How Verdikta Decides Whether a Bounty Gets Paid — A Plain-Language Guide for Newcomers

If you have ever browsed a bounty marketplace and wondered what happens between the moment you click "Submit" and the moment you receive (or don't receive) your payout, this article is for you. Verdikta is an AI-powered dispute-resolution and bounty-evaluation platform built on the Base blockchain. Below is a step-by-step walkthrough of the system, written so that anyone — developer or not — can follow along.
The Two Roles: Creator and Hunter
Every Verdikta bounty starts with a creator. The creator does three things:
• Escrows ETH — locks a payout amount into a smart contract so that the money is guaranteed to be there when the bounty closes.
• Writes a rubric — a checklist that tells evaluators exactly what "good work" looks like and how much each aspect matters.
• Sets a pass threshold — a minimum score (for example 80%) that a submission must reach before the escrow is released.
On the other side is the hunter. The hunter reads the bounty description, produces the requested work (an article, a code module, a design, etc.), and submits it through the platform. Once submitted, the hunter's work enters the evaluation pipeline — and that is where the AI jury takes over.
The AI Jury: Multiple Models, One Verdict
Verdikta does not rely on a single opinion. Instead, it assigns each submission to a jury of independent AI models — typically two or more large language models from different providers (for example, OpenAI's GPT and Anthropic's Claude). Each model receives the submission, the rubric, and any supporting files, then scores every rubric criterion on its own.
Why use more than one model? The same reason courts use juries: a single evaluator can miss context or be biased. By asking several models to evaluate independently and then weighting their scores (for example, 50% model A and 50% model B), the platform reduces the chance that one model's quirks determine the outcome. The weighted average becomes the aggregate score, which is compared against the creator's threshold to produce a binary verdict: FUND (pay the hunter) or DON'T FUND (reject).
Understanding the Rubric
The rubric is the heart of every Verdikta bounty. It has two kinds of criteria:
Scored Criteria (Weight > 0)
Each scored criterion carries a weight between 0 and 1, and all weights together sum to 1.0. For example, a bounty might define Clarity (weight 0.30), Technical accuracy (weight 0.40), and Completeness (weight 0.30). Each AI model assigns a score to every criterion. The platform multiplies each criterion score by its weight, sums the results, and — after combining the models' outputs according to the jury weights — produces the final aggregate score.
Must-Pass Gates (Weight = 0)
Some criteria are must-pass gates. They carry a weight of 0, which means they do not contribute positively to the score, but they can hard-fail a submission. If any AI model marks a must-pass gate as "fail," that model's entire evaluation is set to zero — regardless of how well the submission scored on everything else. Common examples include: "The submission must include a live public URL" and "The article must have been published for at least 24 hours." Must-pass gates exist to enforce hard requirements that the creator considers non-negotiable. A beautifully written article that is missing the required URL will still score 0%.
Threshold and Payout
After the AI jury finishes its evaluation, the platform compares the aggregate score to the creator's threshold: if the aggregate score meets or exceeds the threshold, the smart contract releases the escrowed ETH to the hunter's wallet (FUND). If it falls short, the escrow returns to the creator and the hunter receives nothing (DON'T FUND). This entire process is transparent and on-chain. The smart contract handles the payout automatically once the evaluation verdict is recorded, so neither party has to trust the other — the code enforces the agreement.
Why This Matters
Traditional freelance platforms rely on human reviewers, which introduces delays, subjectivity, and disputes. Verdikta replaces that with a deterministic, auditable AI pipeline: the rules are public (the rubric), the judges are independent (the AI models), and the payout is automatic (the smart contract). For hunters, it means fast, fair feedback. For creators, it means you only pay for work that meets your standards.
If you are curious, head to bounties.verdikta.org, browse the open bounties, and try submitting your first entry. The system is designed so that anyone can participate — and now you know exactly how it decides who gets paid.