SNCT tokenomics
Locked 2026-06-25. This doc supersedes the 2026-06-16 draft. Pairs with
docs/airdrop-points-system-design.md,docs/airdrop-genesis-allocation.md, and the LP farm constants index-app/lib/farm-config.ts.
Headline
| Total genesis supply | 1,000,000,000 SNCT (fixed at genesis) |
| Decimals | 18 (base unit asnct) |
| Inflation | 7–20% annual (Cosmos Hub curve, auto-adjusts toward 67% bonded ratio) |
| Distribution at TGE | 100% of 1B minted at genesis to allocation contracts / multisigs |
| Burn | None at v1 (DEX fees flow to Treasury via UniV2 feeTo, gas burn via EIP-1559) |
Allocation breakdown (sums to 100% / 1B)
| # | Bucket | % | Tokens | Unlock | Custody |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Airdrop | 30% | 300,000,000 | 4 phases × 75M at Day 180 / 270 / 360 / 450, each 180-day linear vest from claim, unclaimed → Treasury at +365d post-snapshot | AirdropDistributor.sol (registered claim, governed by protocol-governance multisig) |
| 2 | Treasury | 25% | 250,000,000 | Day 0 unlocked, held by Treasury role | Protocol-governance EOA → 3-of-5 Safe by Day 14 |
| 3 | Community & ecosystem | 10% | 100,000,000 | 20M/yr hard cap × 5 years, unspent yearly budget rolls forward | Protocol-governance multisig |
| 4 | LP incentives | 10% | 100,000,000 | 5-year emission via TreasuryEmitter → MasterChef; weights + per-pool tier caps below | TreasuryEmitter (immutable schedule) |
| 5 | Team | 10% | 100,000,000 | 48-month linear vest, cliff at Day 185 | Team multisig (3-of-5) |
| 6 | Listings / Marketing / BD / Audit | 5% | 50,000,000 | Day 0 fully unlocked (operational runway) | Protocol-governance multisig |
| 7 | Validator grants | 5% | 50,000,000 | 5M Day-0 to genesis 50 (100k each); 45M open discretionary for new partnerships | Validator-grants multisig |
| 8 | Foundation | 3% | 30,000,000 | 48-month linear from Day 0, no cliff | Foundation 3-of-5 Safe (3 team + 2 operators) |
| 9 | Advisors + Influencers | 1% | 10,000,000 | Advisors 5M / 24-mo, Influencers 5M / 18-mo | Advisor multisig (2-of-3), Influencer multisig (2-of-3) |
| 10 | Discretionary | 1% | 10,000,000 | Operator emergency reserve | 3-of-5 Safe |
| TOTAL | 100% | 1,000,000,000 |
Day 0 circulating supply
Despite 1B minted at genesis, the actual Day 0 circulating supply is ~5M SNCT — only genesis validator grants enter the open market. Every other bucket is locked, vesting, or sitting in a multisig with no spending event triggered yet.
| Bucket | Liquid at Day 0 |
|---|---|
| Airdrop (300M) | 0 (first claim Day 180) |
| Treasury (250M) | 0 (held, no allocation events) |
| Community (100M) | 0 (no grants disbursed) |
| LP incentives (100M) | ~0 (emission starts Day 0 at 0.1 SNCT/block) |
| Team (100M) | 0 (cliff Day 185) |
| Listings/Mktg/BD/Audit (50M) | Up to 50M available; spend as invoiced |
| Validator grants (50M) | 5M (genesis 50 × 100k each) |
| Foundation (30M) | ~0 (linear, ~625k/mo accrued) |
| Advisors + Influencers (10M) | 0 (vested) |
| Discretionary (10M) | 0 (reserve) |
| Realistic Day 0 circulating | ~5M SNCT |
After Day 185 (team cliff) and Day 180 (airdrop Phase 1) the float ramps. Foundation + advisor + influencer + team continue linear vesting for years.
LP incentives — 100M over 5 years
Total: 100M SNCT distributed via TreasuryEmitter → MasterChef at 0.1 SNCT/block = 21,600/day = 7.88M/year nominal. Actual rate halves at Year 3 and Year 5 to fit 100M into the 5-year window.
Pool weights (locked, 60/40 stables/volatile)
All four pools are SNCT-paired — every pool is a price-discovery surface for SNCT.
| Pool | Weight | Annual SNCT (full rate) | $ value @ $1 SNCT |
|---|---|---|---|
| SNCT/USDC | 30% | 6M | $6M |
| SNCT/USDT | 30% | 6M | $6M |
| SNCT/WETH | 20% | 4M | $4M |
| SNCT/WBTC | 20% | 4M | $4M |
Cross-asset pools (USDT/USDC, USDT/WETH, etc.) exist as factory pairs for swap routing but are NOT in the LP incentive program.
