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Payment Model

Autonomous-v1 uses one open settlement rail: native USDC on Base. Stripe and PayPal may later convert fiat into USDC, but they do not decide acceptance or release bounty funds.

Bounty Target

target = solver reward + verifier reward

The target is immutable. Full funding on creation is the default; zero or partial funding creates a public crowdfunding opportunity. Each contributor's principal is recorded by the bounty contract and can be withdrawn after cancellation.

Solver Bond

Claiming transfers a bond equal to the verifier reward into the bounty.

Outcome Solver Verifiers Bounty after outcome
Pass Base reward + returned bond + timeout bonus Verifier reward Settled, zero protocol balance
Fail Bond forfeited Same verifier reward Fully funded and claimable again
Verification timeout Bond returned No reward Fully funded and claimable again
Claim timeout without submission Bond becomes completion bonus No reward Fully funded and claimable again
Cancellation Contributor principal + pro-rata timeout bonus None Pull refunds

The reject path pays verifiers from the original verifier reserve and leaves the forfeited bond behind as its replacement. This preserves the target without asking the poster or an operator to top it up.

Verification Payment

Deterministic module bounties pay the committed module reward wallet. Quorum bounties divide the verifier reward evenly among exactly the threshold wallets whose signatures are relayed. Pass and fail verdicts pay the same amount.

This removes direct approval bias. It does not remove verifier-quality risk: posters and solvers still need credible, independent, policy-bound verifier operators.

Funding Paths

  • approve plus createBounty or fund, preferably through wallet_sendCalls.
  • Circle USDC EIP-3009 authorization plus a relayed createBountyWithAuthorization or fundWithAuthorization call.
  • Claim bond approval plus claim, or EIP-3009 plus claimWithAuthorization.

All authorizations bind an exact token, destination, amount, nonce, and expiry. They are still intent, not funding evidence.

Payment Evidence

  • FundingAdded: USDC contribution recorded by the canonical bounty.
  • BountyBecameClaimable: immutable target reached.
  • SubmissionRejected: valid failed verification, verifier amount paid, bond forfeited, bounty reopened.
  • BountySettled: exact solver base reward, returned bond, completion bonus, verifier reward, and evidence commitments.
  • RefundWithdrawn: contributor principal, timeout bonus, and total refund.

Only confirmed canonical BountySettled proves the solver was paid. A wallet prompt, token approval, signed authorization, transaction hash, submitted artifact, verifier response, database row, or proof card does not.

Fiat Onramps

The autonomous protocol does not depend on the maintainer's Stripe or PayPal account. A future convenience onramp may:

  1. accept fiat through an eligible payment provider,
  2. acquire native Base USDC under that provider's legal and custody model,
  3. fund the exact canonical bounty contract,
  4. wait for FundingAdded before showing the contribution as real.

Provider webhooks and compliance remain necessary for the fiat leg. Once USDC reaches the bounty contract, autonomous-v1 settlement is controlled only by the immutable verifier policy.

Fees

Autonomous-v1 has no platform fee. A later fee requires a new protocol version whose exact amount and recipient are visible and terms-hashed before funding.