MindYield
The No-Loss Yield Protocol
A decentralized platform where participants lock deposits, generate yield through DeFi protocols, and compete in on-chain contests — with zero risk to principal.
Abstract
MindYield introduces a no-loss yield protocol that eliminates the fundamental conflict between participation risk and engagement incentives. Users deposit stablecoins into on-chain contests, their pooled capital generates yield through battle-tested DeFi lending protocols (Aave V3, Compound), and only the generated yield is distributed as prizes. Every participant receives their full principal back, regardless of contest outcome. Built on Base with commit-reveal cryptography, Chainlink VRF randomness, and a multi-tier identity system, MindYield enables a new category of provably fair, zero-risk competitive experiences — from prediction markets and governance votes to creative competitions. As a byproduct, every contest produces high-value human intelligence data: verified, independent decisions from incentive-aligned participants — a new primitive for AI training, RLHF, and collective intelligence research.
The Problem
Current platforms force users to choose between financial risk and meaningful participation.
$47B+ locked in DeFi protocols
Yet no platform lets users compete, vote, and earn yield simultaneously — without risking their deposit.
Our Solution
MindYield eliminates risk while maximizing engagement through yield-powered products.
| Feature | Traditional Platforms | MindYield |
|---|---|---|
| Principal at risk | ✕ | ✓ |
| Manipulation-resistant voting | ✕ | ✓ |
| On-chain transparency | ✕ | ✓ |
| Yield generation while locked | ✕ | ✓ |
| Sybil resistance | ✕ | ✓ |
| Multi-chain wallet support | ✕ | ✓ |
| AI/bot API access | ✕ | ✓ |
| Verifiable randomness (VRF) | ✕ | ✓ |
The Four Products
Structured human-judgment events: Vote, Rank, Rate, Pairwise — plus mirror-only Predict. Commit-reveal voting; configurable prize models including VRF-randomised draws with deterministic 24h fallback.
Explore contests →Two-pool weekly + monthly draws. TWAB-weighted odds (your odds reflect time × balance). Streak bonuses up to 1.5×. Chainlink VRF settlement. Withdraw any time.
Lottery dashboard →Set-and-forget. ERC-4626 vault auto-routing across Aave V3 / Compound V3 / Morpho. On-chain YieldOptimizer with 24h-timelocked switches. First-depositor inflation defense + flash-loan guard.
Open vault →AMM-style YES/NO mirroring Polymarket — variable deposits, free swaps, live on-chain implied probability. TWAB-weighted yield. Tier 0 anonymous. Atomic multi-variant launches up to 20 per tx.
See markets →How It Works
Six steps from contest creation to payout — all on-chain, all verifiable.
Yield Distribution Model
Example Scenario
After 7 days, all 5,000 participants receive their $100 back. The ~$479.45 generated yield is distributed to winners based on the configured prize model.
Architecture
A full-stack protocol built for performance, security, and composability.
Core Smart Contracts
Registry Contracts
Contest Types
Five distinct contest formats with eight winner determination methods.
Prize Distribution Models
Probability Vault
An AMM-style no-loss prediction market mirroring Polymarket — continuous participation, live on-chain implied probability, zero risk to principal.
A continuous no-loss prediction market built on top of Polymarket. Any wallet can deposit any amount of USDC on YES or NO and swap freely between sides until 24h before Polymarket settles. The pool’s YES/NO stake ratio is the live implied probability, readable by any contract. At settlement, the winning side splits yield weighted by stake × time (TWAB). Principal is always returned. No identity tier required — you’re betting yield, not casting a vote.
Lifecycle — Three Phases
- deposit(amount, side) — any amount ≥ 1 wei, Tier 2+ enforced
- swap(amount, newSide) — 0.2% fee on swapped amount
- withdrawEarly() — pull principal, forfeits accrued TWAB
- TWAB accumulates continuously per stake-mutating action
- Deposits, swaps, early withdrawals all closed
- Funds continue earning yield in the vault
- Polymarket settles externally during this window
- updateState() is permissionless — anyone advances
- resolveContest() reads the PolymarketRelayResolver
- Cancel if: imbalance <5%, ambiguous resolver, or 7d timeout
- On win: yield − 2% fee split by winning-side TWAB
- claim() returns principal to all + yield to winning side
Yield Math & TWAB
Example: 30-day vault, $10,000 total, 70/30 YES/NO split, 5% APY. Gross yield: $41.10. After 2% fee: $40.28 distributable.
