logo

Introduction

Encointer is a blockchain protocol that provides proof of personhood and local community currencies. It runs as a common good parachain on Kusama.

At its core, Encointer leverages the fact that every person can only be in one place at one time. Participants attend regular physical ceremony meetups with small groups of random people. Because all meetups happen simultaneously around the world, no one can attend two. This yields a unique proof of personhood (uPoP) for each participant — without relying on government IDs, biometrics, or centralized authorities.

What Encointer provides

  • Proof of personhood — Sybil-resistant identity that can be used for democratic voting, faucet drips, and anonymous credential proofs via reputation rings.
  • Local community currencies — Each community issues its own currency as a universal basic income, subject to demurrage. Communities govern their own parameters through on-chain democracy.
  • Community treasuries — Communities can hold and spend funds democratically, including issuing swap options to compensate service providers.
  • Offline payments — Zero-knowledge proofs enable community currency transfers without an internet connection.
  • Privacy-preserving reputation — Ring-VRF signatures let participants prove they are unique humans without revealing which specific person they are.

Learn more