Better Codes is an open autoresearch challenge designed to advance post-quantum Ethereum. Participants can bring agents, harnesses, and prompts to push the state of the art in the mathematics behind hash-based SNARKs. Official scores are checked through the program's verification workflow and accepted by the Lean kernel.
The challenge is part of the Ethereum Foundation's experimental and discretionary Better Codes research rewards program. Submissions may be considered for a share of the Ethereum Foundation's $1M Proximity Prize, but verification, scoring, leaderboard placement, or repository promotion does not itself create an entitlement to an award.
About the Program
Program Structure
- The Program is operated and funded by Stiftung Ethereum, also referred to as the Ethereum Foundation or EF.
- No purchase or payment to the Ethereum Foundation is required to participate.
- The applicable challenge description, repository requirements, reference implementation, benchmarks, scoring methodology, and submission instructions published or linked by the Ethereum Foundation form the Program Rules.
- The Program Rules control the technical submission requirements, while the Program Terms control eligibility, evaluation, awards, and the relationship between the Ethereum Foundation and participants.
Platform and Verification
- The better.codes website, CLI, APIs, verification workflow, and leaderboard are operated by Eigen Labs under separate terms.
- Eigen Labs provides technical services only and cannot bind the Ethereum Foundation, promise or determine an award, or change the Program Terms.
- Verification, scoring, leaderboard placement, or repository promotion does not constitute an award decision by the Ethereum Foundation.
Eligibility
Who May Participate
- Participants must be at least 18 years old and have the legal capacity to accept the Program Terms.
- A person submitting on behalf of an organization must have authority to bind that organization.
- Participation is void where prohibited by law.
- The Ethereum Foundation may determine eligibility at any time and may exclude participation that would violate applicable law, create an actual or apparent conflict of interest, or undermine the integrity or intended purpose of the Program.
Submission Requirements
Technical and Repository Rules
- Every submission must comply with the Program Rules and all applicable repository, testing, licensing, authorship, and disclosure requirements.
- The participant is responsible for all costs and risks associated with preparing and submitting the work.
Participant Representations
- The submission and the participant's claimed contribution must be accurate and reproducible.
- The participant must have all rights and permissions required to submit the work and grant the rights described in the Program Terms.
- The submission must not infringe or misappropriate third-party rights or contain confidential information that the participant is not entitled to disclose.
- All contributors and material dependencies must be accurately identified.
- Participants must not manipulate benchmarks, misrepresent results, interfere with evaluation, introduce or conceal security weaknesses, or otherwise act dishonestly.
Submission Review
- The Ethereum Foundation may reject, disregard, or remove any submission it considers incomplete, misleading, insecure, unlawful, or inconsistent with the Program Rules or the Program's intended purpose.
Evaluation and Awards
Evaluation Criteria
- The Ethereum Foundation has sole and final discretion to determine whether a submission is valid, secure, reproducible, original, and eligible.
- The Ethereum Foundation determines whether and to what extent a submission represents a material improvement.
- The Ethereum Foundation determines how contributions should be measured and how overlapping, duplicate, dependent, or independently developed improvements should be attributed.
- Technical reviewers or advisers may be consulted, but their assessments are advisory and do not bind the Ethereum Foundation.
Award Decisions
- The Ethereum Foundation has sole and final discretion over whether any participant receives an award and over the amount and allocation of any award.
- Passing tests, improving a benchmark score, appearing on a leaderboard, or having work promoted to a repository does not guarantee payment.
- Published scores, tables, formulas, rankings, reward estimates, and pro rata calculations guide evaluation but are not guarantees.
- No award exists or becomes payable unless an authorized Ethereum Foundation representative confirms the award and its amount in writing through an Award Notice and the participant satisfies all stated conditions.
Award Conditions and Payment
Verification and Compliance
- Before confirming or paying an award, the Ethereum Foundation may request proof of identity, age, residence, authorship, payment details, and other information required for legal, compliance, or administrative purposes.
- An award may be withheld, suspended, or canceled when required by sanctions, export control, anti-money laundering, tax, or other applicable law; when required checks cannot be completed; or when supplied information is inaccurate or incomplete.
- Awards are personal and cannot be assigned without the Ethereum Foundation's written consent.
- Participants are responsible for taxes, charges, and reporting obligations associated with participation or receipt of an award.
Intellectual Property and Publicity
Ownership and License
- Subject to existing third-party and open-source rights, participants retain ownership of their submissions.
- Participants grant the Ethereum Foundation a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual license to reproduce, test, evaluate, verify, publish, and otherwise use submissions for program administration, documentation, and related research.
- Work incorporated into an open-source repository is also subject to the license that applies to that repository.
Confidentiality and Publication
- Submissions should not include information that the participant wishes to keep confidential.
- Unless expressly agreed otherwise in writing, the Ethereum Foundation assumes no confidentiality obligation for a submission.
- The Ethereum Foundation may publish a participant's name or public handle, submission, results, and award information in connection with the Program.
Program Changes and Legal Terms
Changes, Suspension, and Cancellation
- The Ethereum Foundation may amend the Program Terms or Program Rules, change technical or evaluation requirements, extend or shorten a period, or pause, suspend, or cancel the Program.
- Changes become effective when published on or linked from the Program website or repository unless a later effective date is stated.
- A participant who does not accept a change must withdraw; continued participation after a change takes effect constitutes acceptance.
Disclaimers and Liability
- The Program, Program Rules, reference implementations, benchmarks, evaluations, and related materials are provided as is and as available, without express or implied warranties to the maximum extent permitted by law.
- Participation and reliance on Program materials are at the participant's own risk.
- The Ethereum Foundation's aggregate liability arising from the Program is limited under the Program Terms, subject to liabilities that cannot legally be excluded or limited.
Governing Law and Disputes
- The Program Terms and related obligations are governed by the substantive laws of Switzerland.
- Disputes are resolved through arbitration under the Swiss Rules of International Arbitration, with one arbitrator, a seat in Zurich, Switzerland, and proceedings conducted in English.
- Participation does not create an employment, partnership, joint venture, fiduciary, agency, or other service relationship with the Ethereum Foundation.
How to Participate
Start the Challenge
- Review the live challenge, benchmarks, scoring information, verification workflow, and submission requirements on better.codes.
- Before submitting, review the current Program Rules and the Ethereum Foundation Program Terms and Conditions linked by the platform.
Visit better.codes to access the challenge and current technical instructions. Additional information about the related research prize is available on the Proximity Prize website.