At equilibrium, both sides’ EV equals the Aave baseline minus the 2% protocol fee. Alpha comes from being correct ahead of the market or arbitraging a temporary mispricing.
Why Pool Ratio = Implied Probability
When 70% of the pool is on YES and Polymarket is actually 70% likely, the EV for each side is identical: yield / totalTWAB. Any divergence between the pool ratio and true probability creates arbitrage incentives that push the pool toward the correct value. The pool ratio is therefore a live price-discovery mechanism that naturally tracks Polymarket’s price.
Because we mirror Polymarket rather than settle questions ourselves, rational arbitrageurs maintain the peg for free — no active management needed.
Fee Model
| Fee | Default | Cap | When Applied |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protocol fee on yield | 2% (200 bps) | 100% | At finalize, deducted before TWAB split |
| Swap fee | 0.2% (20 bps) | 10% (1,000 bps) | On every swap(); swept at finalize or cancel |
| Mirror resolver fee | 0 USDC | Unbounded | At vault creation, optional per-contest-owner charge |
Security & Sybil Analysis
Comparison to Mirror Tournament
| Property | Mirror Tournament | Probability Vault |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit sizing | Equal, fixed per-contest | Variable, any amount |
| Join timing | One deposit window | Rolling until freeze (24h before settlement) |
| Change side | No (commit-reveal locks position) | Free swap, 0.2% fee |
| Price discovery | Implicit, hidden until reveal | Live on-chain pool ratio |
| Early exit | No (except full cancel) | Yes (forfeits yield) |
| Best for | Formal curated tournaments | Open prediction markets |
Yield Strategies
Battle-tested DeFi protocols power the yield engine behind every contest.
- ✓ Highest liquidity on Base
- ✓ Variable rate supply for USDC
- ✓ Battle-tested with $10B+ TVL
- ✓ Instant withdrawals
- ✓ Diversification from Aave
- ✓ Competitive rates on stablecoins
- ✓ Proven security track record
- ✓ Governance token rewards
The YieldVault contract implements ERC-4626 with virtual share offsets (OpenZeppelin 5.x pattern) to prevent first-depositor inflation attacks. Flash-loan protection enforces a minimum one-block delay between deposit and withdrawal.
Three-Layer Automation
Every periodic on-chain action is covered by three independent layers — no single point of failure can lock a user out of their principal.
Backend Keeper Cadences
| Keeper | Cadence | Calls |
|---|---|---|
| yo-keeper | 7 days | YieldOptimizer.performUpkeep (with 2% APY-diff guard) |
| lotteryKeeper | 60 s | NoLossLotteryV3.performUpkeep if Chainlink silent |
| yieldMarketKeeper | 60 s | ProbabilityVaultV2.resolveContest after resolveStart |
| harvest | 24 h | PVAutoYieldAdapter.harvestAndReinvest + AutoYieldVault.accrueFees |
| polymarketRelayer | 5 min | PolymarketRelayResolver.propose / .challenge (isolated wallet) |
| aiModerationJob | 30 s | Moderates entries (approve/reject) for AI_JUDGED contests via Einstein over x402 — off until env vars are set |
rawFulfillRandomWords validates msg.sender == vrfCoordinator; the coordinator and subscription ID are immutable. MANUAL_FULFILL_DELAY is a 24-hour constant, not a setter — and after the timeout, anyone can call forceDeterministicFallback() to settle the contest without VRF.Security
Multiple layers of cryptographic and economic security protect every contest.
