The Stakeholders Involved
There are several stakeholders involved in the market proposal process.
The Stakeholders
Proposer: Submits the outcome and stakes a bond.
Disputer: Can challenge the proposal by staking an equal bond.
Verifiers: Reviews proposals for accuracy and decides whether a dispute should be initiated.
Since the roles of the proposer and disputer were covered in the Basics, this chapter focuses on verifiers. In practice, most proposals and disputes are submitted by bots, rather than individual users, which makes the role of verifiers, who can catch what bots might miss, even more critical.
Verification
What is Verification?
Verification is UMA's primary defense against incorrect proposals. After a market is proposed, a dedicated thread is created for it. In this space, a group of individuals known as verifiers assesses whether the proposed outcome is accurate and whether a dispute should be initiated.
Who Are the Verifiers?
Verifiers are experienced members of the UMA or Polymarket community. They actively monitor live proposals, share evidence, and coordinate disputes when necessary. While anyone can follow proposal threads and participate in general discussion channels, messaging permissions in the official proposal threads are restricted to verifiers.
Is Verification Limited to Verifiers?
No, anyone can verify proposals submitted to the UMA Oracle. In this chapter, "verifier" refers to members of the UMA Discord team who regularly review proposals and help identify disputes.
The Verification Process
Verification involves checking whether the proposed resolution for a market matches the actual outcome of the event. Verifiers typically:
Review the proposed outcome against the market's resolution criteria
Cross-check the result using trusted sources such as official event results, timestamps, or price data
Analyze how the market traded on Polymarket, including screenshots of the order book or price chart, to understand participant sentiment and expectations
Example
The market was for an NBA game between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets. The verifier provided a clear resolution statement, evidence from the official NBA source, and the Polymarket order book. This is an example of a successful proposal verification.
Every proposal requires three successful verifications. However, you may have noticed that the verification was submitted by a bot. This is often the case, especially in easier-to-verify markets such as sports, weather, or event-based markets.
Summary
There are several stakeholders involved in the market resolution process: the proposer, disputer, and verifier. Proposers submit outcomes, disputers challenge incorrect outcomes, and verifiers validate the accuracy of proposals. The Verification Team serves as the formal oversight body within UMA, but anyone can participate in the market resolution process permissionlessly.
Coming Up
With all the background knowledge in place, we can now begin to understand how the situation unfolded.
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