Whitepaper

Abstract

Detalk is an open, fully onchain communication protocol built on Base. Every wallet address naturally identifies a public channel, and every message body is recorded onchain as part of its transaction. Any compatible client can independently read the chain and reconstruct the same conversation, while optional indexers provide practical speed.

Problem

Wallet communities are fragmented across accounts, invite links, closed databases, and interfaces that can disappear. Existing wallet-to-wallet messaging solves private communication, but it does not create a permanent public discussion surface around an address, project treasury, creator, contract, or community identity.

Design principles

1. Address-native: an address is enough to discover a channel.
2. Onchain-canonical: onchain records, not the hosted database, define protocol state.
3. Rebuildable: ordering, IDs, references, edits, permissions, and payments have deterministic rules.
4. Open reading: public conversation does not require membership.
5. Explicit writes: direct writes are wallet transactions; sponsored writes preserve user authorship through verified signatures.
6. Honest limits: public onchain chat is not private, free, anonymous, or erasable.

Product model

An address owner can claim the channel, publish rules, choose whether joining is free or paid, and configure posting access for everyone, members, or current asset holders. Joining and posting remain separate concepts. Owners may delegate policy and moderation roles, but roles do not silently bypass posting gates.

Replies are independent messages rather than mutable nested database rows. Edits append history. Moderation changes the canonical presentation policy without pretending the original onchain record vanished.

Protocol and infrastructure

Versioned registries expose contract bundles, schema hashes, and start blocks. Clients derive stable IDs using fixed ABI encoding and reconstruct state by canonical log position. Indexers, APIs, WebSockets, previews, notifications, and search are replaceable acceleration layers. They improve usability but do not own message truth.

Economics

Ordinary posting has no protocol message fee; the writer pays network Gas unless a sponsorship policy applies. Channels may charge a one-time permanent membership fee. The intended split is 90% Owner and 10% Treasury without a referral, or 90% Owner, 5% inviter, and 5% Treasury with a permanent referral binding.

Optional sponsorship of Detalk is distinct from buying permissions. Points, if enabled, are an experimental accounting signal for verifiable ETH spending and do not guarantee tokens, financial return, or eligibility.

Names and identity

Detalk Names is an ENS-compatible namespace under detalk.eth. It may provide channel aliases, transferable name NFTs, address resolution, profile records, expiry, grace periods, and declining premiums. Ownership, resolution, and verified primary-name display are separate states.

Governance and security

Channel governance belongs to the address Owner and delegated roles. Protocol administration, treasury custody, deployment, and upgrades require explicit separation. Mainnet actions require human approval and public deployment records. Smart-contract review, invariant tests, target-network rehearsals, monitoring, and incident procedures are required before production.

Roadmap

The next public milestone is a restricted Base Sepolia deployment with verified contracts, documented addresses, load measurements, and manual acceptance. Production Relay sponsorship and Detalk Names remain outside the first public surface until their operational and contract boundaries are proven.