The August Finals are settled by the WaveWarZ-Base prediction-market protocol. Each finalist build becomes a battle entry. Wallets trade on which build wins. The smart contract settles placement on-chain at T+72h. Respect-holders get pre-funded baseline positions so the community has real market weight.
The original plan was a one-person-one-vote Respect ballot. Clean but abstract - a click is a low-commitment signal. A wallet putting money on a build is a different commitment entirely, and the market price aggregates a lot more information than a poll.
Switching to WaveWarZ-Base gives the Finals four things at once: a real economic signal for "would I actually use this build", mass participation (anyone with a Base wallet can trade, not just Respect-holders), built-in revenue for builders (1% trade cut flows forever), and a real launch event for the WaveWarZ-Base agentic build Sam is shipping with Arthur (Neynar).
Full architectural decision in Doc 720. Cross-linked from Doc 701 Part 12.
Voter set snapshotted: ZAO members with 1000+ Respect points (threshold may shift as the event unfolds). Finalist entries minted on WaveWarZ-Base - one battle per build, metadata = URL + repo + demo + handle. Voter weight in the settlement formula confirmed alongside the Sam + Arthur contract work.
Sealed prompt fires to every finalist. The WaveWarZ-Base battle entries open for trading. Anyone with a Base wallet can buy in. Market trades on the build signal so far (early demos, public commits, stream quality). Respect-holder voice in the settlement TBD - mechanism confirmed before Finals.
Mentor embedded, finalists building in public, market trading on the unfolding builds. Streamers stream, watchers watch, traders position. The market is live the whole time.
The four submission requirements lock. Autonomous judge agents start running - they read each finalist's artifacts and emit scores via x402 micropayments. Their scores feed the market as a public signal.
ZAO accounts amplify each finalist on Farcaster, X, Telegram, the newsletter. Market trades on the combined signal of the builds + the judge-agent scores + the amplification reception.
No new builds, no new shipping. Just trading. Final 24h is where the market settles. Position prices reflect the market's best estimate of placement.
WaveWarZ-Base reads final volume + win rates. Distributes prize per protocol economics: 1% of total volume to each builder (artist cut, ongoing), losing-pool partial split feeds winning-pool, top 8 finalists share the $500 USDC pool (allocation per-finalist confirmed before Finals), top 16 get $ZABAL token rewards, Hats Protocol Finisher NFTs minted to every finalist, Champion NFTs to top 3. All on-chain in one settlement transaction. Live reveal stream announces the readout.
Respect is The ZAO's governance signal. Soulbound, illiquid, non-transferable - you cannot sell it or trade it. It is what you earn by participating in the ecosystem.
During ZABAL Gamez: up to 1000 Respect points are earnable per active participant. Current ZAO holders determine who counts as active (workshop attendance, July submissions, August Finals participation, ecosystem contribution beyond just showing up). Respect maps to governance weight, not cash.
Voter eligibility: 1000+ Respect points = eligible to vote in Finals settlement. This threshold may shift as the event unfolds. The 1000+ cohort also serves as the meta-governance body - they can vote (66%+ majority) to change the governance system itself.
How Respect plays into the Finals: Respect-holders have a voice in settlement. The specific weight mechanism (how Respect interacts with the WaveWarZ-Base market) is being designed by Sam + Arthur with the smart contracts and will be locked before the August Finals.
The $500 USDC v0 (Season 1) prize pool is donated by the ZAO festivals team. Looking for more sponsors to grow the v1 prize pool or add support to v0. Reach: info@thezao.com
Sam + Arthur lock the WaveWarZ-Base testnet contracts to a security-reviewed state. Arthur records a June workshop session on the smart contracts. The snapshot + airdrop mechanism for Respect-holder pre-funding gets spec'd with Iman + the ORDAO team.
WaveWarZ-Base on Base mainnet (post-audit). Smoke-test battle runs - one of the 8 adoptable projects becomes a fake finalist for end-to-end testing. Project #09 (Wire WaveWarZ-Base into the Finals surface) gets adopted by a July builder.
5-8 finalists, 30-80 Respect-holder pre-funded voters, market open for 72h, settlement on-chain at T+72h. The Finals becomes the V1 launch event for WaveWarZ-Base.
If WaveWarZ-Base is not mainnet-ready by August, the Finals revert to the original framing: Respect-earning members vote 1-person-1-vote (Snapshot or onchain), WaveWarZ on Solana runs as a parallel viewer-signal a la Doc 646's Clanker mechanic. Same prize tier, same collectibles, same recognition - just a different judging instrument.