Fees and revenue

Creator rights and buyback-vest

Creator rights decide who receives a launch's creator income. The optional buyback-and-vest uses part of that income to buy the launch's own token and release it to the creator over five years.

#Creator and creator recipient

The creator is the address that launched the token. The creator recipient is the address that receives creator income. It is chosen at launch and is the creator unless another address is given.

Creator income is:

• The creator's 70% share of the curve base fee and of the standard-mode pool fee.
• The creator tax, in standard mode.
• The creator's share of released buyback-vest.

Reward-mode launches earn creator income only on the curve. After graduation their pool fees go to the protocol and to holders.

#Transferring creator rights

The current creator recipient can hand creator rights to another address at any time. The new recipient receives all future creator income and the remaining vest, including any part that has vested but not yet been released. Income already credited stays with the previous recipient. The transfer takes effect immediately.

#Forced replacement

The protocol owner can replace a launch's creator recipient, with a waiting period:

1. The owner proposes a new recipient.
2. After 3 days, anyone can carry out the replacement.
3. If nobody does within the following 3 days, the proposal expires.

The owner can cancel a proposal while it is pending. A transfer by the current recipient does not cancel it. A replacement moves future income and the remaining vest. Income already credited stays where it is.

#Buyback-and-vest

Buyback-and-vest uses part of the creator's fee income to buy the launch's own token. The purchased tokens are released to the creator gradually over five years. It is separate from the protocol's GAMA buyback-and-burn.

#Switching it on and off

It is off by default. The creator can switch it on at launch, if they are also the creator recipient. After launch:

• The creator recipient can switch it on or off.
• The protocol owner can only switch it off.

Switching affects future fees only. Tokens already bought keep vesting.

For reward-mode launches, buyback-and-vest stops permanently at graduation.

#How it is funded

While it is on, half of the creator's share of each base fee and pool fee goes to buyback instead of being paid out. With a 1% base fee, that is 0.35% of each trade. The creator tax is never used for buyback.

#Purchases

A buyback operator makes the purchases. Before graduation it buys on the bonding curve, and after graduation in the pool, with no trading fee. Each purchase is limited in how far it can move the price, 3% by default. Anything left unspent goes back to the creator recipient.

The protocol owner can pause purchases. Pausing does not affect trading, fee claims or releases.

#Vesting and release

Purchased tokens are locked and released evenly over five years. When more tokens are added, the part already vested is kept, and the remaining time becomes a weighted average of what was left and a new five years.

The creator recipient, or any protocol revenue destination, can release whatever has vested so far:

• 70% goes to the current creator recipient.
• 30% goes to protocol revenue.

Released tokens are credited in the fee escrow.