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The conviction book

Status: Planned (programme)Status: Pending counsel

The conviction book is how a Humanathon raise starts forming during the season without anyone putting money on a person before the record exists. Backers signal with points that have no cash value and 0 weight in the score. Only sponsors stake real money, through stake-to-anchor, and that stake becomes anchor capital.

A programme, not software

Humanathon is a programme that Merces runs, with rules and events. It is not part of the Merces software, and entering never obliges anyone to raise. Programme rules marked as planned may change before the season opens.

Status: Status: Planned (programme)

The points book​

The points book is open to any verified participant.

  • Each verified backer gets a fixed allotment of non-transferable points, for example 1,000. Points have no cash value and cannot be traded or redeemed.
  • Points go into a per-entrant curve, so points placed early count for more than points placed late.
  • At Proof Day, each Fellow's curve gives a reference: how much conviction they drew, and at what implied price. It is shown on the raise page, and it is not binding. The issuer still sets their own terms.
  • A Fellow's top point-holders get an early allocation window in the real raise, if they pass backer eligibility. That rewards early, correct judgement.

The early window is a draft term. The protocol as built reserves no allocation for anyone, so this term is pending counsel: Status: Pending counsel. The raise for Fellows lists it with the other draft terms.

Stake-to-anchor​

Stake-to-anchor is for sponsors only, in a USD stablecoin.

  • A sponsor stakes behind a named entrant during the season.
  • If that entrant finishes in the top 15 and opens a raise, the stake converts into an anchor commitment in that raise, and the sponsor receives Human Equity Units (HEUs).
  • If not, the stake funds the Season 2 prize pool. Either way, it is money the sponsor already treated as sponsorship.

A sponsor that stakes behind an entrant cannot hold a jury seat for that track.

Zero weight in the score​

The conviction book carries 0 weight in the score. The market and the judging stay separate, and the audience cannot vote anyone in. Scoring and judging shows where every point comes from.

What it is for​

The book gives Merces real demand data before the first live raise, which curve pricing will need once HEU transfers open. In Season 1, the reference it produces is shown, not used: pricing is a draft term, pending counsel.

What is public​

Points and the conviction curve are a season signal shown on the raise page. They do not reveal income. The leaderboard shows scores and percentiles, never raw income.

What can go wrong​

  • Points are not money. They have no cash value, cannot be traded or redeemed, and buy nothing.
  • A sponsor's stake is sponsorship either way: it converts into an anchor commitment only if the entrant reaches the top 15 and opens a raise, and otherwise funds the next season's prize pool.
  • The early allocation window for top point-holders, the anchor conversion and the fixed-price reference are draft terms. The protocol as built does none of them today. No raise opens on them without a legal opinion.
  • There is no code for the conviction book in either Merces repository yet.