The Agora Solution — Six Pillars
Semaphore for anonymous voting, RLN for spam-resistant posts, UniRep for pseudonymous reputation, a planned token economy for incentives, Canton Network settlement for private fees and vote anchoring, and cross-platform accessibility.
A New Paradigm for Anonymous Participation
The six failure modes described in the Problem section share a common root cause: they are each treated in isolation. Agora rejects that framing. Our solution is a single integrated stack where Semaphore, RLN, UniRep, Canton Network settlement, and cross-platform accessibility all reinforce each other.
This is not a voting app bolted onto a blockchain. It is a production-grade anonymous social ecosystem — 48 backend modules, 22 extracted core packages, 6 custom circom circuits, and private settlement on the Canton Network — built and shipped over a compressed series of milestones (v1.0 through v9.0) between March 1 and March 22, 2026.
Each of the six pillars below corresponds to a specific failure mode from the Problem section, with specific code, contracts, and circuits backing the claim. Together they deliver what was previously thought impossible: anonymity + integrity + spam resistance + pseudonymous reputation + sustainable economics + cross-platform reach — all simultaneously, all cryptographically enforced.
Semaphore v4 — Anonymous Voting
Semaphore v4 lets users prove group membership and cast votes without revealing which leaf of the Merkle tree they occupy. Client-side proof generation keeps all secrets local; the server only ever sees anonymous commitments.
RLN — Spam-Resistant Anonymous Posts
Rate-Limiting Nullifier (RLN) solves the impossible tradeoff: it lets anonymous users post and comment while automatically rate-limiting them. Exceeding the quota reveals the user's secret, so spam becomes self-incriminating — without ever linking honest users to their content.
UniRep — Pseudonymous Reputation
UniRep provides epoch-based reputation that can be proved without revealing the user's identity. Users can boost/squash content, prove reputation ≥ threshold, and transition state across epochs — all without exposing who they are.
Planned Token Economy — Dynamic Incentives
A planned incentive economy, still in design, intended to self-balance across growth stages (10K → 10M+ users). Reward rates, poll costs, and registration bonuses would rescale automatically, with settlement health informing reward multipliers. Not yet deployed.
Canton Network Settlement
Agora runs its own live Canton Network mainnet validator. A DAML attribution ledger records token operations, vote receipts, and poll-created events, while Canton Coin settlement handles poll-activation fees and rewards privately through a shielded fee pool.
Cross-Platform Accessibility
Next.js 15 web (40+ routes) plus React Native 0.81.5 / Expo 54 mobile (18 feature modules). Identity management, ZK proof generation, and offline quota tracking all work seamlessly across web and mobile.
How It Works
Identity Generation
Users generate a Semaphore v4 identity. On mobile the identity is Poseidon2-derived and persisted in SecureStore. The secret never leaves the client — the server only sees the commitment.
Group Registration
The identity commitment is added to the target Merkle tree (poll, community, or global group). For reputation-gated actions, a UniRep epoch key is also registered.
Anonymous Action (Vote, Post, Comment, Boost)
The client generates a bundled ZK proof: Semaphore membership + RLN nullifier (for anti-spam) + optional UniRep reputation + action-specific statement. The bundle proves everything without revealing who.
Verification & Canton Anchoring
ZK proofs are verified and vote receipts anchored on Agora's live Canton mainnet validator through a DAML attribution ledger. Poll-activation fees and rewards settle privately in Canton Coin through a shielded fee pool.
Key Advantages Over Traditional Systems
✓ Cryptographic Security
Votes are protected by mathematical proofs, not trust in centralized authorities.
✓ True Anonymity
Zero-knowledge proofs ensure voter identity can never be linked to vote choice.
✓ Public Verifiability
Anyone can verify vote counts and integrity without compromising privacy.
✓ Decentralized Trust
No single point of failure. Trust is distributed across the Canton Network.
✓ Global Accessibility
Vote from anywhere, anytime, using web or mobile interfaces.
✓ Cost Efficiency
Reduced infrastructure costs compared to physical polling stations.