Fair Fungible Vote Token
Protocols which have voting escrow (ve) lock tokens usually set the max lock period between 1 to 4 years, granting voting power proportionate to the remaining lock duration. At first glance, this system of earning more shares the longer you lock may seem beneficial, but in reality, it presents several critical issues:
Designed for absolute Team Dominance Regardless of Tokenomics:
A 1-4 year lock-up in the crypto scene is virtually an eternity. Users who lock up for just a few weeks gain near ZERO voting power compared to their locked amount. Specifically, a 1-week lock grants only 1/208 the voting power of a max 4-year lock. This implies that if most people do not opt for the max lock, even starting with just 10% of the tokens locked in a max lock can allow the team to monopolize most of the voting power. Thus, the lock-up period is just misleading, and to genuinely participate in governance and share in protocol profits, one must lock up almost eternally anyway.
Inefficiencies and Inequities Due to Non-Uniform Lock-Ups:
The necessity to use NFTs, given that each lock-up is distinct, makes liquidation difficult and inefficient. NFTs, often with negligible trading volumes, require complex calculations due to varying discount rates based on the lock period. The reasonable market price changes over time, requiring continuous adjustments to listed prices, leading to constant value extraction by arbitrageurs. Moreover, voting must be repeated for each NFT, consuming significant gas and time, and quickly becoming tiresome. It's also challenging to verify voting power in one's wallet.
Inevitable Emergence of 3rd Party Wrappers:
The difficulties and inconveniences of liquidation lead to the creation of 3rd party governance wrappers. These typically accept NFTs in exchange for corresponding fungible tokens, voting on the user's behalf, and compounding rewards. Naturally, this process extracts substantial fees and introduces risks of rugs, security breaches, and de-pegging.
BladeSwap rejects these deceptive tokenomics and introduces transparent fungible voting tokens, ensuring equal lock-up conditions for everyone and facilitating immediate and easy liquidation through the BLADE-veBLADE pool. This allows value to circulate safely and entirely within the protocol without the need for 3rd party wrapper intervention.
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