🔍 TruthBounty API

Decentralized News Verification Infrastructure
An open-source public good for incentivizing truth across Ethereum and Stellar ecosystems

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🌍 Why TruthBounty?

Misinformation erodes trust, fuels conflict, and weakens democratic and social systems.
TruthBounty exists to turn fact-checking into a decentralized public good, powered by cryptoeconomic incentives rather than centralized authority.

This API provides the core infrastructure for:

• Community-driven news verification
• Reputation-based trust scoring
• Transparent, verifiable evidence storage
• On-chain rewards for honest participation

By aligning incentives with truth, TruthBounty enables communities to collectively defend information integrity.

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🌱 Ecosystem Alignment (Ethereum, Stellar & Public Goods)

TruthBounty is intentionally built within the Ethereum ecosystem and aligned with open-source public-good values:

• Ethereum – neutral, permissionless base layer
• Optimism – scalable, low-cost reward distribution
• IPFS – decentralized evidence storage
• Worldcoin ID – Sybil resistance for fair participation
• Drips Network – sustainable funding for maintainers and contributors

This API is designed to be forkable, composable, and reusable by:

• News platforms
• Civic-tech organizations
• Browser extensions
• DAO governance systems
• Research and media tooling

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🌟 Stellar Ecosystem Alignment (Planned & Compatible)

TruthBounty is designed as a chain-agnostic verification protocol, with first-class compatibility for ecosystems that prioritize low-cost transactions, public goods, and global accessibility — making Stellar a natural extension target.

Why Stellar?

• Ultra-low fees enable high-frequency verification without economic friction
• Global accessibility aligns with TruthBounty’s mission to fight misinformation worldwide
• Soroban smart contracts are well-suited for:
  • Reward distribution
  • Reputation state updates
  • Verifier staking logic
• Stellar’s public-good focus mirrors TruthBounty’s commitment to open infrastructure

Planned Stellar Integrations

• Optional reward settlement on Stellar for micro-incentives
• Cross-chain verification proofs (Ethereum ↔ Stellar)
• Soroban-based reputation and reward modules
• Support for Stellar-native wallets for verifier onboarding

TruthBounty treats blockchains as infrastructure, not lock-in, enabling communities to verify truth wherever participation is most accessible.

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🧩 High-Level Architecture

1. News reports are submitted via the API
2. Verifiers authenticate using Worldcoin ID
3. Users stake tokens to participate in verification
4. Evidence (links, screenshots, metadata) is stored on IPFS
5. Reputation scores are recalculated in real time
6. Smart contracts distribute rewards on Optimism
7. Verification results are exposed via public API endpoints

The API is intentionally modular to support multiple frontends and clients.

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🚀 Core Features

• 🛡️ Reputation-weighted verification using staked tokens
• 💰 ERC-20 reward distribution on Optimism
• 🔗 IPFS evidence storage with cryptographic proofs
• 🌐 Sybil-resistant authentication via Worldcoin ID
• 📊 Real-time reputation scoring engine
• 🤖 AI-assisted fake-news detection (optional / pluggable)

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✨ What Makes TruthBounty Different?

Aspect	Traditional Fact-Checking	TruthBounty
Control	Centralized	Community-driven
Incentives	None / Salaried	Tokenized rewards
Transparency	Opaque	On-chain + IPFS
Identity	Anonymous	Sybil-resistant
Trust Model	Editorial authority	Cryptoeconomic

TruthBounty treats truth as infrastructure, not opinion.

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⚙️ Tech Stack

Backend Core

Technology	Purpose
NestJS	API framework
PostgreSQL	Primary database
TypeORM	ORM
Redis	Caching & sessions

Web3 & Decentralized Infrastructure

Technology	Purpose
Ethereum / Optimism	Reward distribution
Ethers.js	Blockchain interaction
IPFS	Evidence storage
Worldcoin ID	Sybil resistance

DevOps & Tooling

Technology	Purpose
Docker	Containerization
GitHub Actions	CI/CD

Multi-Chain Support

Network	Role
Ethereum / Optimism	Primary reward settlement
Stellar (planned)	Low-cost verification & micro-rewards

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🛠️ Setup Guide

Prerequisites

• Node.js v18+
• PostgreSQL 14+
• Redis 6+
• Git
• Worldcoin Developer Account (for ID verification)

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Installation

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/DigiNodes/truthbounty-api.git
cd truthbounty-api

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Configure environment
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your credentials including:
# - Database configuration
# - Worldcoin App ID and Action ID

# Start in development mode
npm run start:dev

# Access API documentation at http://localhost:3000/api

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🌐 API Endpoints

Worldcoin Identity Verification

POST /identity/worldcoin/verify - Verify user with Worldcoin ID
GET /identity/worldcoin/status/:userId - Check verification status
GET /identity/worldcoin/verification/:nullifierHash - Lookup by nullifier hash

Blockchain Integration

GET /blockchain/events - Get indexed blockchain events
POST /blockchain/reconcile - Trigger state reconciliation

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🧪 Testing

# Run all tests
npm test

# Run Worldcoin-specific tests
npm test -- --testPathPattern=worldcoin

# Run with coverage
npm run test:cov

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👥 Contributing

We welcome contributors of all levels.

Ways to Contribute

• Backend features & optimizations
• Security reviews & audits
• Documentation & diagrams
• API integrations
• Test coverage

Contribution Workflow

• Fork the repository
• Create a feature branch
• Follow Conventional Commits
• Submit a PR with a clear description
• Participate in code review

See CONTRIBUTING.md for full guidelines.