# zScore: A Universal Decentralised Reputation System for the Blockchain Economy

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.05718 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.05718/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 7 of its 59 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 17 Feb 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [Hierarchical Clustering: Objective Functions and Algorithms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.02147/) (2017)
- [Early-stopped neural networks are consistent](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.05932/) (2021)
- [Pump, Dump, and then What? The Long-Term Impact of Cryptocurrency Pump-and-Dump Schemes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.06608/) (2023)
- [Merkle Trees in Blockchain: A Study of Collision Probability and Security Implications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.04367/) (2024)
- [Liquid Staking Tokens in Automated Market Makers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.10226/) (2024)
- [Quantifying the Blockchain Trilemma: A Comparative Analysis of Algorand, Ethereum 2.0, and Beyond](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.14335/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Deep Reputation Scoring in DeFi: zScore-Based Wallet Ranking from Liquidity and Trading Signals](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.20494/) (2025)
- [ZAPs: A Reward Attribution Framework for DeFi Ecosystems with Adversarial-Robust Scoring via Parallel Anomaly Ensemble Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.27859/) (2026)
- [zLend: A Dual-Scope Cash-Flow Reconstruction Framework for On-Chain Credit Underwriting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.16856/) (2026)
- [zScore-N: A Neural Network for On-Chain Wallet Reputation Scoring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.08247/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Modern society functions on trust. The onchain economy, however, is built on the founding principles of trustless peer-to-peer interactions in an adversarial environment without a centralised body of trust and needs a verifiable system to quantify credibility to minimise bad economic activity. We provide a robust framework titled zScore, a core primitive for reputation derived from a wallet's onchain behaviour using state-of-the-art AI neural network models combined with real-world credentials ported onchain through zkTLS. The initial results tested on retroactive data from lending protocols establish a strong correlation between a good zScore and healthy borrowing and repayment behaviour, making it a robust and decentralised alibi for creditworthiness; we highlight significant improvements from previous attempts by protocols like Cred showcasing its robustness. We also present a list of possible applications of our system in Section 5, thereby establishing its utility in rewarding actual value creation while filtering noise and suspicious activity and flagging malicious behaviour by bad actors.