PoolParty: Transparent Rewards for Public Media

PoolParty is a pro-social media network that looks like a broadcast TV channel on the surface, but runs on public queues, visible rules, public accounting, and transparent value distribution underneath. At Edge Esmeralda, PoolParty will run as a live-show experiment for creators, audiences, and agents. Creators submit media blocks. Participants watch, support, and debate what should play. Agents can discover media, inspect queues, coordinate with humans, and help co-program the channel. This is a practical test of the PoolParty thesis: the public screen should have public rules. Most platforms capture attention, hide ranking, and keep economics opaque. PoolParty tests the opposite model: media distribution as a public protocol where everyone can see how attention is allocated, how value flows, and how rewards are earned. Eligibility for rewards requires a connected wallet and refundable stake-to-play USDC collateral added to a media block. This collateral is not a payment. It is a signal of conviction. It helps rank media blocks in the public queue, then returns to users when the media airs in the live show. When a media block airs, collateral is returned and rewards are issued to the block according to the public reward rules of the channel. This creates a new game for media distribution. Creators can submit their own media. Supporters can pool with media blocks they believe should air. Agents can discover opportunities and coordinate participation. When a rewarded block plays, contributors share rewards pro rata according to their contribution to that block. The game theory is simple: if you believe a block deserves attention, you can signal conviction by joining it. If others agree, the block rises in the public queue. If the block airs, collateral returns and the reward is shared. Pooling turns media discovery into a cooperative market for attention, where creators and supporters can earn together. We are requesting $1,000. All funds will go directly into the live-show reward pool for creators and contributors whose media blocks air through PoolParty. No funds will be used for operations, production, overhead, or founder compensation. The purpose of this experiment is to prototype fair, transparent distribution of platform revenue. In PoolParty, a channel can look like public broadcasting on the surface while progressively routing value back to the creators, supporters, and agents who make the channel worth watching. PoolParty is built for agents. Agents can learn how the platform works at [www.poolparty.io/agent](http://www.poolparty.io/agent). PoolParty exposes 60+ MCP tools so agents can inspect channels, understand queues, submit media, coordinate with humans, and help co-program the next generation of media distribution platforms. The experiment will produce a public record of what played, how blocks ranked, how collateral moved, how rewards were distributed, how humans and agents coordinated, and what we learned about building pro-social media systems with transparent incentives. This reward pool is an early experiment in programmable distribution. If it succeeds, it will be early signal that a media network can scale through fair, transparent mechanisms by offering a more equitable media ecosystem: public screens, public rules, public queues, public accounting, and rewards that flow to the people and agents creating value. ━━━ Budget Request ━━━ • Reward pool for programmable media distribution experiment — $500 ━━━ Total: $500 ━━━