veTokenomics

Vote-escrowed (ve) tokens are governance's killer mechanic. Lock your tokens for up to 4 years — the longer you lock, the more voting power you get. Your power decays linearly toward zero as the lock approaches expiry. This aligns long-term holders with protocol health, but also spawned the "Curve Wars" — a multi-billion-dollar battle for gauge control.

🔒 ve-Lock Simulator

Tokens to Lock 10000 Lock Duration (weeks) 208 Total veCRV Supply 500,000,000

Initial vePower

10,000

Lock Years

4.0

% of Total Supply

0.002%

Boost Multiplier

2.5x

Power at 1yr

7,500

⚔️ Gauge Weight Voting

veToken holders vote on how reward emissions are distributed across pools (gauges). Pools with more gauge votes receive more CRV/BAL rewards, attracting more liquidity. This is the core mechanic behind the Curve Wars.

CONVEX

Controls ~50% of all veCRV. Voters lock CRV in Convex and vote via vlCVX to direct emissions.

VOTIUM

Bribe marketplace. Protocols pay vlCVX holders to vote for their gauges. $500M+ in bribes paid.

AURA / HIDDEN HAND

Same pattern for Balancer. Aura is to BAL what Convex is to CRV. Gauge wars everywhere.

📐 The Boost Formula

boost = min(userLP, 0.4·userLP + 0.6·totalLP·(veBalance/veSupply)) / (0.4·userLP)

Your CRV rewards are boosted up to 2.5x based on your veToken holdings relative to total supply and your LP position size. Without any veCRV, you only earn 40% of maximum rewards. Maximum boost requires your veCRV share to match or exceed your LP share.