Anonymous whistleblower platform with proof-of-authorship

What this enables

• →Whistleblowing without infrastructure. SecureDrop costs $10K–50K per organization to operate (dedicated servers, Tor hidden services, air-gapped admin machines). This is one shared smart contract. Any DAO, small newsroom, nonprofit, or compliance department can accept anonymous tips - not just the few who can afford SecureDrop.
• →Proof of authorship that protects first. Whistleblower protection laws (Dodd-Frank, EU Directive 2019/1937) currently require identifying yourself to claim protection. STRK20 lets reporters prove authorship cryptographically without revealing their identity until they choose to. Novel: no existing system offers both.
• →Reward collection without identity exposure. The SEC has paid $1.8B in whistleblower rewards since 2012; every recipient had to identify themselves. STRK20 rewards arrive as private transfers in the existing channel. Authorship proves itself; identity stays hidden.
• →Dead man's switch for sensitive disclosures. Time-locked public disclosure: "I've submitted evidence. If I'm silenced, it publishes automatically." Whistleblowing becomes protective rather than exposing.
• →Anonymous source-journalist comms. Persistent encrypted channels for ongoing reporting - a meaningful upgrade over Signal (requires phone numbers), SecureDrop (Tor, server state), and email (leaks everywhere).

What you build

A registry contract for organizations to publish their address + public key. A submission flow that creates fresh recipient addresses, opens channels via OpenChannel, encrypts report content to IPFS/Arweave, and references the encrypted payload in an on-chain note. A discovery flow for organizations to find reports via their viewing key. An authorship-proof primitive (channel-key disclosure or Cairo STARK proof) for selective reveal to lawyers, reward committees, or courts.

vs SecureDrop

| Property | SecureDrop | STRK20 Whistleblower | | --- | --- | --- | | Infrastructure | Per-org servers, Tor, air-gapped machines | One shared smart contract | | Anonymity mechanism | Tor (network-level) | Privacy pool + paymaster (cryptographic) | | Proof of submission | None | STARK proof anytime, selective | | Follow-up communication | Codename-based, stateful server | Persistent encrypted channel | | Reward payout | Off-chain, identity disclosure required | Private transfer in the channel | | Compromise resistance | Server compromise leaks metadata | No server. Contract state is encrypted. |