dPulse — Decentralized, Incentivized Polls & Surveys

dPulse is a Web3-native toolkit that lets any project, DAO, or app create polls and multi-question surveys, target the right respondents, and automatically reward participation on-chain. It solves three persistent problems in community research: (1) low-quality, sybil-driven responses, (2) painful/manual reward distribution, and (3) poor interoperability with the rest of a project’s on-chain stack.

What it is

A modular, EVM-compatible protocol and dApp that:

• Creates “Projects” (containers) that hold both single-question polls and multi-question surveys.
• Gates participation with pluggable identity/reputation signals (e.g., token/NFT/POAP ownership, allowlists, EAS/Gitcoin-style attestations, off-chain credential proofs).
• Incentivizes responses with native ETH or any ERC-20, using built-in escrow + payout flows.
• Automates reward swaps (optional): respondents can accumulate small rewards and withdraw once a minimum threshold (e.g., $10) is reached, receiving the token of their choice via an aggregator/bridge (e.g., SideShift/DEX route), reducing dust payouts and gas waste.
• Prevents fraud & double voting with flexible modes: open voting, allowlisted voting, one-wallet/one-vote, and an anonymous mode (commit-reveal now; ZK/Semaphore-style proofs on the roadmap).
• Streams results in real time and exposes clean APIs/ABIs for dashboards, bots, and integrations.

Why it matters

• Higher-quality insights: You choose who can respond and how often, aligning incentives with proof of personhood, skin-in-the-game, or community tenure.
• Operational simplicity: No more spreadsheets or manual airdrops—rewards and settlement are on autopilot.
• Composable by default: Everything is on-chain or hash-anchored, so downstream tools (analytics, governance, CRM, Telegram bots) can subscribe and act.

How it works (flow)

1. Creator sets up a Project → defines poll/survey, target audience, reward pool (ETH/ERC-20), eligibility rules, response window, and min-withdrawal threshold (optional).
2. Respondent connects a wallet → passes eligibility checks (tokens, attestations, allowlist).
3. Respondent submits answers → on-chain event and/or off-chain payload (IPFS/Arweave) with on-chain hash; gas-optimized pathways are available.
4. Protocol validates entry → enforces uniqueness (per poll rules) and credits escrowed reward balance to the respondent.
5. Withdrawal → when balance ≥ threshold, respondent withdraws in their preferred asset via auto-swap; otherwise, direct token withdrawal is always available.
6. Results → creator reads live tallies, filtered cohorts, and exports.

Key features

• Projects, Polls & Surveys: one space to manage all research.
• Flexible question types: single/multiple choice, Likert scale, free-text (hashed), numeric.
• Targeting & gating: ERC-20 balances, NFT/POAP holds, allowlists, attestations.
• Incentives engine: per-response fixed reward, tiered rewards, or capped pools.
• Escrow + Auto-Swap (optional): batch small earnings; withdraw as selected token.
• Anti-sybil modes: per-wallet cap, per-identity cap, commit-reveal, anon mode roadmap.
• Developer-friendly: ABI, REST/Graph endpoints, webhooks, and event indexes.
• Auditable & exportable: all critical state verifiable on-chain; results export.

Technical architecture (MVP)

• Smart contracts (Solidity, EVM):

  • ProjectsRegistry (UUPS-upgradeable): create/manage Projects.
  • PollsAndSurveys (modular): store metadata refs (IPFS/Arweave), rules, and state.
  • RewardsEscrow (ERC-20 & ETH): credit balances; enforce min-withdraw; payout.
  • Access/Gating module: pluggable checks (token/NFT, allowlist, attestations).
  • Event log for indexing and analytics.

• Data model:

  • On-chain: poll/survey config, rules, merkle roots/hashes, tallies, reward ledger.
  • Off-chain (content): question text, long answers, attachments → IPFS/Arweave, anchoring content hash on chain.

• Indexing & APIs: a lightweight indexer + API/Graph layer for fast queries and dashboards.

• Wallet UX: EOA support; ERC-4337 account abstraction (roadmap) for gas-sponsored flows.

What’s novel

• Reward Auto-Swap + Threshold Withdrawals: designed for micro-rewards without dust.
• Research-grade gating: mix on-chain signals and attestations to target the right cohorts.
• Both polls and multi-question surveys under one on-chain roof, grouped by Projects.

Example use cases

• DAO governance temperature checks with token-weighted or one-member-one-vote.
• Protocol UX research: survey users who actually used a feature/NFT.
• Partner marketing: pay qualified respondents in the asset they prefer.
• Hackathons & grants: fast community feedback with verifiable participation.

Current status (hackathon scope)

• Core contract design (upgradeable, modular) and schema.
• MVP flows for create → respond → reward → withdraw.
• Minimal indexer and dashboard for live results.
• Optional auto-swap integration path and min-withdraw mechanics.

Roadmap

• v0 (Hackathon): core contracts, Projects, polls/surveys, rewards escrow, basic gating, dashboard.
• v1: auto-swap withdrawals, richer question types, analytics API, role-based team access.
• v2: anonymous ZK voting mode, ERC-4337 gas sponsorship, advanced cohort targeting, integrations (Discord/Telegram bots, governance frameworks).

How it’s made — dPulse (Hackathon Version)

Core Goal: Build a minimal but functional decentralized polls & surveys dApp where:

• Creators can set up a poll/survey with a reward pool.
• Respondents can answer and automatically earn small token rewards.
• Results are visible on-chain and in a simple dashboard.

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Tech Stack

• Smart Contracts (Solidity, Hardhat)

  • PollsContract: create polls/surveys, store metadata (IPFS link), and record responses.
  • RewardsEscrow: hold reward tokens (ETH or ERC-20) and distribute per valid response.
  • Simple access control (poll creator vs responder).

• Storage

  • Poll & survey text/questions → stored on IPFS.
  • Only hash + link stored on-chain to keep gas low.

• Frontend

  • Next.js + React for the web app.

  • wagmi + RainbowKit for wallet connections.

  • Basic flows:

    • Create Poll/Survey
    • Respond to Poll
    • View Results

• Indexing

  • Minimal Node.js listener that reads contract events and pushes to frontend (optional; can also read directly from contract).

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Features Built

1. Create Poll/Survey — set title, questions, and reward pool (ETH/ERC-20).
2. Respond — connect wallet, submit answer, and get credited a reward.
3. Reward Distribution — every valid response earns a small token reward directly.
4. Results Dashboard — tallies displayed live from contract events.

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Hacky/Notable Bits

• Kept it lean: only store what’s essential on-chain (hashes, tallies, rewards) and offload content to IPFS.
• Escrow payout logic: simple balance ledger that transfers tokens immediately (no thresholding, no auto-swap for now).
• Gas-friendly design: answers encoded compactly (multiple choice → numbers, free-text → hash).

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✅ This stripped-down version is MVP-ready for ETHGlobal:

• Shows on-chain polls & surveys.
• Demonstrates automatic incentives.
• Keeps contracts small, auditable, and deployable fast.