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The economy

Most apps are built to take your attention. Main's World is built around the opposite idea: the only thing of value is genuine appreciation between Mains, and you can only give it — never take it for yourself.

Here's how that works, in plain terms.

Two kinds of balance​

Every Main has two separate balances that never mix:

  • Energy credits — your day-to-day fuel. You get a fresh 10 every day. You spend them to do things: record a moment, appreciate someone, leave a comment. Credits are for doing, not for keeping.
  • $MAIN — the earned currency. The only way to get $MAIN is through an eligible thumbs up on a moment you authored or were tagged in, or on a comment you wrote. You can't buy it, and you can't give it to yourself.

Think of the daily 10 as your voice for the day, and $MAIN as the appreciation you've genuinely earned from others.

"Be kind, rewind"​

An eligible first thumbs up on a moment spends a little of the voter's own energy and mints a total of 1 $MAIN. The moment's author and tagged Mains share it, excluding the voter. If the moment was recorded at a vibe, the gathering's hosts share too: half of that 1 $MAIN goes to the moment's people — the author and anyone tagged — and half is split evenly among the vibe's hosts, counting every member of a hosting crew. Everything settles the instant the thumbs up lands, among whoever holds those roles at that moment. Crediting the people who threw the gathering is the point of naming hosts. Another Main's first thumbs up on a comment gives its author 1 $MAIN.

Gatherings carry the same rule themselves. Every vibe has a heart, and a talk — a comment thread for the gathering as a whole. The first time you ever heart a vibe, it spends one energy credit and mints 1 $MAIN shared the same way a moment's appreciation is: half among the vibe's hosts and half among its attendees, each group splitting evenly, everything settling the instant the heart lands, and the voter always excluded. Your first heart on a comment in the talk gives 1 $MAIN to the Main who wrote it. That's the heartbeat of the whole economy: value travels from one Main's action to other Mains.

There is no downvote — appreciation is the only reaction, so no one can be piled on or drained. You can change your mind at any time: take a thumbs up or a heart back, give it again — only your first one on any particular moment, comment, or vibe ever spends energy, and a gift, once given, stays given. And as always, appreciation never pays the person giving it: appreciating your own work spends the credit but mints nothing.

Energy burned​

Energy credits are spent, not transferred. When you record a moment, appreciate someone or leave a comment, the credit it costs is simply gone — it does not move into anyone else's balance. The running total of everything the community has spent that way is called energy burned.

It is worth knowing for two reasons.

It is an honest measure of how much is actually being made here. Every unit of it was somebody deciding to do something rather than just look.

And it is the counterweight to $MAIN. Appreciation creates $MAIN; doing anything at all burns energy. Read together, the two numbers describe the whole economy: what it costs to take part, and what taking part turned out to be worth to everybody else.

Burning is not the same as paying. Buying credits and then spending them burns them — it never creates $MAIN, for you or for anyone.

Reading the community numbers​

On the stats page, Mains is the total number of member accounts. Verified is the percentage of those accounts for which Main's World has recorded an Orb verification. It is a recorded status, not a fresh check each time the page is opened.

The country, city, moment and vibe figures describe what the community has recorded on the map. A Main does not need to have posted a mapped moment to be included in the member total.

You can't pay yourself​

One rule holds the whole thing together: no one can ever route value to themselves. You can give your own moment a thumbs up — it shows in the count like anyone else's — but it never pays you $MAIN. If other Mains are tagged, they may still receive the split. The same rule covers hosts: a host who gives the thumbs up is left out of the hosts' share, which goes to the other hosts instead — and if there's no one else on a side to receive it, that share goes to the other side rather than back to the voter. Tagging a crew on a moment uses this ordinary tagged-Main split; a crew-owned wallet and configurable crew earnings rules are not live. No share ever comes back to the voter. Kindness has to travel between Mains, or it doesn't count.

Buying credits buys voice, not the asset​

You can top up your energy credits (a small top-up for a bit more voice on a busy day). To be crystal clear about what that is and isn't:

  • Buying credits gives you more voice — more moments, more appreciation to give, more comments.
  • Buying credits never gives you $MAIN. The earned currency can only come from other people appreciating you. That line is deliberate and permanent.

What's live, and what's not​

Main's World runs the giving, daily credits, appreciation, and Vault claims today. An Orb-verified wallet can claim $MAIN on-chain through the Vault. What you can do with it after that — see your balance, swap it, send it, or move it to another wallet — has its own page: Your $MAIN on-chain. As of August 25, 2026, that has changed: a first public trading pool for $MAIN exists on World Chain, so claimed $MAIN can be swapped for other tokens. The pool is young and small, which makes its price easy to move — Your $MAIN on-chain explains how swapping works and what to check before trying it. Main's World itself never sells $MAIN and never promises a price.

One line worth remembering: every unit of $MAIN starts with one Main appreciating another's work.