On November 12, 2026, Ethos announced that invites are gone and anyone can now join Ethos. For almost two years before that, the only way in was an invite from someone already on the network.
If you’ve been waiting for an invite, you no longer need one. The change also reflects Ethos’s view that its credibility scores now handle the filtering that invites used to do.
Why Ethos used invites
Ethos is an onchain reputation network where people review and vouch for each other, and every account gets a credibility score from what others say about it. According to Ethos, the invite requirement kept the network small while those scores proved they could tell real people from spam.
Ethos said invites were never meant to be permanent. They were the filter the network needed while the scores were still nascent.
What does that job now
The scores, Ethos said, turned out to tell real people from spam “really well.” With that established, two things now do the job invites used to do:
- Human verification
- The Ethos score itself
In Ethos’s words, they do that job “better than any gatekeeper could,” which means the network can “finally take on everyone who’s been waiting outside.”
What the images show
The two illustrations attached to the announcement carry the same theme. The first shows a figure in a tactical vest with a patch reading “VALIDATOR” and a QR code, standing in front of massive fortress gates that have swung open onto bright light. The second shows an armored figure holding a heavy padlock and chain beside an open iron gate, while a line of people walks up a path lit by a lighthouse beam.
Why it matters
An invite-only network can only grow as fast as its members choose to bring others in. Dropping invites removes that bottleneck, while Ethos relies on human verification and the score to keep spam out.
For people joining now, that means they no longer need to know someone already on Ethos to get in. Once they’re on the network, their credibility score comes from what others say about them through reviews and vouches.
This article first appeared as a thread on X. Follow @ethos_network for updates.