Per-pool TVL-tiered emission cap (locked)
Acts as an upper bound regardless of allocPoint share. Stops dead pools from soaking emissions; rewards real depth.
| Pool TVL (USD) | Per-pool emission cap |
|---|---|
| < $1k | 0.0001 SNCT/block (bootstrap floor) |
| $1k – $10k | 0.001 SNCT/block |
| $10k – $50k | 0.01 SNCT/block |
| $50k – $200k | 0.03 SNCT/block |
| ≥ $200k | 0.05 SNCT/block (hard cap) |
Total protocol-wide MasterChef emission stays 0.1 SNCT/block. The tier is a per-pool ceiling; a pool can never exceed it even if its allocPoint share would otherwise pull more.
Constants in dex-app/lib/farm-config.ts. Enforcement v1 = soft governance via operator multisig rebalancing allocPoints quarterly + Farm tab UI warnings. Enforcement v2 (Phase 2) = on-chain TvlCapWrapper between TreasuryEmitter and MasterChef.
Governance constraints
| Constraint | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Target annual emission | 5% of supply | Conservative launch. Current 0.79%/yr leaves 6.3× headroom. |
| Hard annual emission ceiling | 24% of supply | Requires DAO vote to exceed. Defends against runaway dilution. |
Airdrop — 4 phases × 75M (locked)
See docs/airdrop-points-system-design.md for the full points system and docs/airdrop-distributor-spec.md for the on-chain distribution contract (registered claim model — pre-loaded per-user allocations, user-initiated claim with on-chain signature, internal 180-day vest).
| Phase | Snapshot + claim opens | Tokens | Vesting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 | Day 180 | 75M | 180-day linear from claim |
| Phase 2 | Day 270 | 75M | 180-day linear from claim |
| Phase 3 | Day 360 | 75M | 180-day linear from claim |
| Phase 4 | Day 450 | 75M | 180-day linear from claim |
- Points reset per phase (anti-mercenary)
- No per-wallet cap, no per-referrer cap (real work = real points)
- Genesis Allocation Uniswap-baseline gets wallet-age multiplier (1.1× / 1.25× / 1.5× / 2× for 1+ / 2+ / 5+ / 7+ yr wallets)
- Unclaimed > 365 days post-snapshot → Treasury
Community & ecosystem — 20M/yr cap × 5 years
100M total disbursed as grants, partnerships, hackathons, ecosystem support over 5 years with a 20M annual cap. Unspent yearly budget rolls forward to next year.
| Year | Annual cap |
|---|---|
| Year 1 (Day 0–365) | 20M |
| Year 2 | 20M (+ Y1 rollover) |
| Year 3 | 20M (+ rollover) |
| Year 4 | 20M (+ rollover) |
| Year 5 | 20M (+ rollover) — final year |
After Year 5, bucket is exhausted. Spending policy enforced by protocol-governance multisig.
Validator grants — 5M genesis + 45M open
| Sub-bucket | Amount | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Genesis 50 grants | 5M | 100k SNCT × 50 genesis validators at Day 0 |
| Open partnership reserve | 45M | Discretionary grants to any new validator partnership (institutional staking firms, geographic expansion, enterprise-tier nodes) |
No fixed schedule, no automated formula. Operator multisig deploys the 45M as new tie-ups close. Multisig discloses each grant publicly (recipient + amount + reason) so the community sees the 45M deployment over time.
Practical guidance (not a hard rule):
- Tier-1 institutional partnership: up to 2M
- Geographic expansion (new region, NVMe): up to 500k
- Strategic enterprise node (top-10 exchange validator): up to 1M
45M / typical-grant ≈ 30–45 partnerships over ~24 months expansion runway.
Foundation — 3-of-5 Safe
| Composition | 3 team signers + 2 operator signers |
|---|---|
| Threshold | 3-of-5 |
| Vest | 48-month linear from Day 0, no cliff |
| ETH snapshot block (cross-chain reference) | 25,373,270 |
Inflation — separate from genesis allocation
Cosmos Hub-style mint module on top of the fixed 1B:
| Param | Value |
|---|---|
inflation_min | 7% |
inflation_max | 20% |
goal_bonded | 67% |
inflation_rate_change | 13%/year (curve adjustment speed) |
community_tax | 2% (of inflation → community pool) |
| Proposer base reward | 1% |
| Proposer bonus reward | 4% |
Fresh SNCT minted each block, paid to delegators + validator commission. Circulating supply grows beyond 1B over time as the validator security budget. By Year 4 at ~12% blended inflation, total supply could be ~1.5B nominal.
