bytechain-contracts

Smart contracts for ByteChain Academy — on-chain DAO governance, Soulbound Token (SBT) certificates, and a platform reward token. This is the source of truth for all on-chain logic in the ByteChain ecosystem, and it also hosts the shared TypeScript types and contract bindings in packages/ts-bindings.

Maintainer: @TomikeDS

Part of the ByteChain Academy multi-repo ecosystem

Repo	Purpose
bytechain-academy-frontend	Next.js web app — UI for students, tutors, and admins
bytechain-academy-backend	NestJS REST API — auth, courses, progress, DAO, certificates
bytechain-currency-hub	Standalone crypto currency history data service
bytechain-contracts (this repo)	Soroban contracts (DAO governance, SBT certificates, reward token) and the shared TypeScript types and bindings package
bytechain-indexer	On-chain event listener that syncs blockchain state to the backend

bytechain-shared is deprecated. Its TypeScript package now lives in packages/ts-bindings in this repository and is still published as @weacademy/bytechain-shared. The old repository is kept read-only for history.

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Contracts

1. ByteChainDAO

On-chain governance contract replacing the current off-chain DAO module in the backend. Proposal creation, voting (YES / NO / ABSTAIN), and automatic resolution all happen as on-chain transactions. Users' voting power is determined by their token balance or XP-linked stake.

2. ByteChainCertificate (SBT)

A Soulbound Token (non-transferable NFT) minted when a student completes a course. The token is permanently tied to the student's wallet address. Metadata (course name, completion date, student name) is stored on IPFS and referenced via the token URI. The verify-certificate page in the frontend will verify against this contract rather than the database.

3. ByteChainToken (BCT)

A Stellar Soroban token backing the platform's XP and reward system. Earned by completing lessons, quizzes, and participating in governance. Used for staking voting power in the DAO.

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Tech stack

Tool	Purpose
Rust (stable)	Contract language
soroban-sdk 29.0.1	Contract types, storage, auth and test utilities
Stellar CLI 25.2+	Building optimised Wasm, deploying and invoking contracts
Cargo workspace	Shared dependency versions and one test/lint surface
GitHub Actions	cargo fmt, cargo clippy, cargo test and a wasm build, plus lint/typecheck/test/build for packages/ts-bindings, on every PR
TypeScript, tsup, Vitest	The packages/ts-bindings package

Repository structure

bytechain-contracts/
├── Cargo.toml                  ← workspace manifest and shared release profile
├── Cargo.lock
├── rust-toolchain.toml         ← stable + wasm32v1-none + rustfmt/clippy
├── contracts/
│   └── hello-world/            ← starter crate proving the toolchain
│       ├── Cargo.toml
│       └── src/{lib.rs,test.rs}
├── packages/
│   └── ts-bindings/            ← @weacademy/bytechain-shared (TS types + bindings)
├── docs/                       ← contract design docs
├── scripts/generate-bindings.sh
└── .github/
    ├── workflows/ci.yml        ← contracts + ts-bindings jobs
    ├── workflows/publish-ts-bindings.yml
    └── CODEOWNERS

contracts/hello-world is intentionally trivial. It verifies that the workspace, SDK and CI are wired correctly before the DAO, certificate and token contracts are implemented from their design docs.

Getting started

Prerequisites: Rust stable (1.84+), the wasm32v1-none target and Stellar CLI 25.2+.

git clone https://github.com/WeAcademy/bytechain-contracts.git
cd bytechain-contracts
rustup target add wasm32v1-none
cargo install --locked stellar-cli --features opt   # if not installed

# Format, lint and test
cargo fmt --all -- --check
cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings
cargo test --workspace

# Build optimised Wasm into target/wasm32v1-none/release/
stellar contract build

Deploy the starter contract to testnet:

stellar keys generate --global alice --network testnet
stellar contract deploy \
  --wasm target/wasm32v1-none/release/bytechain_hello_world.wasm \
  --source alice \
  --network testnet

Adding a contract

1. Create the crate: cargo new --lib contracts/<name>.
2. Set crate-type = ["cdylib", "rlib"], use the workspace soroban-sdk dependency and add soroban-sdk with the testutils feature under [dev-dependencies].
3. Add the crate path to members in the root Cargo.toml.
4. Cover the public entry points with soroban_sdk::Env unit tests.
5. Run cargo test --workspace, cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings and stellar contract build before opening a PR.

Environment variables

There are no committed environment variables. Deployer keys and network configuration are managed by Stellar CLI identities (stellar keys) and its network config.

Design docs

• ByteChainCertificate
• ByteChainDAO
• DAO proposal and voting

TypeScript types and bindings

packages/ts-bindings is published as @weacademy/bytechain-shared and holds the backend API response types and, once contracts are deployed, the generated Soroban clients. See its README.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for setup, branch naming, PR standards and how Drips Wave and GrantFox issues are handled. Please also read the Code of Conduct and Security Policy.

License

MIT