Nova-Rewards

Nova Rewards — Product Requirements Document

Version: 1.0
Last Updated: March 28, 2026
Status: Draft — Pending Sign-off

Product Vision

Nova Rewards transforms traditional loyalty programs into a transparent, interoperable, blockchain-powered rewards ecosystem. By tokenizing loyalty points on the Stellar network, we give users true ownership of their rewards while enabling businesses to create engaging, cross-merchant loyalty experiences with minimal friction and maximum trust.

Target Users

Primary Users

Merchants & Businesses
- Small to medium-sized businesses seeking modern loyalty solutions
- E-commerce platforms wanting to differentiate through blockchain rewards
- Multi-location retailers needing unified loyalty infrastructure
- Web3-native brands targeting crypto-savvy customers
End Customers
- Crypto-curious consumers exploring blockchain utility
- Loyalty program participants frustrated with traditional point systems
- Users seeking transferable, redeemable digital assets
- Early adopters interested in DeFi and tokenized rewards

Secondary Users

Platform Administrators
- System operators managing contract deployments and upgrades
- Support teams handling merchant onboarding and troubleshooting

Problem Statement

Traditional loyalty programs suffer from:

Fragmentation: Points locked within single merchant ecosystems with no portability
Opacity: Hidden expiration rules, arbitrary devaluations, unclear redemption terms
Limited Value: Restricted redemption options, poor liquidity, no peer-to-peer transfer
High Friction: Complex enrollment, delayed point crediting, cumbersome redemption flows
Trust Deficit: Centralized control enables unilateral program changes without user consent

Nova Rewards solves these problems by leveraging blockchain transparency, smart contract automation, and Stellar’s fast, low-cost infrastructure to create a loyalty ecosystem where rewards are truly owned, freely transferable, and verifiably fair.

Goals & Success Metrics

Business Goals

Merchant Adoption: Onboard 50+ merchants by Public Launch
User Engagement: Achieve 10,000+ registered wallets within 6 months of launch
Transaction Volume: Process 100,000+ reward transactions in Year 1
Platform Sustainability: Establish revenue model through merchant fees or premium features

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Metric	Target (3 months post-launch)	Target (6 months post-launch)
Daily Active Users (DAU)	500	2,000
Points Issued per Day	50,000 NOVA	200,000 NOVA
Redemption Rate	15%	25%
Referral Conversion Rate	10%	20%
Staking Participation Rate	N/A (V2 feature)	30% of active users
Average Transaction Time	<5 seconds	<5 seconds
Merchant Retention (90-day)	70%	80%

Feature List

Core Features (Must Have)

1. Blockchain Infrastructure

NOVA Token Contract — Stellar-based asset issuance with mint/burn/transfer capabilities
Reward Pool Contract — Secure deposit/withdrawal mechanism for merchant reward funding
Admin Roles Contract — Multi-signature admin management with two-step transfer
Contract Upgrade System — Safe WASM upgrade path with data migration support

Related Issues: #206 (upgrade), #205 (precision)

2. Reward Distribution

Merchant Dashboard — Campaign creation, reward issuance, transaction history
Automated Reward Crediting — Backend API for programmatic point distribution
Batch Reward Processing — Efficient multi-recipient reward distribution
Reward Rate Configuration — Flexible percentage-based reward calculations with 6-decimal precision

Related Issues: #205 (fixed-point arithmetic)

3. User Wallet Integration

Freighter Wallet Connect — Browser extension integration for transaction signing
Trustline Management — Automated trustline creation for NOVA asset
Balance Display — Real-time NOVA balance and transaction history
Peer-to-Peer Transfer — User-to-user NOVA token transfers

4. Referral System

Referral Registration — One-time referrer assignment per wallet
Referral Tracking — Counter-based leaderboard for top referrers
Referral Rewards — Automated bonus crediting for successful referrals
Duplicate Prevention — Enforcement of single-referrer-per-user rule

Related Issues: #101 (referral logic)

5. Redemption System

Merchant Redemption Interface — Point-for-product/service exchange
Redemption History — Audit trail of all redemption transactions
Multi-Merchant Redemption — Cross-merchant point acceptance

