The launch of an Across token will grow and unite the Across community, incentivize liquidity providers, increase awareness of Across, and further the mission of being the fastest and cheapest L2 bridge. This proposal outlines a token launch plan and can be largely divided into three parts:
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Initial Distribution - a diversified airdrop and a treasury token swap.
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Reward Locking Mechanism - a novel rewards program to incentivize all actions that support the Across protocol
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Future Actions - a fundraising plan using success tokens and a staking mechanism
Part 1 - Initial Distribution
100,000,000 Across tokens ($ACX) will be minted. 85,000,000 $ACX will remain in the Across Dao Treasury and be reserved for incentive rewards and a future success token sale. 15,000,000 $ACX will be the initial supply and distributed in the following way:
$ACX Airdrop - 10,000,000 $ACX in total will be rewarded to the following groups:
- 20%: Across community Discord members with “co-founder status” who joined before March 18, 2022
- 50%: LPs who pool assets and community members who refer users to the Across protocol before the token launch. The amount of rewards to LPs are pro-rated by size and a fixed amount of tokens will be emitted at each time since the inception of the protocol.
- 10%: Early Across protocol users who bridged assets before March 11, 2022
- 20%: Significant early contributors to the Across community which will later be determined by the new $ACX holders
*Weights and exact details are all subject to change and dependent on the data collected ahead of token launch.
These groups will not be rewarded $ACX directly, but will instead claim a special “Co-Founder” NFT that can be burned in return for the corresponding $ACX. The “Co-Founder” NFT will be the first NFT that interacts with the Reward Locking Mechanism which will be further explained below. Recipients who keep this NFT will be granted status to earn additional rewards from protocol actions at a higher rate. Individuals given this “Co-Founder” status are therefore heavily incentivized to keep these NFTs.
Token Swap for $UMA - 5,000,000 $ACX will be swapped with the Risk Labs Treasury for $2,500,000 worth of $UMA. This achieves two goals - it gives the Across community ownership and governance power in UMA which is critical to the security of the bridge, and it also provides voting rewards as a source of income to the Across DAO treasury. Risk Labs launched Across and will continue to support the protocol and community for the foreseeable future. Providing $ACX to Risk Labs will further incentivize the Risk Labs team. Risk Labs will have no plans to sell these tokens, but may use the tokens to help provide liquidity in $ACX and participate in governance.
Part 2 - Across Reward Locking Mechanism
UMA’s Optimistic Rewarder (OR) contract is a new DAO primitive that enables the creation of a customized rewards program that can direct token rewards to a wallet for any verifiable action that supports the protocol. This contract will be used to build the Across Reward Locking Mechanism to determine the rate at which rewards will be paid to a specific wallet. The longer a wallet keeps accumulated rewards unclaimed the faster the wallet earns additional rewards.
A significant portion of the 85,000,000 $ACX in reserve will be emitted through this incentive program and community members can earn $ACX by doing any of the following actions:
- Refer new users through the Across Referral Program
- Stake Across LP shares from bridge pools - WETH and USDC pools will be the first Across pools to be incentivized
- Stake $ACX LP shares from a designated $ACX/ETH pool
Across Referral Program - The referral program will convert the Across community into a sales force. To participate in the referral program, Across supporters can enter their wallet address to generate a unique referral link. A user who clicks that link and completes a bridge transfer on Across will attribute $ACX rewards to the referrer. Supporters are encouraged to share their link with friends and promote Across on social media, such as Twitter. This can also be used in integrations with other projects. A bridge aggregator or a DEX can create a referral link to connect Across to their dApp. Once that link is clicked and a bridge transfer is completed, rewards will be allocated to that project. The Across referral program will begin before the $ACX token is launched and a deserving wallet will earn the accumulated awards at token launch.
Reward Locked NFT and the Reward Locked Multiplier
Each community member who has taken one of the three actions to earn $ACX will be allowed to mint a Reward Locked NFT (reNFT). Each wallet will only have one reNFT even if multiple actions are performed. The single reNFT will represent the details of the actions performed and the accumulated $ACX rewards. In order to claim these rewards, the community member must burn their reNFT. If instead the community member decides to leave these rewards locked in the reNFT, the reNFT will accrue status and increase the rate at which additional rewards can be earned. The longer the rewards remain unclaimed the higher the rewards multiplier. However, once the reNFT is burned to claim rewards any multiplier and status obtained is immediately erased.
Reward Locked Multiplier for holding $ACX
Each unique reNFT will have a reward locked multiplier determined by how long a wallet has held their unclaimed $ACX rewards. Similar to existing liquidity mining programs, a set amount of $ACX is emitted at each block for the bridge pools and the $ACX/ETH liquidity pool. However, an LP’s share of token rewards is determined not only by the amount of assets the LP has relative to the entire pool, but also by the LP’s unique multiplier. The multiplier chart could look like the one illustrated below and it is further gamified with the reNFT receiving a level and title. The community is encouraged to discuss these parameters, titles, and other possible privileges. In addition, the community should consider ways to make the process sybil resistant so that it only encourages behavior that supports Across.
Level | Title | Days Held | Multiplier |
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1 | Troll | 30 | 0.5 |
2 | Peon | 60 | 0.75 |
3 | Grunt | 90 | 1 |
4 | TollKeeper | 120 | 1.1 |
5 | Mason | 150 | 1.2 |
6 | Welder | 180 | 1.3 |
7 | Foreman | 210 | 1.4 |
8 | Architect | 240 | 1.5 |
9 | Engineer | 270 | 1.75 |
10 | Master Builder | 300 | 2 |
*A troll cannot claim rewards
Reward Locking Mechanism = Gamification of DeFi
The benefits of the Reward Locking Mechanism are clear. Keeping rewards locked in a reNFT discourages farm and dump activity, but more importantly it makes the LP and referrer more engaged with the protocol. If you are encouraged to have a stake in the protocol you will naturally want to know more about it and you are incentivized to join the community and further its mission.
The reward locking mechanism can also be gamified further with a well thought out user interface and user experience to make it appear like an actual game. It can be built similar to a RPG where users can earn special NFTs or items for reaching certain milestones. Community members could build this and/or an actual game that uses these stats and do battles with one another. As well, a leader board can recognize the accomplishments of all committed Across users. This would all work to make the user very reluctant to claim their rewards and burn their precious reNFT. (The below graphic is my poor attempt at using Microsoft Paint and Word to show a mock UI.)
Part 3 - Future Actions
Success Token Sale - As the Across protocol grows and matures it will move further towards decentralization and will operate independent of Risk Labs. At that point the Across DAO should raise operating funds through an $ACX success token sale. Success tokens incentivize investors to engage with the protocol by rewarding them more tokens when a goal is achieved.
Staked $ACX - As the protocol matures, staked $ACX will grant governance rights and also share in Across protocol revenue. Governance can dictate where incentive rewards will be directed in order to determine which tokens and which L2 should get more liquidity. This vote lock like mechanism can add further value to $ACX and the Across protocol.
Conclusion
In addition to building community and incentivizing project goals, the Across token launch aims to create value and meaning to owning $ACX. The objective is to have $ACX token holders interact with the protocol through their token as soon as it is launched. In fact, by outlining what actions will be rewarded ahead of the airdrop, the protocol is encouraging Across LP activity and referrals even before the launch. The Across Reward Locking Mechanism will engage community members and use $ACX as a currency to gamify and incentivize contributions to the protocol. The $ACX token will represent real ownership of the Across protocol in terms of economics and governance.
Feedback on this proposal is very much welcome. Mechanics and numbers can and should all be discussed so that the community is comfortable ahead of this token launch.