A plain-English reference for the key terms, tokens, and contracts used throughout LearnVault. If you are new to blockchain or to this project, start here.
LearnVault's soulbound reputation token. LRN is minted to a learner's wallet each time they complete a verified course milestone. Because it is soulbound, it cannot be sold or transferred — your LRN balance is a tamper-proof measure of how much you have actually learned on the platform.
The governance token that grants voting power in the LearnVault DAO. Donors receive GOV proportional to their treasury contributions, and top learners earn GOV when they hit milestone thresholds. GOV is transferable and is used exclusively to vote on scholarship proposals and protocol changes.
A property that makes a token non-transferable — it is permanently tied to the wallet that received it. Soulbound tokens cannot be sold, traded, or moved to another address, which makes them trustworthy indicators of personal achievement or identity rather than purchased assets.
Stellar's standard interface for fungible tokens, roughly equivalent to Ethereum's ERC-20. Both LRN and GOV implement SEP-41, which means any Stellar wallet or tool that understands this standard can display and interact with them.
Stellar's smart contract platform. LearnVault's on-chain logic — milestone tracking, token minting, treasury management, and DAO voting — is implemented as Soroban smart contracts written in Rust and deployed on the Stellar network.
Stellar's testnet faucet. Friendbot funds a new testnet account with free test XLM so developers can experiment with transactions and contract calls without spending real money. If you are setting up a local development environment, Friendbot is the first thing you will use.
Stellar's REST API server for querying on-chain data. Through Horizon you can look up account balances, transaction history, and contract state. LearnVault's frontend uses Horizon to display learner progress and treasury balances in real time.
The contract that tracks learner progress within each skill track. When a learner completes a checkpoint and a validator confirms it, CourseMilestone triggers the LRN mint. It is the bridge between off-chain learning activity and on-chain reputation.
The contract that holds all community-donated USDC and manages DAO vote execution. Funds can only leave the treasury when a scholarship proposal passes the required quorum and approval threshold. Every deposit and withdrawal is recorded on-chain for full transparency.
The contract that holds approved scholarship funds and releases them in tranches as the scholar hits agreed milestones. If a scholar goes inactive for 30 days, any unspent funds automatically return to the treasury, protecting donor contributions.
A soulbound credential NFT minted to a scholar's wallet when they successfully complete a funded program. It serves as a permanent, on-chain proof of achievement that can be shared with employers, DAOs, and other ecosystem participants. Because it is soulbound, it cannot be faked or transferred.
The community-driven governance structure through which LearnVault is managed. Instead of a single authority deciding how funds are allocated, GOV token holders collectively vote on scholarship proposals, eligibility thresholds, and protocol upgrades.
In the current V1 phase, a trusted multi-sig group responsible for verifying that scholars have genuinely completed their milestones. The committee reviews submitted proof and signs off before the next tranche of funds is released. In V2 this role transitions to oracle-based verification.
The minimum level of vote participation required for a proposal to be considered valid. If not enough GOV holders cast votes during the 7-day voting window, the proposal does not pass regardless of the yes/no ratio. This prevents low-turnout decisions from committing treasury funds.
A portion of scholarship funds released upon the completion of one milestone. Rather than disbursing the full approved amount at once, MilestoneEscrow splits it into tranches so that scholars are funded incrementally and accountability is maintained at every step.