5 ♣ · Coordination · Draft
Soulbound Token
A reputation score or role held in a wallet that cannot be sold, sent, or bought.
How it works
The DAO defines what counts as standing: completed work, votes cast, time served. When a member earns it, the DAO mints tokens to that member's wallet. The transfer function is disabled, so the tokens stay where they were minted. Voting power or access can then be read from the balance. Because nobody can buy the tokens, the balance reflects what the member did, not what they paid. The DAO can add or burn tokens as behavior changes.
Use it when
- You want voting power to track contribution rather than wealth.
- Stop members from selling their vote or their seat to outsiders.
- Keep a record of standing that survives token price swings.
Watch out for
- A hacked or lost wallet takes the reputation with it, and there is no resale to soften the loss.
- Whoever controls minting controls standing, so the issuer becomes a power center.
Example
Colony. Colony, live since 2021, tracks each member's reputation as a non-transferable score earned by paid work and decaying over time so power follows recent contribution.