CVI · Reputation Score
CVI
Community Value Index
CVI is Trusta’s central reputation score. It’s the single, multi-layered, multi-dimensional measure of a person’s standing in the community of people they’ve worked with. Every Trusta user has one, and it grows (or doesn’t) based on every sealed and reflected interaction they have over time.
Section 1
What CVI is composed of
CVI is not one number. It’s a layered structure that rolls up into a single headline figure but reveals depth when you look closer.
The five dimensions
Every reflection rates an interaction across these five axes, each from 1 to 5:
01 · Reliability
Did they show up, on time, as agreed.
02 · Quality
Was the work or the goods up to standard.
03 · Communication
Were they clear, responsive, present.
04 · Fairness
Was the price honest, the terms reasonable.
05 · Respect
Did the interaction feel safe, dignified, human.
A user can be skipped on any dimension if it doesn’t apply. Each dimension has its own running average across all the user’s reflections. Reputation is therefore a shape, not a score — visualized as the radar pentagon on every public profile.
The geographic and contextual layers
The same user has different CVI scores at different scopes:
Global CVI
Across all interactions everywhere.
Country CVI
Within a specific country (Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, etc.).
City CVI
Within a specific urban catchment (Nairobi, Lagos, Accra, etc.).
Category CVI
Within a specific work category (transport, home services, tutoring, freelance design, etc.).
Cross-border CVI
Performance specifically on interactions that crossed national lines.
Repeat-customer CVI
How the user performs with people they’ve worked with multiple times — a stronger signal than one-off interactions.
Recent CVI
Performance over the last 90 days, which weights recency.
These layers let a viewer ask precise questions. Is this plumber good in my city? (City + Category CVI). Is this seller reliable with repeat buyers? (Repeat-customer CVI). Has their performance improved or declined recently? (Recent CVI vs Global CVI).
The trust bands
The headline single-figure CVI maps onto six visible bands:
Platinum
Highest tier. Rare. Sustained excellence across many interactions and counterparties.
Gold
Strong reputation, well-established.
Silver
Solid, growing — the band most active users live in.
Bronze
Newer or lower-volume, still building.
Watch
Recent issues or insufficient data — viewers should approach with care.
Flagged
Active disputes, abuse signals, or system-flagged issues.
Each band has a distinctive shield shape and color, shown on every profile and beside the user’s handle in lists.
Section 2
What makes CVI different from typical ratings
A few properties make CVI structurally different from Uber-style or Yelp-style ratings:
I
It’s mutual.
Both parties of every interaction confirm the seal before any reflection can happen. One-sided ratings are structurally impossible. This eliminates review-bombing, retaliatory ratings, and most forms of one-party manipulation.
II
It’s anchored.
Every sealed record is committed to the Bantu blockchain. The historical record cannot be quietly altered or deleted. CVI is computed from a permanent, verifiable substrate.
III
It’s diversified by counterparty.
The CVI calculation weights reflections by how diverse the counterparties are. A user with 100 reflections from 100 different people has a far stronger CVI than a user with 100 reflections from 5 friends. This is the primary structural defense against friend-ring manipulation.
IV
It’s portable.
CVI travels with the user. It is not locked inside a single platform or category of work. A boda rider who builds a strong CVI driving can carry that reputation when she pivots to delivery, and partially when she pivots to tutoring (Reliability and Respect transfer; Quality and Fairness need to rebuild within the new category).
V
It’s honest about uncertainty.
New users with few interactions don’t get inflated scores. The system shows confidence intervals — a user with 4.8 average across 8 reflections is shown differently from a user with 4.7 average across 800 reflections. The latter is far more credible despite the slightly lower number.
VI
It’s multi-dimensional rather than collapsed.
Most reputation systems flatten everything to one star rating, which loses information. “4.3 stars” could mean consistently mediocre across the board, or brilliant on quality but poor on communication. CVI preserves that distinction by exposing all five dimensions.
Section 3
How CVI is shown to users
- 01Headline number at the top of every Profile (e.g., 612 / 850 to Gold).
- 02Trust band shield beside the user’s handle everywhere they appear.
- 03Radar pentagon showing the shape across the five dimensions.
- 04Layered breakdown via the View breakdown link on Profile, showing all the geographic and contextual variants.
- 05Dimension-specific badges like “Platinum Communicator” or “Gold Reliability Streak” — sub-band achievements that recognize excellence in a single dimension even if the overall CVI is at a different band.
Section 4
What CVI is for
CVI exists to answer one question that humans have been asking strangers for ten thousand years: can I trust this person to do what they claim?
It does this with structured, verified, mutually-confirmed evidence rather than with credentials or institutional vouches. It’s the modern, portable, multi-dimensional form of let me give you their name, they did good work for me.
A user’s Trusta CVI is what they show when they introduce themselves to a stranger who needs to trust them — a new customer, a new employer, a new partner, a new collaborator across borders.
The Hook
Over time, as the network deepens,“check my Trusta”becomes the social phrase that initiates that check.
That’s CVI in full. It’s the heart of the product — the thing that makes Trusta more than a record-keeping app and turns it into reputation infrastructure.