Announcing the Eidōlon Testnet 🟡
From papers to probabilities: science becomes a market
For centuries, science has advanced through papers, journals, citations, and committees. Progress has been real, but slow, fragile, and uneven. Knowledge still crawls through bottlenecks: opaque peer review, dwindling replication, chronically underfunded labs, and public trust eroded by noise.
With Eidōlon, Episteme’s first public testnet, we propose something different. A stage where scientific hypotheses are not only written, but traded, tested, and tracked in real time.
It is a glimpse of an entirely new epistemic economy.
What Is Eidōlon?
Eidōlon is the testnet for Episteme, a platform for tokenized prediction markets for science, powered by AI and secured on-chain.
In this world, a hypothesis is not a PDF gathering dust, but a living, breathing market.
Belief becomes liquidity. Traders stake tokens for or against.
AI oracles read the literature. They scan preprints, papers, and datasets, adjusting probabilities.
Markets evolve. Forecasts are continuously recalibrated as evidence emerges.
Accuracy is rewarded. Those aligned with reality climb the leaderboard.
It’s science reimagined as a dynamic game of verification, accountable, and open to anyone.
Why Eidōlon, Why Now?
The name Eidōlon comes from the Greek word for “image” or “phantom.” It is a fitting metaphor. What you see on this testnet is not yet the full substance of Episteme—it’s the shadow of the system to come, the first manifestation of a new order.
Why now? Because we can no longer wait for the old machinery of knowledge to self-correct.
The reproducibility crisis still undermines credibility.
Peer review remains a black box.
Research impact is measured in citations and prestige, not truth.
Funding is scarce, politicized, and skewed toward safe bets.
Decentralized prediction markets, coupled with AI, are not a gimmick. They are a structural alternative: mechanisms designed to price uncertainty, incentivize validation, and synchronize knowledge in real time.
What’s Live on Eidōlon?
This testnet is the first end-to-end cycle of Episteme. On Eidōlon, you can:
Explore Hypotheses: Browse live markets in neuroscience, spacetech, robotics, and beyond.
Trade Belief: Stake testnet tokens (with no monetary value) for or against hypotheses.
Watch AI Resolution Drafts: AI oracles parse new publications and shift probabilities accordingly.
Track Your Edge: Leaderboards showcase the sharpest forecasters, ranked by accuracy and PnL.
Learn in Real Time: Market feeds reveal how new data reshapes confidence.
It’s a rehearsal of what science could look like if it moved at the speed of collective intelligence.
How to Join
Access the platform through the invite link shared with our whitelist.
Unlock your entry by entering your personal access code.
Fuel your journey—claim free testnet tokens from the faucet.
Step into the market: explore hypotheses, stake your belief, and watch probabilities shift in real time.
Every click is an experiment. Every trade is a hypothesis about the future of truth.
Beyond the Testnet
Eidōlon is just the beginning. Over the coming months, we will:
Expand the scope of hypotheses across domains.
Refine AI oracle systems for faster, sharper updates.
Launch Krino, our adversarial testnet stage, where incentives are tested under pressure.
Prepare for Aletheion, the mainnet where capital, credibility, and computation converge.
Eidōlon is the phantom image; the mainnet will be the body.
A New Epistemic Frontier
Eidōlon is more than infrastructure; it’s an invitation.
To researchers: list hypotheses, watch their credibility rise and fall, and find transparent funding.
To forecasters: test your edge not on meme coins, but on the frontiers of biology, physics, and medicine.
To enthusiasts: engage directly with science, not as passive readers, but as participants.
We believe science should not be slow or inaccessible. It should be alive, open, and accountable.
Join the Experiment
Eidōlon is live. Step inside the market for truth.
Trade not just on prices, but on possibilities.
Apply for the Eidōlon Testnet: https://www.episteme.ac/whitelist
Website: episteme.ac
Litepaper: IPFS link
One-pager: IPFS link
X (Twitter): @episteme_sci
Newsletter: epistemesci.substack.com
Telegram: Channel | Community
Linktree: linktr.ee/episteme_sci
Contact: sasha@episteme.ac | @sshshln
Eidōlon: where hypotheses get their first heartbeat.