Protocol

Tokenomics

veTOPAZ is the governance and incentive backbone of the Topaz protocol. Locking TOPAZ grants ve voting power, which directs all protocol emissions and earns trading fees and bribes.

TOPAZ Token

TOPAZ is the protocol token with a total initial supply of 500,000,000 (500M). The token serves three primary functions:

✓Governance — ve voting on gauges and protocol parameters
✓Incentive alignment — locking rewards long-term participants with trading fees and bribes
✓Liquidity direction — emissions flow to the pools that voters choose

Initial Allocation

50M

Liquid TOPAZ

Freely transferable tokens distributed at launch for initial liquidity and ecosystem bootstrapping.

250M

Protocol Foundation & Team veTOPAZ

Locked as veTOPAZ with a 4-year lock. Used for protocol governance, strategic voting, and long-term alignment.

200M

Airdrop & Sacrifice veTOPAZ

Distributed as locked veTOPAZ to sacrifice participants and airdrop recipients. Ensures early supporters have governance power from day one.

ℹNo pre-mine

All TOPAZ beyond the initial allocation is minted exclusively through the protocol's emission schedule. There is no additional pre-mine or hidden supply.

Vote-Escrow (ve)

Locking TOPAZ mints veTOPAZ, represented as a veNFT. The lock amount and duration determine voting power. Voting power decays linearly as the lock approaches expiration.

ℹve mechanics

1 TOPAZ locked for 4 years = 1 veTOPAZ. 1 TOPAZ locked for 1 year = 0.25 veTOPAZ. Locking for less time yields proportionally less voting power.

Maximum lock: 4 years. Minimum lock: 1 week. There is no unbonding period — tokens are released immediately upon lock expiration. Holders can also convert to a permanent lock for maximum, non-decaying voting power (irreversible).

Epochs & Voting

Each epoch is one week (Thursday 00:00 UTC to Thursday 00:00 UTC). ve holders vote to allocate TOPAZ emissions across active gauges. Voting happens on-chain and can be split across up to 30 gauges.

Votes reset each epoch — you must re-vote each week to direct emissions. Unused voting power does not carry over between epochs.

Trading Fees

All trading fees generated by Topaz pools flow to veTOPAZ voters — not to a protocol treasury. When you vote for a gauge, you earn a proportional share of the trading fees generated by that pool.

✓Stable pools: 0.05% default fee

✓Volatile pools: 0.30% default fee

✓Custom fees: individual pools can have custom fee rates set by the fee manager (up to 3% max)

✓Dynamic fees: concentrated liquidity pools adjust fees based on price volatility relative to TWAP

ℹFees reward voters, not the protocol

Unlike protocols with a fee switch that routes fees to a treasury, Topaz sends 100% of trading fees to veTOPAZ voters. This directly aligns voter incentives with choosing productive, high-volume pools.

Emission Schedule

Emissions follow a three-phase model designed to bootstrap liquidity early, then gradually transition to sustainable long-term issuance.

Phase 1: Growth (Weeks 1–14)

Starting at 10M TOPAZ per week, emissions grow 3% each week to rapidly bootstrap liquidity and attract early LPs.

Phase 2: Decay (Week 15+)

Emissions decay 1% per week from their peak, gradually reducing inflation as the protocol matures and fee revenue grows.

Phase 3: Tail Emissions

Once weekly emissions fall below the tail threshold, the protocol transitions to a percentage-of-supply model (initially ~0.67% annually). This rate can be adjusted ±0.01% per epoch via governance voting, within a 0.01%–1% range.

Rebases

veTOPAZ holders receive rebases — additional TOPAZ that compounds into their locked position — to offset dilution from emissions. The rebase amount scales with the ratio of unlocked to locked supply: the fewer tokens locked, the higher the rebase for those who are locked.

Rebases for active locks auto-compound (increasing locked amount). Expired locks receive rebases as liquid TOPAZ instead.