Decentralized arbitration resolves contracting disputes through unbiased peer jurors, sealed cryptographic voting, and tamper-proof evidence trails.

Either party can open a dispute if deliverables diverge from the agreed contract specifications. The initiator submits detailed grounds and an evidence bundle containing files, logs, and communications.

The platform computes deterministic SHA-256 hashes of the reason statement and evidence package, committing them to the on-chain Dispute account to create a tamper-proof record.

Reputask validator nodes analyze the Job-Social Graph to assemble an impartial juror pool. Candidate selection requires a verified trustIndex and adequate topological distance from both parties.

This mathematical filtering eliminates relational bias, mutual favors, and social collusion, ensuring jurors have zero prior connectivity with the disputing accounts.

Selected jurors review the complete evidence package and evaluate deliverables against the digital contract specifications. Each juror casts their verdict as a sealed cryptographic hash.

Because vote choices remain hidden during this phase, jurors cannot see peer ballots, preventing bandwagon tendencies, social pressure, and voting coordination.

When the commit window closes, the reveal phase opens. Jurors publish their plaintext ruling alongside their unique secret salt to unseal their ballot.

The smart contract validates that each revealed vote matches the previously submitted hash, immediately rejecting any altered or tampered submissions.

The on-chain program calculates the majority ruling, determines the prevailing party, and executes the appropriate financial settlement from the escrow balance.

Staked reputation is returned to the prevailing party and consensus jurors, while the losing party faces reputation slashing according to protocol rules.