Enhanced Features (Should Have)

6. Cross-Asset Swaps

DEX Integration — Multi-hop swap routing for NOVA → XLM conversion
Slippage Protection — Minimum output guarantees for swap transactions
Swap Path Optimization — Up to 5-hop routing for best exchange rates

Related Issues: #200 (swap implementation)

7. Vesting & Time-Locked Rewards

Vesting Schedule Creation — Cliff and linear vesting configurations
Automated Release — Time-based token unlock mechanism
Beneficiary Management — Multi-schedule support per user

8. Analytics & Reporting

Merchant Analytics Dashboard — Campaign performance, ROI metrics
User Activity Insights — Engagement patterns, redemption behavior
Leaderboard System — Top earners, top referrers, most active merchants

9. Email Notifications

Reward Alerts — Email confirmation of points earned
Redemption Confirmations — Transaction receipts
Campaign Announcements — Merchant promotional communications

Future Features (Could Have)

10. Staking & Yield

NOVA Staking Pools — Lock tokens for yield generation
Tiered Rewards — Bonus multipliers for staked balances
Governance Participation — Voting rights for stakers (V2)

11. NFT Integration

Achievement Badges — Non-fungible rewards for milestones
Exclusive Access Tokens — NFT-gated merchant perks
Collectible Campaigns — Limited-edition digital collectibles

12. Mobile Application

Native iOS/Android Apps — Mobile-first user experience
Push Notifications — Real-time reward alerts
QR Code Redemption — In-store point-of-sale integration

Feature Priority Matrix

Priority	Feature	GitHub Issues	Milestone
Must Have	NOVA Token Contract	—	Alpha
Must Have	Reward Pool Contract	—	Alpha
Must Have	Admin Roles Contract	—	Alpha
Must Have	Referral System	#101	Alpha
Must Have	Fixed-Point Arithmetic	#205	Alpha
Must Have	Contract Upgrade System	#206	Alpha
Must Have	Merchant Dashboard	—	Beta
Must Have	User Wallet Integration	—	Beta
Must Have	Reward Distribution API	—	Beta
Must Have	Redemption System	—	Beta
Must Have	Stellar Integration	#246	Beta
Should Have	Cross-Asset Swaps	#200	Public Launch
Should Have	Vesting Contracts	—	Public Launch
Should Have	Analytics Dashboard	—	Public Launch
Should Have	Email Notifications	—	Public Launch
Should Have	Leaderboard System	—	Public Launch
Could Have	Staking Pools	—	V2
Could Have	NFT Integration	—	V2
Could Have	Mobile Apps	—	V2
Won’t Have	Fiat On-Ramp (use 3rd party)	—	—
Won’t Have	Built-in KYC (use 3rd party)	—	—

Milestone Schedule

Milestone	Target Date	Required Issues	Success Criteria
Alpha (Internal)	Q2 2026	#101, #205, #206	All smart contracts deployed to Testnet; basic reward issuance functional; internal team testing complete
Beta (Closed)	Q3 2026	#200, #246	10 pilot merchants onboarded; 500 beta users; swap functionality live; feedback collection system operational
Public Launch	Q4 2026	All Must Have + Should Have	50+ merchants; 5,000+ users; full feature set live on Mainnet; documentation complete; support infrastructure ready
V2 (Enhanced)	Q2 2027	Staking, NFTs, Mobile	Staking pools live; NFT rewards integrated; mobile apps in app stores; 20,000+ users

Out of Scope

The following features are explicitly excluded from the current roadmap:

Fiat Payment Processing — Merchants handle fiat transactions independently; Nova Rewards focuses on reward layer only
Built-in KYC/AML — Compliance delegated to wallet providers and merchant systems
Custodial Wallets — Users must bring their own Stellar wallets (non-custodial model)
Multi-Chain Support — Stellar-only for V1; other chains considered for V2+
Merchant Payment Gateway — Not a POS system; integrates with existing payment infrastructure
Customer Support Chat — Email/ticket-based support only; no live chat in V1
Automated Market Making — DEX liquidity provision handled by external protocols
Credit/Lending Features — No borrowing against NOVA balances in V1

