$TRUST Mechanics

The Sage Protocol economy centers around $TRUST, crypto’s first Earned Mint Token (EMT). Unlike traditional tokens with arbitrary or speculative issuance, $TRUST tokens are minted solely from verified onchain user contributions. This directly ties economic rewards to genuine social activity and real network growth.

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Earned Mint Token (EMT) Model

$TRUST tokens follow the EMT model closely—meaning they’re minted exclusively from user actions validated by Sage’s Proof of Social Contribution (PoSC). This ensures every token issued directly represents real, measurable social contributions.

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$TRUST Minting Phases & Pricing Mechanics

Token minting unfolds across two clearly defined phases, each governed by the protocol’s MintConfig:

1. Phase 1: Fixed Mint Pricing (Bootstrap Phase)
   At first, tokens are minted at a fixed price (for example, $0.000001 USD per $TRUST). This approach helps build early liquidity and encourages initial participation until certain liquidity targets are reached. The reward calculation for Phase 1 is:

   $TRUST reward = (Action’s Transaction Fee ÷ Fixed $TRUST Price) × Action Weight

2. Phase 2: Market-Driven Mint Pricing
   Once liquidity and market pricing stabilize, Sage shifts to dynamic, market-based minting. Token rewards then adjust in real-time based on the current market price of $TRUST, keeping token issuance aligned with community growth and market conditions. The reward calculation for Phase 2 is:

   $TRUST reward = (Action’s Transaction Fee ÷ Market $TRUST Price) × Action Weight

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Eligible Actions and Action Weights

Eligible actions, action weights, and their adjustments are transparently managed on-chain by the Reward module with historical configurations tracked by the Reward Registry module. User interactions and contributions are captured by the Analytics module providing data-driven insights for ongoing weight refinements.

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Supply Control & Treasury Management

Token supply is securely managed through clearly structured, onchain mechanisms:

• Protected Treasury: The ProtectedTreasury structure manages the treasury cap, securely regulating minting operations. Clear runtime checks enforce maximum allowed supply constraints, ensuring token issuance aligns precisely with configured economic parameters.
• Reward and Governance Witnesses: Minting and administrative adjustments require authorization via secure witness-based validation (RewardWitnessConfig, GovernanceWitnessConfig). This runtime validation prevents unauthorized minting or token supply manipulation.

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Economic Sustainability & Incentive Alignment

Sage’s economic architecture ensures long-term sustainability and aligned incentives:

• Cost-Anchored Rewards: Rewards correlate with verifiable onchain economic activity, directly reflecting transaction fees paid by users. This alignment ensures token rewards mirror actual user-generated economic value, incentivizing genuine network contributions.
• Incremental Incentives: Sage employs incremental reward structures that encourage sustained user engagement—such as commenting, sharing, and liking—clearly incentivizing continuous, meaningful participation across the community.
• Controlled Inflation and Adaptive Economics: Using the action-weighting model (RewardWeights and RewardWeightsRegistry), administrators dynamically manage reward parameters and token minting rates. This adaptive approach maintains economic balance and responsiveness to evolving ecosystem dynamics.

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Architectural Advantages

Sage’s economic framework provides substantial practical benefits:

• Transparency and Accountability: All minting events, reward claims, and treasury activities are transparently recorded and auditable onchain, ensuring clear accountability and verifiability.
• Adaptive and Sustainable Economics: Clearly defined minting phases and dynamic reward adjustments ensure the token economy adapts to market and community conditions without disruption.
• Robust Security and Controlled Minting: Witness-based validation ensures secure, authorized token minting operations, safeguarding token supply integrity and ecosystem trust.

Through these defined economic mechanisms, Sage Protocol establishes a sustainable and transparent economic environment uniquely designed to reward genuine social contributions and encourage ongoing, authentic user engagement.