Fairground

A social network with no company in the middle. Advertisers and fans pay creators directly, every deal is a signed public record anyone can check, and readers control their own feed algorithm. The social network uses distributed storage and a static app. Optional card/bank integrations require an approved payment gateway with a fixed IP; the near-$0 hosting plan explores free-tier and contributor-run gateways, with a small-server deployment available as a paid fallback.

Status: early release. The protocol core, the web app and the Android and iOS projects are built and tested. Try it at evolvetech.dev/play/fairground. Payments are real USDC; use small amounts while it matures.

Easy first

Most decentralized networks lose people at the start, because new users have to understand keys, relays and wallets before they see anything good. Fairground is designed for the least technical reader and has to be enjoyable within seconds:

• No setup. Opening the app creates an account silently. Readers never see keys, relays or wallets; a wallet comes up only when someone gets paid. A username and password, for using the account on other devices, are offered later.
• A good feed immediately. The default is an AI "For you" feed drawn from the whole network, so a newcomer with no follows still sees the best posts. One optional tap on a few topics points it in the right direction.
• It learns from normal use. Likes, posts read for a few seconds and "less like this" tune the reader's profile on their device. There are no settings to learn, though every setting is there for those who want it.
• One kind of account. Anyone can post, earn, advertise, run a survey or run a relay, and creators keep the same feed as everyone else.

How it works

Its own network, built on Nostr's plumbing. A post is an event signed by its author's key and stored on independent relays that anyone can run, the way Nostr works. But Fairground is its own network: the app shows only Fairground accounts (every account joins by publishing its post-quantum key binding on first start), never the wider Nostr network, so its spam and abuse never arrive and the first creators here aren't drowned out. The app is a static site, and the same code ships as the iOS and Android apps (Capacitor). Creators own their identity and audience: there's no account to be banned from and no cut.

Readers own their algorithm. Ranking runs on the reader's device from a recipe they control:

• which signals count and how much (newness, people they trust, engagement, topics, AI similarity);
• whether sponsored posts show, sink or disappear;
• how varied the feed is;
• which words to mute.

Recipes are plain data, so they can be shared, forked and safely run from anyone, and every post shows why it's there. The default ranks with a small embedding model that runs in the browser (Transformers.js, about 23 MB, downloaded once); readers can switch to their own Ollama model or turn AI off. Nothing about their reading leaves the device.

Sponsorships are four signed events: an advertiser's offer, the creator's acceptance, the creator's post (disclosed with #ad) and the advertiser's payment receipt. The acceptance pins and embeds the exact offer, so terms can't change afterwards. Anyone can advertise, including a creator cross-promoting with another creator. Creators publish media kits (rate, topics, audience survey) so advertisers can find them, and advertisers' payment records (delivered, paid, overdue, days to pay) are public, so creators can see who pays before accepting.

A wallet built in, and dollars in and out of a bank. Every account has a wallet: an Algorand account whose key is derived from the account's own key, so the backup code and the username-and-password vault restore it, and payments are signed on the device in one tap. Nobody else, Fairground included, can move the money, and Fairground funds no one's wallet. Card purchases and bank withdrawals use a server-created Meld checkout with explicitly configured suppliers and native Algorand currency IDs. Card purchases always buy ALGO, which any wallet can receive; the first one also pays for setup (USDC opt-in and a reserve), and the wallet converts the rest to USDC through Folks Router after checking every transaction the router asks it to sign. Paying or donating needs no balance: the payer buys just enough ALGO, by card or from an exchange, and their wallet turns it into the exact USDC payment and closes in the same step, so nothing is left behind and only people who keep a balance, get paid or cash out set a wallet up. Cash-outs are configured separately, so buying can open first; their instructions are fetched from Meld using the saved checkout session and checked against the wallet, owner and exact amount again before signing. Providers handle KYC and payment details. Live routes still require Meld credentials and supplier eligibility; see Meld integration. External wallets and exchange transfers remain available independently of card/bank checkout. Wallet, Add money and payment screens include copyable addresses, QR codes and exchange instructions; see Use crypto you already own.

Payment goes straight to the recipient's wallet, in USDC on Algorand, from the built-in wallet or through an ARC-26 link that opens the payer's own wallet. The project never holds or splits funds. Each transfer's memo names what it's for (a deal, fan support, a donation), so the app finds it on the public chain and anyone can verify every flow.

This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