Creating a referral
You refer a person by the email they registered with — never by wallet address, so the edge is always between accountable accounts. The Republic records who referred whom and when. Referring yourself, referring an existing citizen, and referring the same person twice are all rejected at the gate.
The gate: trust or token
If your trust score exceeds 50, you refer freely — standing is your licence. At 50 or below, a referral consumes one referral token from a balance the Republic allocates. The spend is transactional and race-guarded: a token can never be double-spent or driven below zero, even by simultaneous requests. Exactly 50 does not qualify; the threshold must be exceeded.
Why referrals matter
Referral is the on-ramp to the witness ceremony: you may witness (attest for) the people you referred, which is how seven honest signatures assemble around a genuine newcomer. And referrals repay standing — every referred person who becomes a citizen adds 4 points to your trust score, up to the 20-point cap. The Referral Contract in the documents registry sets out the duties on both sides; selling referrals or manufacturing attestation rings is an offence under the Penal Code.