ERC-8353 Reference Implementation

Archived. This implementation is now maintained in jamesavechives/erc-8353, alongside the ERC draft and the discussion materials. The code here is the same, frozen at archive time; issues and changes belong in that repository.

Reference implementation of ERC-8353: Staked Weighted Verification Gate — a minimal interface for claims that become trusted only through weighted third-party verification, with optional stake and revocation.

• Draft: ethereum/ERCs#1918
• Discussion: Ethereum Magicians

The primitive

A claim carries no trusted status when made. It becomes trusted only when third parties verify it — never through self-endorsement — and the force of a verification is weighted by the verifier's own verified depth, not counted. Trusted status gates consumption (verify before settle) and is revocable with an audit trail.

              offer()               verify()              settle()
  (none) ─────────────▶ Offered ─────────────▶ Verified ─────────────▶ Settled
                           │                      │                    (terminal)
                           │ revoke()             │ revoke()
                           ▼                      ▼
                                  Revoked  (terminal)

Layout

Path	What
src/IVerificationGate.sol	The interface as specified: four transitions, two views, four events
src/VerificationGate.sol	Minimal abstract base implementing every normative requirement
examples/MarketGate.sol	Adapter sketch: staked marketplace shape — mandatory stake, arbiter revocation burns it, verifier depth recursive over the gate's own settled claims
examples/IdentityGate.sol	Adapter sketch: credential-registry shape — zero stake, depth read from an external oracle, issuer-revocable
test/VerificationGate.t.sol	15 tests covering both shapes and every red line

VerificationGate fixes the lifecycle and the invariants; policy is exposed as virtual hooks — weightOf, _requiredStake, _promotionThreshold, _canSettle / _canRevoke, _onSettled. The two adapters differ only in those hooks, which is the point: one interface, two very different systems.

What the base contract guarantees

1. No self-verification — a verify from the claim's subject or offerer reverts; a verifier counts at most once per claim.
2. Weight, not count — promotion is a function of weightOf(verifier). A swarm of fresh addresses accumulates zero weight (see test_zero_weight_verifiers_never_promote).
3. Verify before settle — settle reverts unless the claim is Verified.
4. Settled is terminal — not revocable, by anyone, ever.
5. Revocation leaves a trace — the record stays queryable; slashed stake is burned and never credited to whoever triggered the revocation.

Build and test

forge install foundry-rs/forge-std
forge test -vv

Foundry, solc 0.8.20. All 15 tests pass.

Status

The ERC is a Draft under editor review; this implementation tracks it and may change with the specification. Not audited — it is a reference for implementers, not production code.

License

CC0-1.0. See LICENSE.