Core Principles

SMART Framework (Mandatory)

Every milestone must be:

• Specific: Clearly defined deliverable, no ambiguity

• Measurable: Quantifiable metrics with objective verification

• Achievable: Realistic within proposed timeline and resources

• Relevant: Directly advances project toward stated goals

• Time-bound: Explicit deadline (format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM UTC)

Verifiability First

Milestones must be verifiable through:

• Public on-chain data (preferred)

• Open-source repositories (GitHub, GitLab with commit history)

• Third-party platforms (block explorers, DeFi aggregators, app stores)

• Cryptographically signed attestations (for off-chain activities)

❌ NOT ACCEPTABLE: Private databases, unverifiable claims, subjective assessments

Anti-Gaming Design

Milestones must be structured to prevent:

• Easy sandbagging (setting trivially easy goals)

• Evidence manipulation (wash trading, fake metrics)

• Circular dependencies (metric depends on milestone passing)

• Ambiguous completion states (technically true, practically false)

Proportional Complexity

Milestone difficulty should be proportional to funding allocated:

• 10-15% of funds: Basic deliverables (documentation, testnet launch)

• 15-25% of funds: Medium complexity (mainnet, initial features)

• 25-35% of funds: High complexity (full feature set, major integrations)