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CONTRIBUTOR_TREASURY_PROTOCOL.md

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Contributor Treasury Protocol v1

A credible, auditable contributor treasury protocol for the Meridian Constitutional Kernel.

This is not a token launch or DeFi protocol. It is a governance and payout layer for an open-source project, built on the same five primitives that govern the kernel itself.

Purpose

Meridian is open-source (Apache-2.0). Contributors who improve the kernel deserve a credible path to compensation. This protocol defines:

  1. How funds enter the treasury
  2. How wallets are verified
  3. How contributions are tracked
  4. How payouts are proposed, reviewed, and executed
  5. How fraud is detected and disputed

Current Status

Item Status
Treasury balance $0.00
Owner capital received $2.00 USDC (recorded, not yet in ledger)
External revenue $0.00
Contributors paid 0
Payout proposals 0
GitHub Sponsors Not yet configured
Safe multisig Planned, not deployed
SIWE verification Planned, not implemented

This protocol is live infrastructure with zero throughput. It defines the rules for when money arrives.

Five-Primitive Mapping

The treasury protocol maps onto the kernel's five primitives:

Primitive Role in Treasury Protocol
Institution Project context -- charter defines the project's purpose and treasury governance authority
Agent Future automation -- agents that process payout proposals or verify contributions
Authority Payout approval -- who can propose, review, and approve payouts. Maps to approval queue and delegation system
Treasury Inflow/outflow -- balance tracking, reserve enforcement, budget gates, account separation
Court Fraud/disputes -- false contribution claims, self-dealing, dispute resolution

Fund Flow

Inflow Sources                    Treasury Accounts              Outflows

GitHub Sponsors ──┐               ┌──────────────────┐
Owner Capital ────┼──────────────>│ Company Treasury  │
Direct Crypto ────┤               │ (main pool)       │
Customer Payment ─┤               │ reserve: $50 min  │
Grant ────────────┤               └────────┬─────────┘
Reimbursement ────┘                        │
                              owner approval required
                                           │
                          ┌────────────────┼────────────────┐
                          v                v                v
                   ┌─────────────┐  ┌─────────────┐  ┌─────────────┐
                   │ Maintainer  │  │ Contributor  │  │   Other     │
                   │ Support     │  │ Payout Pool  │  │  (future)   │
                   └──────┬──────┘  └──────┬──────┘  └─────────────┘
                          │                │
                   payout proposal    payout proposal
                   + dispute window   + dispute window
                          │                │
                          v                v
                   Level 3+ wallet    Level 3+ wallet

All inflows enter the company treasury first. Sub-account funding requires owner approval. Payouts require a proposal, review, approval, and a 72-hour dispute window.

Funding Hierarchy

  1. GitHub Sponsors (PRIMARY) -- transparent, recurring, community-visible
  2. Direct crypto (SECONDARY) -- stablecoin transfers for sponsors who prefer on-chain
  3. Customer payments -- revenue from products/services built on Meridian
  4. Grants -- foundation or organizational grants
  5. Owner capital -- founder deposits to bootstrap operations

GitHub Sponsors is primary because it provides transparency, recurring support, and community trust signals. Crypto is supplementary.

Registry Files

All protocol state is stored in machine-readable JSON files under treasury/:

File Contents
wallets.json Wallet registry with 5 verification levels
treasury_accounts.json Treasury sub-accounts (company, maintainer, contributor)
maintainers.json Maintainer registry with roles
contributors.json Contributor registry (currently empty)
payout_proposals.json Payout proposal state machine
funding_sources.json Classified inflow records

Related Policy Documents

Anti-Fraud Summary

Seven requirements for any payout:

  1. Contribution proof -- PR links, commit hashes, or issue references
  2. Wallet classification -- recipient must have Level 3+ (self-custody verified) wallet
  3. Reviewer identity -- a named reviewer who is not the contributor
  4. Approval record -- owner or delegated authority approval
  5. Dispute path -- 72-hour window between approval and execution
  6. Audit trail -- all state changes logged to audit_log.jsonl
  7. Court integration -- fraud maps to existing violation types (false_confidence, critical_failure)

See Fraud and Dispute Policy for details.