> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://dualguard.gitbook.io/dualguard/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://dualguard.gitbook.io/dualguard/security-reviews/guards/how-your-reward-is-calculated.md).

# How Your Reward is Calculated

The total Contest Points which can be earned in a contest is the sum of the average Contest Points of each competitor (plus an inflation amount to offset new entrants). In this way, Guards aren’t given an unfair advantage or disadvantage if they compete in a contest with relatively weak or relatively strong participants.

Then, each Guard generates a score based on the amount of high and medium severity findings they submit.

> Note: In DualGuard contests, only Medium and High severity issues count for Issue Points that affect your leaderboard ranking. There might be a reward for submitting Low severity issues, that depends on whether the protocol team decides to reserve a pot for low severity issues or not.

The points awarded for each H/M issue submitted in a specific contest are called “H/M Issue Points."

The points awarded for each L issue submitted in a specific contest are called “L Issue Points."

A Guard’s Contest Points and payout from the H/M pot is determined by calculating their share of all the H/M Issue Points awarded, then multiplying their share by the total Contest Points and H/M pot.

A Guard’s payout from the L pot is determined by calculating their share of all the L Issue Points awarded, then multiplying their share by the total Contest Points and L pot.

> *For each language, protocol category and fork origin:*
>
> *Guard1 Ranking Points = (Guard1 H/M Issue Points Awarded / AllGuards H/M Issue Points Awarded) \** (Total Ranking Points Available)

> *Guard1 H/M reward = (Guard1 H/M Issue Points Awarded / AllGuards H/M Issue Points Awarded) \* (Total H/M Pot)*

> *Guard1 L reward = (Guard1 L Issue Points Awarded / AllGuards L Issue Points Awarded) \* (Total L Pot)*

A Guard’s H/M Issue Points earned is weighted based on severity and is calculated with sybil resistance in mind. The formula disincentivizes participants in the contest from submitting findings under multiple identities to try to earn more of the prize pool (i.e. a sybil attack). It does this by awarding a greater pro-rata portion of the prize pool based on not only the *severity* of the finding, but also the *uniqueness*. In instances where multiple people find the same issue, the cumulative score is less than if one person found it, effectively penalizing an individual who attempts to “sybil attack” a finding. As you can see, High issues are weighted 5x more heavily than Medium issues:

> *Medium Severity Issue Points Weighting = 1 \* (0.9 ^ (IssueSubmissions - 1)) / IssueSubmissions*

> *High Severity Issue Points Weighting = 5 \* (0.9 ^ (IssueSubmissions - 1)) / IssueSubmissions*

Since Low severity issues have a pot reserved for them, here's the formula:

> *Low Severity Issue Points Weighting = 1 \* (0.9 ^ (IssueSubmissions - 1)) / IssueSubmissions*