Is it true that this paper replicates?Is it true that an AI found a genuinely new proof?Is it true that the Collatz conjecture is true?Is it true that this benchmark result holds up?Is it true that LK-99 is a superconductor?Is it true that P ≠ NP?
Fountain is a market for open questions in science, maths and technology.
Stake points on what you believe, make your case with evidence, and earn the most when you're right before everyone else.
Fountain is in early development. The ideas behind it are discussed in the open on X.
Bounties for
knowledge.
Some questions are worth paying to answer: open problems, disputed results, papers nobody has replicated.
On Fountain, anyone can put points behind a claim they want resolved. Those points are the bounty.
Whoever moves the market to the right answer collects it, and the more surprising the answer, the bigger the reward. Confirming what everyone expected earns little. Overturning it earns the most.
A public record,
with skin in the game.
Once you've staked on a claim, you only win if others come to agree with you. So you publish your best evidence and reasoning, where everyone can check it.
Every claim builds a public record of the arguments, who made them, and what they had at stake.
The people who move the market towards the right answer earn the points.
How it works.
- Someone publishes a claim with its possible outcomes, and funds it with points. That funding is the bounty.TrueFalse
- Anyone can stake points on an outcome. Prices show the current consensus. Backing an unpopular outcome is cheap, and pays the most if it turns out to be right.
- Stakes stay locked until the claim settles, so the way to win is to convince others. Post your evidence and reasoning on the claim.
- Each claim has a settlement clock. It runs while one outcome is priced above 90%, and drains while it isn't. When it reaches 7 days, the claim settles.
- Each winning share pays one point. Whatever is left of the bounty goes back to the people who funded it.
- The result stays public, along with the evidence and how it was contested, so you can make up your own mind.
What we believe.
Markets that pay people for generating knowledge will become real economic infrastructure, for science, maths and AI.
Fountain doesn't accept real money. It runs on points, which can't be bought, sold, transferred or redeemed. We're building it with an open mechanism, exact accounting, and a public record of every trade.
- Freedom of speech.
- Respect for open and civil debate.
- A commitment to seeking objective truth, through evidence.
- Honesty about uncertainty: a settled claim is a consensus, not a verdict.
Frequently Asked
Questions
Who decides what is true?
No one does, including us. A claim settles when the people with something at stake have held a strong consensus for long enough. That's a useful signal, not a guarantee.
That's why the evidence and reasoning stay public, and each result shows how contested it was. Read them and make up your own mind.
How does a claim settle?
Each claim has a settlement clock. The clock runs while one outcome is priced above 90%, and drains while it isn't. When it reaches 7 days, the claim settles on that outcome. If a different outcome rises above 90%, its clock starts from zero.
A dip that's quickly corrected only costs a little time, so stalling a claim means paying, again and again, to hold the price down.
Can a claim stay open forever?
Yes. If no outcome stays above 90% long enough to settle, the claim stays open and its bounty keeps waiting. An open problem might stay open for years, until someone shows up with the evidence to change people's minds.
What do I get for being right?
Points, and a reputation. Your profit depends on how far you moved the consensus and how unexpected the answer was. Backing a long shot that turns out to be right earns far more than agreeing with an obvious favourite.
Your profile records the claims you got right, the evidence you contributed, and the bounties you funded.
Why points instead of money?
We believe markets that pay people for generating knowledge will become real economic infrastructure, for science, maths and AI. Today, most countries' law, Australia's included, treats staking money on a claim as gambling. We think that's the wrong category, but we follow the law as it stands, so Fountain runs on points.
Points have no monetary value, can't be bought, sold or transferred, and there is no plan to convert them into money or tokens. What they measure is real: every point is accounted exactly, every trade is public, and your score records how often you moved the consensus towards what turned out to be right, before everyone else did.
Is there a Fountain token?
No. There is no Fountain token.
How is this different from a poll?
A poll counts heads. Nobody pays for being wrong, and strong conviction counts the same as a shrug. The majority can also simply be wrong.
On Fountain, backing an outcome costs points you can lose, so people are careful about what they back, and they have a reason to persuade others with real evidence instead of noise.
How is this different from a prediction market?
Prediction markets typically bet on events with a known date and an official source, like an election result. Fountain is a self-resolving prediction market, built for questions with no trusted authority to rule on them: open problems, disputed findings, and contested claims. Here, a consensus that holds over time is what settles the claim.
That means Fountain can't guarantee every resolution is correct. It's designed as infrastructure for collaborative sensemaking, not as an oracle.
What kinds of claims can be published?
We're focused on science, maths and technology, where evidence can be checked. A claim should be decidable based on evidence. For now, we moderate to prevent abuse: spam, explicit content and claims about private individuals are removed.
What about statements that are true but misleading?
Fountain rates claims on the facts, not on intent. Intent is often impossible to prove, so claims should be written as statements that evidence can confirm or refute.
Avoid staking on claims you believe are poorly defined. When creating a claim, word it clearly and objectively to encourage the most participation.