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What a Bond Actually Is

A bond is not a fee. It’s not a subscription. It’s collateral - PRESS tokens you lock as economic backing for the weight and privilege your role carries on PressChain. Think of it like a professional license combined with a deposit. A doctor posts a bond with a licensing board. A contractor posts a performance bond. The money is returnable - but it’s on the line if professional standards are seriously violated. On PressChain, your bond backs:
  • The weight your votes carry in acceptance decisions
  • Your right to publish under the protocol
  • The accountability behind your journalism if challenged in Court
If you maintain good standing - which the vast majority of journalists do - your bond sits there, accruing stability bonuses, and is returned when you choose to leave a role.

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Real Scenario: Maya Gets Her Reporter Bond

Maya Chen is a new freelance journalist who’s been voting as a Citizen on PressChain for two months. Her reputation has grown to 1.3×. Now she wants to publish her first investigation. To submit Capsules, she needs the Reporter role - which requires bonding PRESS. She goes to portal.presschain.io → Roles → Purchase Role → Reporter. The Portal shows the current minimum bond (say, 50,000 PRESS). She has 52,000 PRESS in her PressKey wallet from testnet earnings and some she acquired through the swap. She clicks Bond as Reporter. PressKey opens showing:
  • Action: Deposit bond
  • Role: Reporter (ID: 2)
  • Amount: 50,000 PRESS
She approves. Two blocks later (~4 seconds), her Reporter role is active. She can now publish Capsules. Her editorial accountability is backed by 50,000 PRESS. Six months later, with consistent publishing and a clean record, her bond stability factor has grown to 1.07 - adding 7% to her effective vote weight at no extra cost.

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Bond by Role

RoleWhat It UnlocksBond Required
CitizenVoting (weight 1), reputation buildingNone
ContributorHigher vote weight (2×), fewer limitsLow
ReporterPublishing Capsules, vote weight (3×)Medium
Verified AuthorPremium distribution, max vote weight (4×)High
Media ValidatorIntegrity detection duties, 15% of fee revenueMedium-High
OutletFull outlet operation (25,000 fee + 250,000 bond)Large
Current minimum amounts are always live in the Portal and queryable from the BondManager contract. They can be adjusted by governance.

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The Bond Stability Bonus

The longer your bond stays active and healthy, the higher your voting weight multiplier - up to 1.15×:
Bond DurationStability FactorReporter Effective Weight
New bond (0–30 days)1.00×3.0
1–3 months1.03×3.09
3–6 months1.07×3.21
6–12 months1.11×3.33
12+ months1.15×3.45
Combined with reputation, an established Reporter with 18 months of bonding and a 1.8 reputation multiplier has effective weight: 3 × 1.8 × 1.15 = 6.21 - more than six times a brand-new Citizen’s vote. This is why long-term participants matter more in the acceptance process. The protocol rewards commitment.

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When Is Your Bond at Risk?

Your bond is safe as long as you participate in good faith. It’s only at risk in specific, protocol-defined situations - not from editorial disagreements or low acceptance rates:
If a Capsule you published is found fraudulent by the Court - deliberate deception, fabricated sources, intentional misrepresentation - your bond is automatically slashed. The percentage depends on the severity finding.This is the most serious risk. It requires an active court case, evidence review, and a jury verdict. It cannot happen from a complaint alone.
If you are named in a court case and fail to respond by the deadline, an automatic bond penalty is applied - even without a full case proceeding. This is why responding immediately to every summons matters.
If the governance-set minimum bond requirement increases, or if penalties push your bond below the current minimum, your role is automatically suspended until you top up.
Normal editorial disagreements, losing a court case as the defending party (found misleading but not fraudulent), or periods of low acceptance rates do not result in bond slashing. Penalties are reserved for serious misconduct findings.

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Topping Up Your Bond

If your bond drops below the minimum - from a penalty, or a minimum increase:
  1. Portal → Roles → Your Active Roles → Top Up Bond
  2. Enter the additional amount
  3. PressKey approves
  4. Role reactivates automatically once bond is back above minimum
There’s no waiting period after a top-up - it’s immediate.

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Dissolving Your Bond (Leaving a Role)

You can exit a role at any time. To dissolve your Reporter bond:
  1. Portal → Roles → Reporter → Dissolve Bond
  2. Review the dissolution fee (a percentage of your bonded amount - query current rate in Portal)
  3. Confirm - PressKey approves
  4. Your bond minus the fee is returned to your wallet
You cannot dissolve while you are a named party in an active court case. The system prevents it to ensure court cases can’t be evaded by bond dissolution. Example with a 2% dissolution fee: 
Bonded:           50,000 PRESS
Dissolution fee:   1,000 PRESS (2%)
Returned:         49,000 PRESS

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Bond Stability After a Top-Up

If your bond was slashed and you top it up, your bond stability clock doesn’t reset to zero - but it does reflect the reduced health. You’ll need time at the restored bond level to rebuild toward the maximum 1.15× factor.

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Checking Your Bond State

Open PressKey → Your active roles, bond amounts, and health status are shown directly. Or in Portal → Your Profile → Roles & Bonds:
StateMeaning
HealthyBond above minimum, no penalties
At RiskWithin 10% of minimum - consider topping up
InsufficientBelow minimum - role suspended
SlashedCourt penalty applied - see court case for details