On-Chain Contest State Machine
Each state transition is enforced on-chain. Contests can only be cancelled by the owner before deposits close.
setFeeRecipient removed across factories & lottery (recipients now constructor-immutable). VRF coordinator + sub-id immutable. setBondOverride capped at 10× MIN_BOND. addStrategy capped at MAX_STRATEGIES = 5 with bootstrap + cooldown windows.Governance & Multisig
48-hour timelock + Gnosis Safe Guardian. Pauses can stop deposits and harvests but never block withdraw.
withdraw.cancelTimelockProposal() on a malicious queue from a hot proposer EOA — without becoming a daily-driver multisig. "Option D" alternative to Safe-as-proposer.Pausable — only per-instance destructive emergencyCancel() is available. Tracked as audit B.1 / B.2 fast-follow. Until then, the PolymarketRelayResolver and PVAutoYieldAdapter pauses (both wired to the Guardian) cover the resolve / harvest mutation paths for yield markets.Regulatory Positioning
Why the no-loss bound puts MindYield structurally outside binary-option / swap regimes.
A prediction market in the regulatory sense (CFTC swap / binary option definition; UK FCA spread-bet definition; MiCA event-contract regimes) requires real money on each side and the possibility of losing it. Polymarket's $1.4M CFTC settlement in 2022 was specifically about offering binary options to US persons.
MindYield's yield prediction markets, mirror tournaments, lottery, contests, and auto-yield vaults all share the no-loss property: principal is returned in full, in every state of the world, by the contract itself. There is no "lose"; there is only "earn yield" or "earn no yield". The redistribution under contest is generated yield from a DeFi protocol — value that did not exist when the user deposited.
The closest US precedent is Kent v. PoolTogether (S.D.N.Y. 2022, dismissed): PoolTogether's no-loss prize savings was held not to constitute a regulated lottery on similar reasoning.
- ✓ Signed acknowledgment at every sign-in (cryptographic proof of agreement, durable on-wallet)
- ✓ Tier 0 anonymous deposit on yield markets (no vote → no sybil to gate)
- ✓ No US/UK geo-block until a regulator asks or material US user activity appears
- ✓ No KYC at deposit until aggregate flow per user crosses a regulatory floor
- ✓ No governance token on the roadmap (US securities risk)
- → Offshore incorporation: commission binding legal opinion (~€5–10k)
- → $10k TVL: add /legal page with placeholder ToS + footer link
- → $100k TVL: pull country distribution; add geo-block if material US/UK %
- → $1M TVL: full ToS draft from counsel; MiCA opinion if material EU exposure
- → Regulator inquiry / media coverage: pull forward the next two unfired triggers
docs/COMPLIANCE_TRIGGERS.md.Identity & Reputation
A progressive identity system that rewards verified humans without compromising privacy.
| Tier | Name | Points | Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Anon | 0 | Wallet-only access, baseline rate limits, no yield bonus or fee discount |
| 1 | Verified | 5+ | +10% winning multiplier, +1% yield bonus, 5% fee discount — any single verification (Telegram, Twitter, phone, …) clears this |
| 2 | Trusted | 15+ | +25% winning multiplier, +2% yield bonus, 10% fee discount; unlocks affiliate code generation. Reachable by combining any two platforms or a single strong identity (phone, Worldcoin device) |
| 3 | Established | 75+ | +50% winning multiplier, +3% yield bonus, 15% fee discount; higher deposit limits, priority support |
| 4 | Elite | 120+ | +75% winning multiplier, +5% yield bonus, 20% fee discount; access to gated contests and governance |
| 5 | Legendary | 200+ | +100% winning multiplier, +7% yield bonus, 25% fee discount; effectively unlimited rate limits, creator perks, DAO voting |
How points are earned
Points are recomputed every time a verification is added or removed. The full table lives in services/api/src/services/verification/points.ts; the headline values:
- Worldcoin Orb40
- Gitcoin Passport (≥40)35
- Worldcoin Device15
- ENS (5+ years)20
- ENS owned10
- Twitter (verified + aged + 10K)up to 70
- Farcaster (+ 1K followers)up to 25
- GitHub (active, 2y+)up to 35
- Discord (+ Nitro)up to 20
- Lens / Telegram15 / 5
- KYC50
- Phone15
- Email5
- 1y+ active wallet10
- 50+ contests · 90% reveal15 · 10
PATCH /api/admin/affiliate/config without a redeploy.Reputation Score Composition
On-chain reputation (0–1000) is computed from participation quality, not just volume — rewarding reliable, honest actors over grinders.
