence Smart Contract]
    C[Verifier / DAO] --> B
    B --> D[Stellar Network]
    D --> E[Horizon Listener]
    E --> F[(PostgreSQL Database)]
    F --> G[Reputation Engine]
    G --> H[Public API]
    H --> I[External Platforms]

Responsibilities:

• Lock USDC bonds
• Track bond duration
• Maintain slashing rules
• Emit trust events
• Store core identity metadata
• Allow optional attestations

Contract Data Model (Conceptual)

struct IdentityBond {
    identity: Address,
    bonded_amount: i128,
    bond_start: u64,
    bond_duration: u64,
    slashed_amount: i128,
    active: bool,
}

struct Attestation {
    verifier: Address,
    identity: Address,
    timestamp: u64,
    weight: u32,
}

Core Contract Methods

• create_bond()
• increase_bond()
• withdraw_bond()
• slash_bond()
• add_attestation()
• revoke_attestation()
• get_identity_state()

sequenceDiagram
    participant User
    participant SmartContract
    participant Stellar
    participant Backend

    User->>SmartContract: create_bond()
    SmartContract->>Stellar: Lock USDC
    Stellar-->>Backend: Emit bond event
    Backend->>Database: Record identity state

sequenceDiagram
    participant Verifier
    participant SmartContract
    participant Governance
    participant Stellar

    Verifier->>SmartContract: request_slash()
    Governance->>SmartContract: approve_slash()
    SmartContract->>Stellar: Reduce bonded amount

Slashing requires:

• Governance approval
• Multi-signature verification
• Evidence submission reference

Reputation Score = f(bond_amount, bond_duration, slashing_history, attestations)

Example:

• Base score from bonded USDC
• Time-weight multiplier
• Negative penalty for slashes
• Attestation weight multiplier

The score is computed off-chain but anchored to on-chain bond data.

• JWT authentication
• Role-based access
• Rate limiting
• API key validation

Responsibilities:

• Fetch on-chain bond data
• Calculate trust score
• Apply time-weight logic
• Process attestation weights
• Maintain score history

• Monitor bond creation
• Detect slashing events
• Track withdrawals
• Sync identity state to database

• Handle dispute submissions
• Manage slashing votes
• Maintain arbitration logs
• Multi-sig coordination

• Retrieve trust score
• Retrieve bond status
• Retrieve attestation count
• Provide verification proof package

erDiagram
    IDENTITIES ||--|| BONDS : owns
    IDENTITIES ||--o{ ATTESTATIONS : receives
    IDENTITIES ||--o{ SLASH_EVENTS : records
    IDENTITIES ||--o{ SCORE_HISTORY : tracks

Bond Types:

• Fixed duration bond
• Rolling bond
• Tiered bond (identity levels)

Withdrawal Rules:

• Lock-up period enforcement
• Cooldown window
• Optional early exit penalty

Blockchain:

• Stellar Network
• Soroban Smart Contracts
• Stellar SDK

Backend:

• Go (reference) / TypeScript + Express (this repo)
• PostgreSQL
• Redis (caching and rate limits)
• gRPC (internal services)

Infrastructure:

• Docker
• Kubernetes
• AWS or GCP

Monitoring:

• Prometheus
• Grafana

• Smart contract audit required
• Overflow-safe arithmetic
• Governance-based slashing control
• Multi-signature administrative actions
• Idempotent transaction handling
• Replay attack prevention
• Encrypted evidence storage

• Bond Creation Fee: Percentage of bonded amount
• Slashing Arbitration Fee: Applied during dispute resolution
• API Subscription: Access to trust score endpoints
• Enterprise Tier: Enhanced analytics, bulk identity verification, custom attestation integrations

• Phase 1: Basic bond staking, public trust score API, manual governance slashing
• Phase 2: Weighted attestation system, automated risk scoring, developer SDK integration
• Phase 3: Cross-platform trust portability, DAO governance module, cross-chain compatibility

Credence is not a social identity system. It is a programmable economic accountability protocol.

Target users:

• DAO contributors
• API providers
• Marketplace sellers
• Grant applicants
• Revenue-token issuers
• Web3 infrastructure platforms

This monorepo contains:

See each directory’s README for local setup and project details.

Credence introduces an economically backed trust layer for the Stellar ecosystem.

By combining:

• USDC staking
• Soroban smart contracts
• Programmable slashing
• Time-weighted scoring
• Attestation support

The protocol enables a structured and enforceable identity model where credibility is capitalized and verifiable on-chain.