Verification loop
Reviewers · Evidence · Numbers · Audit trail

How verification works.

A Degree of Proof is earned by reviewers, written on evidence, numbered on approval, and audited after issuance. This page walks the four pivots; each one has a written record, and each one is what a verifier can independently check.

The Proof process · Five steps

From claim to portable credential in five steps.

  1. 01

    Submit claim with evidence

    Photographs, video, work orders, expert affidavits — paired with a one-sentence capability statement.

  2. 02

    Independent steward review

    The live router selects the General or Specialist route; Stewards review the claim on the evidence submitted, not on who is asking.

  3. 03

    Approval decision

    The panel records its decision and reasoning in the audit log.

  4. 04

    Numbered Degree of Proof minted

    On approval, the credential is minted with a public identifier (sample format: PoT-00012 or PoO-00009) sequenced in the order it was issued. Issued Degrees will use this verification format.

  5. 05

    Portable, revocable credential

    The credential travels with the holder and can be contested or revoked if the proof no longer holds.

Submission fee · Pre-checkout disclosure

Submission fee for independent claim review.

The submission fee funds independent claim review; it does not purchase approval or a credential.

Submission fee for independent claim review.

  • Independent review — the live router selects the General or Specialist route based on available conflict-free expertise.
  • Steward compensation — paid per claim on a fixed cadence, regardless of the claim's verdict.
  • Evidence handling — files held under steward-panel custody, not surfaced on the public ledger.
  • Platform operations — intake reply within two business days, routing to the panel, and the operating costs of running the platform.
  • Permanent verification record — every state change captured with date and reason in the audit log.

Payment is for review, not for approval.

The submission fee funds independent claim review; it does not purchase approval or a credential.

$50 funds independent claim review; it does not purchase approval or a credential.

  1. 01 · Stewards

    Who reviews a claim, and how they get appointed.

    General Stewards independently review evidence. Specialists provide subject-matter expertise where the Specialist route applies. Independence and conflict-of-interest checks apply to every assignment; the live router sets the route and threshold.

    More on the steward path →
  2. 02 · Evidence

    What claimants are expected to attach.

    A submission pairs one skill statement — a single sentence naming the capability and what it does — with the artifacts that prove it. Photographs, video, work orders, expert affidavits, recorded test runs, or third-party test results are all acceptable forms. The artifacts go to the steward panel under review; only the audit hash, the claim id, and a stewardship-curated one-line summary are surfaced publicly.

    Read the submission standards →
  3. 03 · Number

    How a credential gets numbered and minted on approval.

    On approval, the panel returns a decision to the platform and the credential is minted with a public identifier — SAMPLE — NOT A REAL CREDENTIAL — in the format PoT-00012 for Trades and PoO-00009 for Oddities, sequenced in the order credentials were issued inside each track. Issued Degrees will use this verification format. The numbering is monotonic and irreversible: once minted, a credential cannot be re-numbered or moved between tracks. The credential is portable — it travels with the holder, not with the platform that issued it.

    See a sample at /verify/PoT-00012 →
  4. 04 · Audit

    How the audit trail functions after issuance.

    Every state change — submission intake, panel assignment, revisions, approval or decline, minting, contests, revocations — is recorded with the date and the steward-set reason, and the recording is signed at issuance. The audit log is consulted on every /verify request and pins the credential's standing in the registry. A credential must remain contestable, and every sustained contest must be able to record a revocation.

    Browse the public registry →
Open the registryTry the SAMPLE verification surface (PoT-00012 — not a real credential)Open the Trades intakeDeveloper API docs

Steward access

Finish becoming a Steward.

The normal rule is an issued Degree of Proof. An approved Genesis Founding Steward with the persisted Genesis Cohort exemption can become Ready after onboarding, the published standards and agreements, and conflict confirmation. The exemption persists for already-approved Genesis Stewards after enrollment closes; later applicants do not receive it. General Stewards independently review evidence; Specialists still require matching subject-matter qualification.

An approved Genesis Founding Steward with the persisted exemption does not need a Degree of Proof for the Degree gate, even after Genesis enrollment closes. Later applicants do not receive that exemption and follow the normal issued-Degree rule.

Read the Steward Path