FAQ & How-Tos

Last Updated: November 13, 2026

Everything you need to start, fund, and verify real civic action on Polytab — in plain language.

How to: Project Wallet (EVM 0x Address)

Short answer: The Project Wallet is an EVM-compatible 0x address that your project controls. It’s where contributions go once your organization verifies and contributions unlock. Unverified pages cannot accept contributions at all; there is no shared escrow, and Polytab never holds funds. You never share a private key or seed phrase with Polytab.

What is an EVM 0x address?

An EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) address is a 42-character hexadecimal address starting with 0x, for example 0xd8dA6BF26964aF9D7eEd9e03E53415D37aA96045. It works on Base (chain ID 8453) and Polygon, which are the networks Polytab uses. Think of it as the project’s public account number — anyone can send funds to it or see what’s in it, but only whoever holds the private key can move funds out.

Why does Polytab ask for it?

Micro-votes ($0.25–$1.00) are both a signed ballot and a direct payment designated for the project you choose.
User-created bounty pages accept contributions directly into the creator’s own wallet; charity pages accept contributions only after the named organization verifies.
Charity bounty pages stay support-locked until the named organization verifies (registry record + domain control). Polytab holds no funds; verification unlocks the page and routes contributions directly to the organization’s wallet (Claim Your Bounty Page).

Step-by-step: create a Project Wallet

Pick an EVM wallet. The easiest option is a free browser/mobile wallet like MetaMask, Rabby, or Coinbase Wallet. A dedicated hardware wallet (Ledger, Trezor) or a project multisig (like Safe) is even better for shared project funds.

Create (or choose) the project wallet. In your wallet app, create a new account/address specifically for the project. Use a fresh address rather than a personal one if you want clean bookkeeping or shared control.

Use Base (chain ID 8453) — not Ethereum Mainnet. Polytab’s contributions run on Base L2 (ethereum:0x...@8453), where gas is fractions of a cent. Your address is the same on every EVM network, but balances and gas are per-network — Mainnet ETH cannot pay Base gas.
In Brave: Brave → Brave Wallet → Deposit, change the network filter (top-right, e.g. “All Networks”) to Base, and pick “Ether — ETH on Base” — full walkthrough: How to: Use Brave Wallet with Polytab.
In MetaMask: Networks → Add network → Base (or pick Base from the network list).
Then add only a tiny amount of ETH on Base — a couple of dollars covers thousands of micro-votes. Polygon is also supported, but Base is the default we use.

Copy the 0x address (not the seed phrase, not the private key — just the address) from your wallet’s account screen. It starts with 0x and is 42 characters long.

Paste it into the “Project Wallet (EVM 0x Address)” field when you start a project on polytab.store. The field validates the format and shows a live EIP-681 QR preview of a micro-vote payment to that address.

Keep the private key safe. If your project uses a personal wallet for early testing, migrate to a shared multisig before real bounty funds arrive. Never type your seed phrase or private key into any website, including Polytab.

Best practice for teams: use a 2-of-3 multisig (for example Safe) as the Project Wallet. That mirrors Polytab’s own verification model and prevents any single person from moving project funds alone.

Never share: your seed phrase, private key, or wallet password. Polytab only ever needs the public 0x address. Anyone asking for your seed phrase is trying to steal your funds.

Common mistakes

Wrong format: addresses must be 42 characters and start with 0x. Addresses from non-EVM chains (e.g., Bitcoin bc1..., Solana base58, or ENS names like name.eth) are not accepted directly — resolve ENS to its 0x address first.
Wrong network: the address works on Base and Polygon, but funds sent on Ethereum mainnet or the wrong chain may not land where you expect. Send/receive on Base (or Polygon, as supported).
Deposited Mainnet ETH by accident? Not lost — same address, wrong network. Bridge it to Base (e.g., bridge.base.org) or withdraw from an exchange directly to Base (Base network) before spending it on Polytab.
Typos: a single wrong character sends funds to an unrecoverable address. Copy-paste the address, or scan the QR preview shown next to the field to double-check it.
Personal wallet for team funds: fine for testing, risky for bounty payouts. Prefer a shared multisig or a dedicated project wallet.

What if I have no crypto wallet?

You are not locked out. You can still participate and fund projects via QR-code payments, ZK-Email, SMS/USSD, or Telegram voice. Prefer Polytab to hold and route your deposits on your behalf? See the stewardship program — it requires a verified financial service platform and verifiable government ID, reviewed manually, and you can never lose deposited funds to anything except the designated verified charity.

What if I have no phone or computer?

