W4-010 · Condition 03 — Redeemable value

Contribution attribution

Contribution attribution is the property that every unit earned can be traced to a specific act by a specific participant — the precondition for rewarding contribution rather than mere activity.

Published 2026-08-22UnrevisedAlso: attributable contribution

Reward activity and you will get activity. Almost none of it will be contribution.

Every incentive system is gamed to exactly the precision of its measurement. Where earning is attached to activity — sessions, transactions, clicks, presence — participants supply activity, and the cheapest activity wins.

Attribution closes the gap by making the unit traceable to an act somebody actually valued. It requires identity, so that acts accrue to a party; a record, so the act can be examined afterwards; and a definition of contribution the operator is willing to defend in public.

The requirement becomes acute when agents participate, because an agent can supply activity at a rate no human can and will do so the moment activity is what pays. This is where condition 03 depends on 02 and 04, and it is the clearest case of the four conditions not being separable.

Related entries

Redemption pathA redemption path is the route by which a unit converts into real-world value, goods, services or experiences — the property that gives it a floor set by something other than the next buyer.Portable standingPortable standing is reputation, history and entitlement that travel with their holder between surfaces and remain verifiable by parties who do not trust the issuer.Audit trailAn audit trail is a system-written record of what was instructed, by whom, under what authority, and what resulted — sufficient for a party outside engineering to reconstruct any action after the fact.