AIP-15.2: Distribution Method - Incentives for New Upcoming Products (Perp, AF2.0)

What is the mechanic to distribute these ALPACA rewards?

Option1: Distribute rewards as ALPACA

Rewards will be distributed as ALPACA, the same way as it is now

Estimated development time: 1 - 2 weeks

Pros:

• Simple to implement

• No audit required

Cons:

• Rewards more likely to be sold in short-term

Option2: Distribute rewards as ALPACA with a vesting schedule

Instead of giving out ALPACA tokens immediately, users will need to wait for a period of time (6 months) before receiving the tokens.

Estimated development time: 2 - 3 weeks

Pros:

• Relatively simple to implement; we only need to create a new vesting contract

• Lower immediate selling pressure from the added vesting period

• Given the simplicity of the contract, an Internal audit will provide sufficient security

Cons:

• Rewards still likely to be sold after vesting period ends

Option3: Distribute rewards as xALPACA locked for 1 year

This distribution method is what was proposed in the original forum post for ALPACAv2, where instead of giving out ALPACA as token rewards, we will give xALPACA locked for 1 year.

Estimated development time: 4 - 6 weeks

Pros:

• No immediate selling pressure - new emissions will be unable to dilute ALPACA tokens until they unlock after a year, or until the holder decides to take a significant haircut on their tokens through an early withdrawal (up to -39%)

• New users are incentivized to hold ALPACA as they receive Governance Vault’s yields

• New users more likely to extend lockup time

• New users incentivized to participate in governance, strengthening their belonging to the Herd

Cons:

• Requires significant development effort. In our opinion,while the effort would makesense if we were updating the entire tokenomics with a 10-year emissions schedule, in this context where the incentives might only be used for several months, the development effort is too high

• Higher development effort here means less time to improve products

• Also requires an external audit ($10k - $15k)

Option4: Distribute rewards as esALPACA

For this option, instead of distributing rewards as ALPACA, we give out esALPACA. This has similar functionality to xALPACA but adds an additional vesting layer with the key properties below:

• esALPACA cannot be transferred or sold

• esALPACA can be staked for yields in its own staking vault

  • Governance Vault stakers will vote on the percentage of the platform revenue to allocate for esALPACA staking vault

  • At the end of the 3-months period, based on the figure presented above, there will roughly be 2Mn - 4Mn esALPACA (vs. 37Mn xALPACA currently) This means, for example, that if we allocate 5% of the Governance Vault’s revenue to esALPACA staking vault, they would receive a comparable APR% to Governance’s vault stakers

• esALPACA will have voting power

  • It can be 1esALPACA = 1 vote = 1 xALPACA, or voting power for esALPACA can be lower

• esALPACA can be turned into ALPACA by going through a vesting period (e.g., 6-12 months.). While vesting, user will not earn any rewards

Estimated development time: 4 - 6 weeks

Pros:

• Strong incentives to hold esALPACA as stakers will earn yields (as long as a reasonable percentage of revenue is allocated to the staking vault) and have voting power. This aspect is similar to xALPACA

• Strong incentive to not vest esALPACA as users won’t earn yields during the entire vesting period

• No immediate selling pressure or dilution of ALPACA

• Unlike other mechanics where ALPACA tokens must be available for claim right away, this mechanic allows for a “fund-as-you-go” setup because ALPACA is only available to claim 1 year after vesting

Cons:

• Requires significant development effort. In our opinion, while the effort would make sense if we were updating the entire tokenomics with a 10-year emissions schedule, in this context where the incentives might only be used for several months, the development effort is too high

• Also requires an external audit ($10k - $15k)

• Two separate staking vaults and two voting tokens will make our protocol more complicated for users, especially less experienced ones

Voting:

This is the second vote in a series of votes for this AIP.

This vote will be a single choice voting where you can choose between the 4 options:

• Option1: Distribute as ALPACA

• Option2: Distribute as ALPACA with vesting

• Option3: Distribute as xALPACA

• Option4: Distribute as esALPACA

Resolution:

• Community voted to distribute incentives as ALPACA.

References:

• Snapshot Voting
• Forum Thread