Ask a trusted friend, school, library, or community center to help open the site and scan a QR code, or to help you receive SMS/USSD instructions when those channels are available in your area. Supporting a project never requires you to reveal private keys. If even that is impossible, see Stewardship for users without wallets.

Stewardship for Users Without Wallets (Verification Required)

Not everyone can or wants to hold crypto. Polytab operates a stewardship program for users who have no wallet and no hardware — but because stewardship makes Polytab a directed custodian of your deposits, verification is mandatory, in two halves:

Verified financial service platform: you hold an account at a regulated financial institution (an FDIC-insured bank or credit union, a state/nationally regulated MSB/fintech, or an equivalent licensed provider in your jurisdiction), meaning you passed their KYC process.
Verifiable government identification: government-issued photo ID verified through that platform’s process (or independently by us, out-of-band, if you have no wallet but are not banked).

What stewardship means (and doesn’t mean):

We confirm your identity before any deposit is accepted; deposits without verification are returned or rejected.
Deposited funds are held custodially and delivered only to the verified charity/bounty you designate — never to other users, never to Polytab, never re-purposed.
You may direct funds only to registered organizations we have themselves verified as claimants of bounty pages.
Fees (network and/or conversion) are disclosed before we accept the deposit; Polytab takes no other cut.
No interest, no yield, no trading, no lending, no re-hypothecation — the escrow is custody for delivery, not an account balance.
You can request a statement of the sweeps performed on your behalf at any time.
We can revoke stewardship (including sweeping escrow back to charities you designated) if verification lapses, misuse is suspected, or your provider declines to participate.

Key rules: never send your ID, SSN, or account password over email, SMS, GitHub issues, or any form on this site. Stewardship verification happens only through our out-of-band process after a preliminary email conversation ([email protected]) tells you exactly how and where. If anyone asks you to send your identity documents to a link or attachment first — hang up; that’s a scam.

How to apply: email [email protected] with: your country, the name of your financial platform (the institution you are verified with), the charity/bounty page ID(s) you want to fund, and whether you hold a government-issued ID that platform verified. We reply within 2–14 days with next steps. Until stewardship is approved, the fastest way to give is the QR flow: scan any Polytab QR with a friend’s wallet or a library’s phone, and we bookkeep it as your designation.

How to: Use Brave Wallet with Polytab

Brave has a built-in, self-custody wallet — you don’t need to install MetaMask. It’s the fastest way to put a little ETH on Base and cast micro-votes from the browser you already use. Everything Polytab payments do settles on Base (chain ID 8453), so this walkthrough keeps you on Base the whole time.

Step-by-step: deposit ETH on Base

Open Brave Wallet. Click the wallet icon in the Brave toolbar (or Brave menu → Wallet). If this is your first time, create or import a wallet and write down the seed phrase on paper — Brave (and Polytab) never see it.

Go to Deposit. In brave://wallet/crypto/deposit (Brave Wallet → Deposit) you’ll see an “All Networks” list of assets.

Filter to Base. Click the “All Networks” dropdown (top-right) and choose Base. Now only Base assets are shown.

Pick “Ether — ETH on Base”. That’s the only asset Polytab needs. Follow the deposit flow to buy it or transfer it in. You only need a few dollars’ worth — Base gas is a fraction of a cent, so a couple of dollars covers thousands of micro-votes.

Double-check the subtitle. Every row says the network under the asset name (e.g., “ETH on Base” vs “ETH on Ethereum Mainnet”). If the network doesn’t say Base, pick a different option or your funds land on the wrong chain — see the Base vs Mainnet mistake below.

Step-by-step: connect Brave Wallet to polytab.store

Click Connect Wallet in the top-right corner of polytab.store.

Approve in Brave Wallet. A Brave Wallet popup will ask to connect your address — click Connect. Your address shows as connected in the button (e.g., 0x1a2b…9f8e).

If the site says “No browser Web3 wallet detected”: open brave://settings/crypto (or search “crypto” in Brave’s settings search) and set your default Ethereum wallet to Brave Wallet, then reload the page. Alternatively, skip connecting altogether and pay with the QR flow below — no connection needed.

Step-by-step: cast a micro-vote with Brave Wallet

Open the project and click “1. Send Micro-Vote via Browser Wallet” in the action dialog.

Approve the transaction. Brave Wallet pops up with the amount (~$0.50) plus a fraction of a cent of Base gas. Review the recipient address, then click Confirm.

Log your vote. Back on the site, paste the 0x… transaction hash into “2. Log & Verify Transaction Hash on GitHub Ledger” and hit verify — the GitHub Action checks it on-chain and updates the vote counts.