Risks & Mitigations

Technical Risks

Risk	Impact	Probability	Mitigation
Smart Contract Vulnerabilities	Critical	Medium	Comprehensive test coverage; external audit before Mainnet; bug bounty program
Stellar Network Congestion	High	Low	Monitor network health; implement retry logic; maintain XLM reserves for fees
WASM Size Limits	Medium	Medium	Storage schema optimization (#205); modular contract architecture; regular size audits
Upgrade Migration Failures	High	Low	Extensive upgrade testing (#206); rollback procedures; staged rollout
DEX Liquidity Issues	Medium	Medium	Partner with liquidity providers; set realistic slippage tolerances; educate users

Business Risks

Risk	Impact	Probability	Mitigation
Low Merchant Adoption	Critical	Medium	Pilot program with incentives; clear ROI documentation; white-glove onboarding
Regulatory Uncertainty	High	Medium	Legal counsel review; terms of service clarity; geographic restrictions if needed
User Wallet Friction	High	High	Detailed onboarding guides; video tutorials; Freighter partnership for UX improvements
Token Value Volatility	Medium	High	Merchant-funded pools; no speculative trading emphasis; utility-focused messaging
Competitor Launch	Medium	Medium	Rapid iteration; community building; unique Stellar advantages (speed, cost)

Operational Risks

Risk	Impact	Probability	Mitigation
Key Management Failures	Critical	Low	Hardware security modules; multi-sig admin controls; documented key rotation procedures
Backend Downtime	High	Low	Redundant infrastructure; monitoring/alerting; 99.9% uptime SLA
Support Overload	Medium	High	Comprehensive FAQ; community forums; tiered support system; chatbot for common issues
Data Loss	High	Low	Automated backups; blockchain immutability for critical data; disaster recovery plan

Technical Architecture Summary

Smart Contracts (Soroban/Rust)

nova_token — ERC-20-style token with mint/burn
reward_pool — Merchant deposit/withdrawal management
admin_roles — Multi-sig admin with two-step transfer
vesting — Time-locked token release
referral — Referral tracking and reward crediting
nova-rewards — Core rewards logic with swap integration

Backend (Node.js/Express)

RESTful API for merchant/user operations
PostgreSQL database for off-chain data
Stellar SDK integration for transaction submission
JWT authentication for merchant dashboards

Frontend (Next.js/React)

Merchant dashboard (campaign management, analytics)
User dashboard (balance, history, redemption)
Freighter wallet integration
Responsive design for mobile/desktop

Infrastructure

Stellar Testnet (Alpha/Beta)
Stellar Mainnet (Public Launch)
Horizon API for blockchain queries
AWS/Vercel hosting (TBD)

Success Criteria for Launch

Alpha Readiness

All 6 smart contracts deployed and tested on Testnet
Fixed-point arithmetic validated (#205)
Upgrade mechanism tested (#206)
Referral system functional (#101)
Internal team can issue/redeem rewards end-to-end

Beta Readiness

Merchant onboarding flow complete
User wallet connection working (Freighter)
Stellar integration guide published (#246)
10 pilot merchants signed up
500 beta users registered
Feedback collection system operational

Public Launch Readiness

All Must Have + Should Have features live
Smart contract audit complete (external firm)
Mainnet deployment successful
Documentation complete (user guides, API docs, merchant handbook)
Support infrastructure ready (ticketing system, FAQ, tutorials)
50+ merchants onboarded
Marketing campaign launched
Legal terms of service finalized

Sign-off

This PRD requires approval from the project lead and at least two contributors before implementation begins.

Role	Name	Signature	Date
Project Lead	[Pending]	[Pending]	[Pending]
Contributor 1	[Pending]	[Pending]	[Pending]
Contributor 2	[Pending]	[Pending]	[Pending]

Appendix

Revision History

| Version | Date | Author | Changes | |———|——|——–|———| | 1.0 | 2026-03-28 | AI Assistant | Initial PRD creation |

Document Status: Draft — Awaiting review and sign-off from project stakeholders.