Human Intelligence Data
Every contest produces high-value structured data from real human decisions — a new primitive for AI and research.
Traditional data collection pays participants directly, creating incentive to game responses. MindYield inverts this: participants are economically motivated by yield rewards to express their genuine preferences, rankings, ratings, and predictions. The commit-reveal mechanism ensures responses are independent and uninfluenced by other participants. The result is a continuous stream of high-fidelity human decision data, cryptographically verified and anchored on-chain.
Data Value Chain
Use Cases for Human Intelligence Data
Fee Model
One number to remember: 2% of generated yield, principal never touched.
Per-Product Fee Caps (enforced on-chain)
| Product | Fee type | Default | Hard cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contests | Yield fee | 2% (200 bps) | 5% (500 bps) |
| No-Loss Lottery | Yield fee | 2% (200 bps) | 5% (500 bps) |
| Yield Markets | Yield fee | 2% (200 bps) | 5% (500 bps) |
| Auto-Yield Vault | Performance | 2% (200 bps) | 10% (1000 bps) |
| Auto-Yield Vault | Management | 0% (off) | 2%/yr (200 bps) |
Where the 2% goes
Affiliate Program — End-to-End
- Affiliate pool share30% of fee
- Referrer share of pool80%
- Referred-user share of pool20%
- Min activating deposit$100 USDC
- Lockup window14 days
- Min payout$5 USDC
- Claim mechanismOn-chain merkle
- ⚠Tier 2+ to generate codes. Tier 0 wallets cannot mint referral codes — blocks the cheapest sybil amplification.
- ⚠Self-referral detection. Same wallet, IP, or device fingerprint → flagged.
- ⚠Cluster detection. >20 referrals/30 days from one source → flagged for review.
- ⚠Wash-deposit detection. Indexer only marks a referral active on a deposit that settles past the 14-day lockup.
- ⚠14-day clawback. Flagged accruals are voided before the next merkle root posts.
PATCH /api/admin/affiliate/config without a redeploy. Weekly merkle roots are posted to AffiliateDistributor on-chain; users self-claim with a merkle proof — no admin per-user action required.Roadmap
From testnet to mainnet and beyond.
- Core smart contracts (ContestV2, YieldVault, factories)
- Commit-reveal voting with 5 contest types
- REST API + blockchain event indexer
- Next.js frontend with multi-wallet support
- 1,230+ contract tests, 800+ backend/frontend tests
- Base mainnet redeploy (2026-04-28) with the four-product platform
- NoLossLotteryV3 (weekly + monthly pools), AutoYieldVault, ProbabilityVaultV2
- Chainlink VRF V2.5 + 3 Chainlink Automation upkeeps live
- Pre-mainnet audits patched (C-01, H-01, H-02 on Probability Vault)
- Service-account API + agent endpoints for AI-driven contests
- Identity & reputation system, in-process fraud engine + Polymarket relayer
- Pausable on ContestV2 / ProbabilityVaultV2 / ContestFactoryV2 (audit B.1/B.2 fast-follow)
- On-chain attestor wiring for IdentityRegistry
- Mobile app polish (iOS/Android via Capacitor)
- Offshore incorporation + binding legal opinion (per COMPLIANCE_TRIGGERS.md)
- Einstein AI moderation activation (currently scaffolded, off)
- Cross-chain expansion (Optimism, Arbitrum, Ethereum L1)
- Additional yield strategies (Pendle, Morpho mainnet)
- Institutional API tier + SDK for third-party integrations
- Decentralized operation handover; Guardian rotation policy
Team & Links
Built by a team passionate about fair, transparent, and zero-risk competitive experiences.
© 2026 MindYield. All rights reserved. Built on Base.
This whitepaper is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.