Prefer not to connect a wallet at all? Fine — every project shows an EIP-681 QR code. Scan it from any EVM wallet app (including the Brave Wallet mobile app), pay on Base, and the transaction itself is your ballot. No connection to the website required.

Depositing from an exchange? When withdrawing to Brave Wallet’s address, choose Base as the withdrawal network — not ERC20 / Ethereum Mainnet and not the Polygon network. Wrong-network deposits go to the same address on a different chain and won’t pay Base gas (see Project Wallet → common mistakes).

Security: Polytab and Brave never ask for your seed phrase. Only enter it inside Brave’s own wallet setup/unlock screen. Double-check you’re on polytab.store (HTTPS) before approving anything, and start with a small test amount.

Getting Started

What is Polytab?

Polytab is an open-source civic coordination protocol. Communities propose real-world actions, members back them with micro-fee ($0.25–$1.00) ballots, and contributions stay disabled on any bounty page whose organization has not verified. Once verified, contributions settle directly on-chain into the organization’s Base wallet; decisions and payout records are public and auditable across RSS/JSON feeds.

Do I need an account?

No. Anyone can browse projects without signing in. Endorsements and verification flows use your existing accounts (GitHub, Google, Discord, Facebook, or TikTok, where available) via a secure OAuth handshake — no Polytab password is required, and we never receive your provider password.

Do I need crypto to participate?

To cast a micro-vote with a Web3 wallet, yes — or you can use the QR-code flow with any compatible wallet. If you have no wallet, phone, or computer, see the “No crypto wallet?” answers above. Sharing and endorsing don’t require crypto at all.

How do micro-votes work?

Each vote is a small on-chain transaction ($0.25–$1.00) on Base L2. It is both a cryptographically signed ballot for the proposal and a direct payment to the organization’s wallet, effective only when that page is unlocked (the organization has verified). No protocol slice, no fees, and no redistribution; payments flow only to verified organizations.

Funds, Fees & Custody

Who holds the money?

No one. Polytab never takes custody or possession of funds at any point — contributions for unverified pages are disabled outright, and on verification they settle directly into the organization’s wallet. For user-created projects, your payout wallet is yours alone. Polytab holds no keys.

Where does the bounty go when a project succeeds?

Once a page is verified, contributions settle directly on-chain into the organization’s wallet — nothing is collected, pooled, or routed by Polytab. There is no sweep and no refund flow because Polytab never receives or moves funds; see the “proposal that isn’t approved” answer further down for what happens to contributions on unverified pages (short answer: none are possible).

Are there fees?

There is no Polytab protocol fee. You only pay the network gas fee on Base/Polygon for your own transactions (typically a fraction of a cent to cents on Base). Future payment-conversion services may charge their own processing fees, disclosed at the point of use.

Endorsements & Likes

What is a “verified endorsement”?

A verified endorsement is support for a project confirmed through a trusted sign-in provider (GitHub, Google, Discord, Facebook, or TikTok, where available). We deduplicate by a one-way cryptographic hash of your provider account ID, so each account counts once per project. Verified counts appear on project cards and project pages — for example, “3 verified endorsements.”

What is the Like button?

It works like a Like on YouTube or any social media site: tap the heart to show support for a project, and the number next to it shows how many people liked it. Likes are a quick, lightweight signal that you care — they aren’t votes, they don’t move money, and they aren’t verified endorsements. Use a like to cheer a project on; use a micro-vote payment to actually fund it.

Are Likes or endorsements votes?

No. Likes and endorsements show community support and can help people decide what to look at. Micro-vote payments on Base/Polygon are the actual ballots that fund projects.

Projects, Proof & IDs

Is my organization listed on a bounty page?

Yes, thousands are — bounty pages named after registered charities and nonprofits are outreach proxies for those organizations. Until verification, your page shows “Locked — organization must verify” and contributions are disabled entirely. Once verified (registry + domain), the support button unlocks and funds settle directly on-chain into your organization’s Base wallet — Polytab never holds funds. Note contributions do not appear until verification; locked pages accept none. See Claim Your Bounty Page.

How do I start a project?

Go to the Start a Project tab, fill in the title, category, location (address, ZIP, city, state, or country — we auto-geocode it), funding goal, micro-vote price, and Project Wallet, then submit. Your proposal is opened as a GitHub Issue for public review and verification.

What is the “Action Scope & Proof Plan”?

A short description (max 600 characters) of what needs doing and what proof will show it worked — e.g., geo-tagged photos, a commit hash, a video, or a completion certificate. Evidence like this is what donors review before giving; Polytab does nothing with proof but surface it.

