Frequently Asked Questions

Qarv is a content-curation platform where users buy and sell shares on posts using ETH. Every post has timed curation rounds — when the timer expires, the side with more capital in its pool wins and earns from the losing side. Content creators earn royalties on every trade, and shareholders who lock their position earn a percentage of all trading activity on their side.

Connect your wallet and browse the feed. You can vote on any post by buying UP or DOWN shares. You can also publish your own content — either offchain at no cost, or directly onchain as an NFT. The first share on any side costs approximately $0.05.

You need ETH on Base to buy shares and participate in onchain curation rounds. However, posting and voting offchain is completely free and requires no gas. To earn from curation rounds, you will need a small amount of ETH.

Qarv runs on Base, an Ethereum Layer 2 network. Transaction fees on Base are very low — typically a fraction of a cent per trade.

Every post has sequential curation rounds. A round begins in a pending state with no timer. The 1 day timer starts once both the UP and DOWN sides have at least one voter. When the timer expires, the side with more ETH in its reserve pool wins. The losing side forfeits 50% of its pool to the winners and keeps the remaining 50%, distributed proportionally by position size.

The side with more ETH in its reserve at the end of the timer wins. If both sides have equal reserves, the DOWN side wins the tie. If only one side has voters when the timer expires, that side wins automatically.

Winners receive their capital back plus a share of the losing side's forfeited pool. Locked shareholders on the winning side are paid first (priority capital return), and the remaining funds are distributed to unlocked shareholders proportionally. A new round with fresh pools begins when the next vote is placed.

If any trade occurs within the last 5 minutes of a round, the timer automatically extends by 2 minutes. Selling is blocked during this window to prevent last-second outcome manipulation. Timer extensions are capped at 7 days from the round's start.

Yes. When a round enters the trading phase, all fee rates (holder fee, author fee, platform fee, referral fee) are snapshotted and frozen for the entire duration of that round. This ensures that no mid-round parameter changes can affect active traders.

Each side (UP and DOWN) has its own independent linear bonding curve. The first share costs approximately $0.05, and the price increases by 5% with each subsequent share purchased. When you sell, you sell back into the curve at the current price minus fees. Because each side has a separate curve, the UP price and DOWN price move independently.

When buying shares, you choose what percentage to lock (0–95%) per purchase. Unlocked shares can be sold at any time on the bonding curve. Locked shares cannot be sold, but they earn a 3.5% fee on every buy and every sell that occurs on your side during the round. Fees are distributed proportionally by the amount of ETH locked, not by share count.

Locked shares earn 3.5% of every buy and sell on your side as passive trading fees. At settlement, locked shareholders on the winning side also receive priority capital return (they are paid before unlocked holders) and a larger share of the curation prize from the losing pool. The tradeoff is that locked shares cannot be sold for the duration of the round.

No. You can only hold shares on one side per post per round. This prevents users from taking offsetting positions on both sides of the same round.

Every buy generates up to 5.5% in fees: 3.5% to locked holders on the same side, 1% to the content author, 0.5% to the platform, and 0.5% to the referrer (if one exists). Every sell generates 5% in fees: 3.5% exit tax to locked holders on the same side, 1% to the author, and 0.5% to the platform. If no locked holders exist on a side, the 3.5% holder fee is redirected to the author.

Creators earn a 1% royalty on every trade (buy or sell) of shares on their content, across all rounds. When an offchain post is minted as an onchain NFT, the author also receives 50% of the accumulated voter pool as a minting reward. Author fees are claimable at any time via a pull-based withdrawal.

Curators earn by locking their shares. Locked shareholders receive 3.5% of every buy and sell on their side during the round. If their side wins, they also receive their capital back plus a proportional share of the losing side's forfeited pool, distributed by locked shares held.

Traders earn by buying shares early at a lower price on the bonding curve and selling later at a higher price as demand increases. Since each side has its own independent pricing, trading opportunities exist on both the UP and DOWN sides of any post.

Referrers earn 0.5% of every buy made through their referral link. Referral fees are only charged on buys, not sells. Referral earnings are claimable at any time. Referral links are automatically applied when you share a post using the share button — no extra setup required.

Each UP win pushes a post higher in the rankings. Each DOWN win pushes it lower. Over time, posts that consistently win UP rounds rise to the top of the feed, while posts that receive DOWN wins fall. This creates a content quality signal backed by real economic stakes rather than likes or algorithmic engagement.

Yes. Replies are offchain by default and free to post. Like any other content, they can be minted as onchain NFTs, at which point they get their own curation rounds and share economy. Authors can disable replies on their posts.

Offchain posts are content published without any blockchain transaction — completely free, no gas required. Users can vote on offchain posts at no cost to signal quality. Once a post accumulates enough votes, any user can mint it as an onchain NFT to begin trading shares.

The author receives 50% of the accumulated voter pool as a minting reward. All offchain voters are automatically converted to locked shareholders in the first onchain round at the base price. All existing votes carry over via a Merkle proof, so no action is required from previous voters. Currently, all voters are eligible for earning shares. In the future, eligibility requirements will be stricter to prevent bot manipulation.

Any user can mint an offchain post. Minting is not restricted to the original author.

Currently, all offchain voters are eligible and receive shares when a post is minted. In the future, eligibility requirements will be stricter to prevent bot manipulation of offchain voting.

The verified badge indicates that a user has spent ETH on the platform — either by buying shares or minting a token. Currently, all offchain voters receive shares when a post is minted regardless of verification status. In the future, only verified users will be eligible to receive locked shares — this will prevent bots from creating free wallets to farm locked shares without any economic commitment.