News Wire
The News Wire lets players broadcast headlines to everyone in the game. It's a pay-to-post system with dutch auction pricing — the more people post, the more expensive it gets.
How It Works
- Write a headline (up to 280 characters)
- Pay the current price in ETH
- Your headline appears as the active story, visible to all players in the news ticker at the top of the screen
The previous headline is archived into on-chain history. Anyone can view past headlines.
Pricing Mechanics
The News Wire uses a dutch auction with decay:
- Floor price: 0.005 ETH — the minimum cost to post
- After a post: The next price jumps to 2x what was paid
- Over time: The price decays linearly back to the floor over 6 hours
Price Formula
time since last post = elapsed
peak price = last price paid * 2
price range = peak price - 0.005
current price = peak price - (price range * elapsed / 6 hours)
if current price < 0.005:
current price = 0.005
Example Scenario
| Event | Price |
|---|---|
| No posts yet | 0.005 ETH |
| Alice posts (pays 0.005 ETH) | Next price: 0.01 ETH |
| Bob posts immediately (pays 0.01 ETH) | Next price: 0.02 ETH |
| 3 hours pass, nobody posts | Price decayed to ~0.0125 ETH |
| 6 hours pass | Price back to 0.005 ETH |
| Carol posts (pays 0.005 ETH) | Next price: 0.01 ETH |
Overpaying
You can pay more than the minimum required price. This has a strategic effect — since the next price is always 2x what was paid, overpaying spikes the price higher, making it more expensive for someone to replace your headline.
If you pay 0.1 ETH, the next poster needs to pay at least 0.2 ETH (or wait for it to decay).
Use Cases
- Market commentary — Rally support for your index before a vote
- Bear raids — Warn other indexes they're next on the chopping block
- Coalitions — Publicly announce trading blocs
- Advertising — Promote your project, token, or cause
- Trolling — It's on-chain, it's permanent, it's fair game
Where Does the ETH Go?
All headline payments are sent to the protocol treasury. This makes the News Wire a revenue source for the protocol beyond trading fees.
Viewing History
The News Wire stores all past headlines on-chain. The app shows the 10 most recent headlines in the expanded panel, including:
- The headline text
- The author's address
- The price they paid
- When they posted
Click the news ticker or "Post" button to expand the panel and see history.