What are the ID numbers and the placeholder wallets?

Project IDs are bloc-assigned by category (Charities 10000–79999, Speculative 80000–89999, Voting 90000–99999) and never renumbered. Every bounty page ships support-locked with a placeholder wallet; on verification (registry + domain proof), that placeholder is rewritten to the organization’s own payout wallet and the support button unlocks. Until then, no contributions are possible.

What happens to a proposal that isn’t approved?

First, the honest mechanics: if the support button is visible, your micro-vote is a one-way, on-chain transaction directly to that organization’s wallet designating your stake for the project. Once it’s sent on Base/Polygon, it can’t be pulled back — not by the project, not by Polytab (which never touches the money). If the button is locked, no support can be made at all; approval of your gift is the organization’s verification.

That means there is no automatic refund or “vote credit” today. If a proposal is rejected or shelved, here’s what actually happens:

Only after a page unlocks. When contributions unlock for a verified organization, your contribution settles directly to its wallet on-chain; Polytab never holds or forwards it. On locked pages, contributions are simply disabled — your wallet never leaves your control.
You can cast a new $0.25–$1.00 micro-vote for a different proposal — that’s the practical way to redirect your support today.
If you think a project is abandoned or misusing funds, email [email protected] with your transaction hash and the project ID. We can freeze the page publicly and escalate to the organization’s registry liaison to halt any further contributions; recovery can’t be guaranteed for payments already settled on-chain.

Already-sent on-chain contributions are final (that’s how Base works). Funds designated for this project are never quietly re-used elsewhere: they go to the organization on claim, or to the organization’s official fund as a USD support with public receipts.

How to: Get paid when you complete an action

Short answer: the organization claims its page; on verification, contributions flow directly into its wallet (if any contributions were already made on unlocked pages, nothing is required of anyone — funds went straight to the beneficiary). As the claimant, here’s exactly how it works, step by step:

Open the project page. Go to polytab.store → Browse Projects → click the project you completed. This page is where your proof will live once approved.

Click “Submit proof / spending update”. Scroll to the Updates & Proof section on the project page and click that button. It opens a new browser tab with a GitHub issue pre-filled from the “Proof / Spending Update” template, titled like [Proof]: #10001 - . (The same flow exists on the main page’s action dialog under “Did you complete this physical/digital task? → Submit Proof-of-Work”.)

Fill in the GitHub form. You’ll be asked for:
- the Project ID (the number from the project page, e.g. 10001),
- a Proof Type (Receipt / Photo / File / Link / Funds Released / Other),
- a one-line summary, the date, and the amount if money was spent,
- Details / how the funds were used (who did the work, what was bought/done),
- Evidence — drag photos, receipts, quotes, or documents right into the issue, or paste public links (IPFS, Google Drive, a TikTok with #PolytabProof, a YouTube video, or a Git commit hash).

Include your payout address. Put the 0x EVM wallet where the bounty should be sent — in the “Beneficiary / recipient” field (or, in the action-dialog flow, replace the Worker Payout Address: 0x... placeholder with your address). This must be an address you control.

Submit the issue. You need a free GitHub account to file it — that’s what keeps the payout auditable and public. Once submitted, it’s labeled proof and visible to reviewers.

Review & 48-hour challenge window. Reviewers check your evidence; verified proof is published to the site’s proof feed and opens a 48-hour public dispute window — anyone can challenge fraudulent proof before funds move.

Payments happen directly, on-chain. When the 48-hour review window clears, donors see their micro-vote transactions settle straight into the organization’s payout wallet on Base — verifiable in any block explorer; the GitHub issue gets a public receipt referencing the tx hashes. Polytab never intermediated or held the money.

Reality check: payout is not automatic and is never guaranteed. It depends on the review checks holding up in the 48-hour challenge window, on the organization claiming its page, and on the payout address you supply. Strong, timestamped proof — geo-tagged photos, receipts, public links, commit hashes — is what gets bounties released. If something goes wrong, email [email protected] with the GitHub issue link.

Safety & Privacy

Where can I read the fine print?

Is my location public?

Project locations are public by design (communities need to find and act on them). The public GeoRSS feed rounds coordinates to two decimal places (~1 km, neighborhood-level) to avoid exposing precise PII or home addresses. Use a neighborhood, ZIP, or public landmark — not someone’s home.

Who do I contact for help?

Email: [email protected]
Website: https://polytab.store

Still have a question?

Email [email protected] or open an issue on GitHub. We read everything.