VitaDAO’s mission to fund and advance early-stage longevity science depends on the trust between researchers , token holders and the wider scientific community . Being one of the leading DeSci collectives, VitaDAO has an opportunity to pioneer new standards for fairness and accountability.
As the community expands , more scientists , reviewers and collaborators are engaging with the DAO. While the growth is exciting , it also introduces the challenges in identity verification , governance integrity and dispute management.
In traditional academia , institutions , peer review boards and legal contracts provide these protections. But in Decentralized Science (DeSci) , where interactions happen pseudonymously and on-chain , we need new and better tools to guarantee fairness , trust and accountability.
The Challenges
Some of the risks and problems we want to prevent proactively include:
- Fake or duplicate researcher identities
- An individual creating multiple profiles to apply for multiple grants , siphoning funds from genuine researchers.
- Unverified or exaggerated credentials
- A researcher falsely claiming a PhD or institutional affiliation to secure funding.
- Governance manipulation
- A single actor controlling multiple wallets and influencing revie processes or grant decisions.
- Intellectual property (IP) Disputes
- Two or multiple groups claiming ownership of the same dataset , paper , or experiment funded by VitaDAO.
These issues are not unique to VitaDAO , but they could undermine trust in the DAO’s funding model if left unchecked , could risk treasury misuse , reputational harm , and reduced trust from world-class researchers.
Proposal
I propose strengthening VitaDAO’s governance through two enhancements:
- Sybil-Resistant Researcher Verification
- A transparent registry of scientists , researchers applying for funding.
- Each applicant links to a decentralized identity layer that guarantees that thery are real , unique human being , preventing duplicates and false claims.
- Neutral Arbitration for Disputes
- A decentralized court system resolves disputes fairly and without bias.
- VitaDAO already recognizes decentralized arbitration , this upgrade ensures faster , cheaper , and more scalable dispute resolution.
How This Works ?
1. Proof of Humanity (PoH): Sybil-Resistant Identity Layer
Proof of Humanity is a sybil-resistant global registry of verified humans. Each entry requires video submission, social validation, and wallet connection, ensuring applicants are real individuals.
For VitaDAO, this means:
- Every scientist in the funding process can be verified as unique.
- Fake or duplicate profiles (e.g., one person applying multiple times) are blocked.
- Scientists link their PoH profile to academic records (like ORCID), anchoring their digital identity to real-world research activity.
- External partners (labs, service providers) may also integrate, ensuring transparency across collaborations.
This creates a open identity layer for VitaDAO’s ecosystem that is transparent, and difficult to manipulate.We can use this to create registry of not only researchers but reviewers, and key contributors as well.
2. Kleros Court: Fast and Fair Arbitration
- VitaDAO already recognizes Kleros as its dispute resolution layer (per the June 2021 governance decision).
- If disputes arise , credential challenges, IP ownership disagreements, or misconduct , they can be resolved through Kleros jurors.
- Update: Kleros Court is now also on Arbitrum, offering faster and cheaper arbitration compared to Ethereum mainnet. This reduces barriers for the VitaDAO community while keeping legal enforceability intact.
This allows VitaDAO to handle disagreements over milestones, IP rights, or researcher conduct without costly traditional legal proceedings.
3. Kleros Curate: Decentralized Researcher Registry
Kleros Curate can serve as a community-moderated registry of verified scientists and projects. Members may challenge fraudulent entries, which are then resolved by arbitration. This ensures:
- Transparency in who is part of the ecosystem.
- A way to contest false claims or suspicious actors.
- An evolving record of trusted contributors.
4. Problems This Helps Prevent
The combined use of PoH + Kleros would help VitaDAO prevent:
- Fraudulent Scientists: Stopping applicants with fake degrees or fabricated backgrounds.
- Sybil Attacks: Preventing the same actor from submitting multiple proposals.
- Milestone Disputes: Giving VitaDAO a clear, neutral venue when there’s disagreement over whether deliverables are achieved.
- Intellectual Property Theft: Arbitrating claims over datasets, patents, or shared lab resources.
- Conflicts of Interest: Providing a way to challenge undisclosed reviewer-applicant relationships.
How This Works in Practice
- A researcher applies for funding.
- They verify their identity via Proof of Humanity.
- Their credentials and affiliation are listed in VitaDAO’s Kleros-curated registry.
- If there’s a dispute (e.g., questionable data or fake claims), the case can be escalated to Kleros Court on Arbitrum.
This creates a transparent, sybil-resistant system for managing researcher identity, credentials, and potential disputes.
Benefits to VitaDAO
- Builds trust and credibility with researchers and external partners.
- Protects the DAO treasury from being misallocated to fraudulent actors.
- Enhances fairness and transparency in the grant process.
- Strengthens governance by making participation sybil-resistant.
- Provides a scalable framework for resolving disputes without relying on centralized courts.
Pilot Proposal
As an initial step, we suggest:
- Pilot Phase → Apply sybil-resistant verification to a subset of new grant applicants.
- Review → Gather community feedback and measure impact (fraud prevention, trust increase).
- Expansion → Extend the system to reviewers, committee members, and service providers.
- Arbitration Integration → Use Kleros Court on Arbitrum for disputes arising in pilot cases.
Next Steps for Community Discussion
- Has anyone come across a protocol that could serve as a stronger sybil-resistant identity layer than Proof of Humanity for researcher and contributor verification?
- What methods or processes are currently being used within VitaDAO for resolving disputes? How effective have they been in terms of fairness, cost, and speed?
- Beyond Kleros, are there any other arbitration or curation protocols that members believe could better serve VitaDAO’s needs? How do they compare in practice?
This discussion will help us collectively evaluate whether integrating systems like Proof of Humanity and Kleros offers clear advantages, or if alternative tools may be more appropriate for VitaDAO’s unique governance and funding model.
References:
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Kleros – Decentralized arbitration protocol
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Proof of Humanity – Sybil-resistant identity layer
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Kleros Curate
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VitaDAO Governance (June 2021): Adoption of Kleros Court for dispute resolution