The Reputation Phonebook MVP Is Here to Help You Spot Scams Before You Even Pick Up

Have you ever received a very convincing call claiming to be from your bank that your account has been compromised or a government tax agency claiming you owe back taxes? Phone fraud is a growing problem, and we need a better way to protect ourselves as scammers can retrieve enough information to make their call sound official and convincing.

What's clear is instances of phone scams have been booming globally over the past few years. Fraudsters recognize the financial rewards associated with scams and there are no shortages of potential targets.

According to AJP, South Korea alone saw voice phishing losses hit $216M in just Q1 2025, with over half of these cases involving callers posing as government agencies. In Europe and the UK, people get fake calls claiming “suspicious transactions” on their card or bogus life insurance offers designed to steal personal data or money.

With so many fake calls and spoofed numbers out there, it's easy to feel like you can't trust anyone on the other end of the line. That's why we're introducing the Reputation Phonebook MVP - a decentralized tool designed to help users verify phone numbers and know who they're really dealing with. This isn't just a new feature; it's a natural extension of what Graphite Network already stands for: reputation, trust, and transparency. By bringing these values to everyday communication, we're aiming to make digital interactions a little safer, and a lot more human.

This is described as “a decentralized identity tool” that rates users based on voting and behavior, with all data stored in smart contracts. In other words, once a number is verified, the system links that number to a trust score on-chain.

Anyone can query the score before interacting. You might think of it as a community-driven “trust meter” for phone calls. If many honest users upvote a number, its score goes up; if a number gets flagged by users, its score drops. This on-chain ledger of votes is fully transparent and public, so anyone can see how a number’s reputation was built, or lost.

It’s all part of our mission to bring verifiable trust into everyday interactions. And if you’re wondering how it all works in practice, don’t worry – we’re breaking it down in the text that follows.

The Phonebook, Step by Step

Here’s a quick look at how everything comes together:

• Verify your number: To register, users pay a small activation fee and verify their phone number via SMS or Telegram. This step verifies you’re a real person, but your number is not stored or shared. It’s encrypted and used only once to confirm that your Graphite wallet is eligible to vote.
• Connect to your Graphite Network address: Once verified, your number is linked to your Graphite Network address on-chain. From this point on, your wallet (not your phone number) becomes your identity within the system.
• Get your voting points: After registration, your address receives 100 voting points. These points represent your ability to participate in the Phonebook’s reputation system.
• Vote on other numbers: If you receive a call or message from a number, you can cast a vote, either positive or negative, based on your experience. Each vote is an on-chain transaction, adding transparency to the process. For example, if a number consistently spams people, downvotes from trusted users will lower its score.
• Check reputations: Anyone can look up a number’s reputation score. Numbers with a strong history of upvotes from verified users will be marked as more trustworthy, while suspicious ones flagged by the community will carry a visible warning.

It’s already well-known that we at Graphite Network believe that trust must be verifiable. Each on-chain reputation is “visible to all”, much like a public credit score that’s verifiable through our smart contract. The score is weighted to favor recent votes (so a number’s reputation updates quickly to reflect current behavior) and also to give more influence to well-behaving voters.

In practice this means newer votes count more, and votes from users with a clean track record carry slightly more weight. All of these rules are encoded in the open contract, so anyone can check exactly how a score is derived. There’s no hidden “trust oracle”, meaning it is fully community-driven and auditable.

Web3 Tools Are Finally Solving Problems Everyone Understands

With this MVP, we’re showing how Web3 identity and reputation can solve real-world problems, not just in finance, but in everyday life. One of the most common criticisms of blockchain is that it lacks real utility for regular people. The Phonebook turns that idea on its head by applying on-chain trust to something as familiar (and frustrating) as phone calls.

By assigning each number to a unique blockchain identity, we can turn an anonymous call into a verifiable profile. In effect, we’re using the same trust frameworks that power DeFi protocols to make personal communication safer, more transparent, and harder to abuse.

Rather than relying on outdated blocklists or centralized databases, the Phonebook puts reputation in the hands of the community. Crypto incentives encourage honest reporting, and collective feedback shapes the trustworthiness of each number.

Scammers often spoof official hotlines like fake police departments or tax authorities. If enough users downvote one of these, its on-chain score drops – alerting others before they even pick up. Meanwhile, real businesses can build provable reputations that are instantly visible.

It’s essentially a decentralized, crowd-sourced version of caller ID, but smarter, more secure, and powered by blockchain where it actually makes a difference.

Next Time Your Phone Rings, You Might Actually Know Who to Trust

With the Phonebook MVP, trust becomes something you can check before picking up the phone. As scammers get louder, this tool gives people the power to verify who’s on the other end, without giving up their own privacy. It’s a simple idea, but one that nudges us closer to a future where reputation is verifiable, privacy is protected, and your phone only rings when it should.

Learn more and try Phonebook at: phonebook.atgraphite.com