Reward stream separation
Airdrop points and native staking rewards are independent and additive:
| Stream | Source | Cadence |
|---|---|---|
| Native staking rewards | Mint module inflation (7–20% annual) | Continuous, claim via 0x...0801 precompile |
| Airdrop points (item #10 delegation) | Airdrop bucket (300M) | Phase snapshot, claim Day 180/270/360/450 |
| Validator commission | Delegator rewards × commission rate | Continuous |
| LP farm emissions | TreasuryEmitter via MasterChef (100M) | Per-block, harvest from MasterChef |
| LP airdrop points (items #2/#3) | Airdrop bucket | Phase snapshot |
| Validator grants (genesis 50) | Validator-grants bucket (5M of 50M) | One-time at validator-set lock-in |
| Validator grants (open) | Validator-grants bucket (45M of 50M) | Discretionary on new tie-ups |
A $1k delegator for 90 days collects ~$7 of native inflation plus 4,500 airdrop points redeemable at Phase 1.
Roadmap to full unlock
| Milestone | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| Day 0 | Mainnet genesis | 1B minted to multisigs; ~5M circulating (validator grants) |
| Day 14 | Safe migration | 3 role-EOAs → 3-of-5 Safes (genesis-treasury, protocol-governance, ops) |
| Day 180 | Phase 1 snapshot + claim opens | Up to 75M enters distribution; 180-day vest per claim |
| Day 185 | Team cliff | First team vest cliff |
| Day 270 | Phase 2 snapshot + claim | + up to 75M |
| Day 360 | Phase 3 snapshot + claim | + up to 75M |
| Day 450 | Phase 4 snapshot + claim | + up to 75M (final airdrop phase) |
| Day 547 (~18 mo) | Influencers fully vested | |
| Day 730 (~24 mo) | Advisors fully vested | |
| Day 1460 (~4 yr) | Foundation, Team fully vested | |
| Year 5 | LP emissions and community bucket complete | Last 100M LP + last 20M community distributed |
By Day 1460 (~4 years), all genesis allocations except LP emissions are fully vested. By Year 5 the LP emission schedule and community bucket are exhausted, leaving inflation as the only ongoing token source.
Sink mechanisms (active at launch)
Without sinks, validator-reward inflation (7–20%) only dilutes. Four active SNCT sinks from Day 0:
1. EIP-1559 gas burn
Every transaction pays a base fee:
- 50% burned (permanently removed)
- 50% to Treasury (accumulates as protocol revenue)
2. Governance buyback + burn
Treasury holds protocol revenue (gas + DEX + .snct + bridge). Governance can vote to buy SNCT from open market + burn. Analogous to BNB's quarterly burn but governance-triggered.
3. DEX protocol fee
UniV2 Factory.feeTo flipped on at protocol-governance Safe. Routes 1/6 of every LP fee (0.05% of swap volume) to Treasury as accumulated LP positions. LPs still earn 0.25% per swap.
4. .snct domain fees
Registrations + renewals paid in SNCT, route to Treasury.
Deferred sinks
- Bridge fees: 0 at launch. Add a sanect-side fee 30+ days post-launch when volume justifies.
- Shielded pool fees: 0 at launch. Adding one trades privacy adoption for marginal revenue; not worth it pre-audit.
Anti-patterns explicitly rejected
- ❌ Per-wallet airdrop cap that punishes genuine large users
- ❌ Per-referrer cap that disincentivizes influencer reach
- ❌ Flat per-action points on USD-amount actions (loopable — every points item is time-locked or fee-locked)
- ❌ VC allocation of any kind
- ❌ Team allocation > 10% (sub-industry-norm, signals team alignment with network upside)
- ❌ MLM-style multi-level referrals
- ❌ Carry-forward airdrop points across phases (kills late-phase engagement)
- ❌ 100% liquid at claim (guaranteed dump)
- ❌ Cliff-then-dump on any bucket (all linear after cliffs)
What's public vs operator-side
Public (this doc + linked docs):
- All allocation percentages and token counts
- Phase split, snapshot/claim dates, vest schedules
- LP pool weights, TVL tier caps, total LP emission schedule
- Sink mechanisms and rates
- Multisig thresholds and composition descriptions
- Anti-patterns
Operator-side (not pre-disclosed):
- Individual multisig signer identities
- Exact Phase 1–4 snapshot block heights (revealed 7 days before each)
- Sybil cluster filtering rules (revealed at claim time)
- Galxe campaign moderation criteria
- Specific exchange / market-maker contract terms
- Individual team allocation list