Category 3: Protocol
This is the foundation of our freedom. This category is not for the faint of heart.
It is a purely technical challenge for the network architects, the protocol designers,
and the "deep tech" purists who believe in a truly decentralized web.
Your mission is to design the "nervous system" of the mypaloma swarm. You are building the very fabric of communication that will connect millions of Sprites across the globe. This is the invisible, unstoppable infrastructure that makes the entire ecosystem possible. The apps and simulation are the body, but you are building the pathways that allow it to think and act.
This category is the philosophical heart of the entire challenge, and the scoring is designed to be ruthless in its defense of that philosophy. We have allocated a massive 50 points—half of the entire score—to a single, non-negotiable principle: a Fully Decentralized Architecture. Your solution must have absolutely zero single points of failure. This isn't just a "feature"; it is the entire point. Your work is the technical guarantee that mypaloma™ can never be controlled, censored, or shut down by any single entity.
The remaining 50 points are what make this philosophy a reality. Your protocol must be blazingly fast and efficient, secure against threats, and robust enough to handle the chaos of real-world network instability. Furthermore, this is not a proprietary "black box." You will be judged on your solution's "Open-Source Adoptability," which means your documentation must be so clear and comprehensive that it becomes a gift to the world—a new standard that other developers can easily adopt, enhance, and integrate.
And in a challenge designed to prove that even the most complex engineering is a human endeavor, we have reserved 10 points for the "Human Story." This forces a critical collaboration. You must partner with a storytelling team from Category 1 to translate your brilliant, complex work into a narrative that can inspire the global community.
The US$1,000,000 profit-share prize will go to the team that proves they are not just building a protocol, but are architecting freedom itself.
Judging Criteria (100 Points)
Fully Decentralized Architecture
Does the protocol operate with zero single points of failure, enabling PALOMA to be a completely decentralised solution?
50 Points
Latency & Performance
How fast and efficient is the protocol under simulated network conditions?
10 Points
Human Story
Best human story experience, presented by the team’s official marketing team.
10 Points
Security, Reliability and Robustness
How well does the protocol handle network instability and message delivery failures? How robust are the encryption and authentication mechanisms against potential threats?
10 Points
Open-Source Adoptability and Integration
Is the documentation clear, comprehensive, and easy for other developers to adopt, enhance, and integrate?
10 Points
Code Completeness & Quality
Is the code well-documented, efficient, and includes all the functionality identified in the design specifications?
