Tokenomics Update — Everything you need to know

Introduction

In our pursuit to enhance the stability and long-term viability of Planet, we have been revamping the tokenomics of AQUA, GAMMA, and the reward system. This initiative was set in motion following the recent proposal approved by AQUA holders (read through it to get the context, if you haven’t already).

As we cross the halfway mark in implementing these changes, it is crucial to keep our community informed about what lies ahead and how it will bolster the Planet ecosystem.

BNB To BTCB: A Strategic Shift

Given the recent apprehensions surrounding BNB and the broader cryptocurrency market, especially regarding the classification of these coins as securities, Planet is strategically pivoting from BNB to BTCB. BTCB is renowned for its widespread adoption, remarkable stability (excluding stable coins), and trustworthiness. This strategic move is our proactive response to the mounting concerns and uncertainties associated with BNB. Despite our sustained optimism about the BNB Chain, the current challenging landscape necessitates limiting our exposure to risks.

To facilitate this shift, we will transition our GAMMA-BNB and AQUA-BNB pools to GAMMA-BTCB and AQUA-BTCB pools. This ensures that the liquidity of GAMMA and AQUA remains insulated from BNB’s volatility. Although BTCB is not entirely devoid of volatility, it is universally acknowledged as the cryptocurrency with the lowest Beta, making it an optimal choice for our liquidity pools.

Transition from Infinity Vault to Time-locked GAMMA-BTCB Pool

The platform-wide Gamma Boost will no longer be contingent on GAMMA in the Infinity Vault

New Boost Basis: The GAMMA-BTCB Pool on the New Gamma Farm will underpin the new Boost.

So, the following pools/vaults will be discontinued:

• GAMMA Infinity Vault
• GAMMA — BNB Pool

Farm Redeployment: The shift from GAMMA to GAMMA-BTCB necessitates the redeployment of the Farm.

GAMMA-BTCB Pool Mechanics:

• The GAMMA-BTCB Pool will be time-locked.
• Users can opt to lock their tokens for 3, 6, or 12 months (subject to future adjustments based on AQUA proposals), with APY varying based on the lock-up duration.
• A minimum of 5% of holdings must be supplied to the GAMMA-BTCB pool for at least 3 months, and 5% of the user’s portfolio must be maintained in GAMMA-BTCB throughout this period to earn GAMMA rewards.
• Failure to supply 5% to this pool will result in receiving only the base rewards, such as trade fees in liquidity pools, borrow fees in the lending market, and parent farm APRs in the aggregated market.
• Bounty hunting: If a user’s supply to the pool drops below 5% due to additional supplies to other pools, a bounty hunting mechanism will enable other users to claim the user’s unclaimed rewards. The bounty hunter receives a portion of the claimed rewards, and the protocol receives the remainder (to be converted according to the current buyback, reserves, and burn mechanism).

Time-Locking Mechanism:

• Once tokens are locked in the vault, they cannot be withdrawn until the stipulated period expires.
• Initiating a new lock does not reset the timer on a previous lock.
• Similar to the existing Infinity Vault-based GAMMA Boost mechanism, a higher percentage of tokens locked in the pool relative to holdings in other pools or markets results in higher GAMMA rewards earned in those pools and markets.

Auto-Boost Pools: By default, zapping into any pool allocates 5% to the GAMMA-BTCB pool unless the user opts out, facilitating seamless access to boosted rewards.

Easy Future Migrations: To ensure adaptability, should AQUA holders decide to revert to GAMMA-BNB or a GAMMA Infinity Vault, we will modify the New Gamma Farm to enable effortless migration from one farm to another. This eliminates the need for manual, token-by-token transfers to a new farm.

Vesting of GAMMA Rewards

• 3-Month Default Vesting: Once claimed from pools or markets, GAMMA rewards will automatically vest for 3 months. No rewards will be earned on vesting GAMMA. After 3 months, GAMMA can be collected directly to the wallet. Early withdrawal incurs a 50% penalty on the rewards.
• 6-Month or 12-Month Locking with Rewards: Users can opt to auto-convert their vesting GAMMA to GAMMA-BTCB and auto-supply it to the GAMMA-BTCB pool. Although this extends the locking period, it enables your GAMMA to earn rewards in the GAMMA-BTCB pool, contributes to the 5% minimum maintenance for continued GAMMA rewards, and enhances GAMMA Boost across all pools and markets. Once converted to 6-month or 12-month vesting in GAMMA-BTCB, rewards are inaccessible until the lock-in period concludes. The default vesting penalty claim does not apply in this scenario.

Gradual Reduction of Gamma Rewards

As decided in the proposal, we will start reducing GAMMA emissions a couple of months after the new farm is live. For GAMMA emission to last forever, we need to reduce the GAMMA emissions by 20%+ every three months.

Time-Locked AQUA Vault and AQUA-BTCB Pool

For AQUA, we are targeting three key objectives:

1. Amplify liquidity through AQUA-BTCB.
2. Establish a mechanism to allocate a share of profits to AQUA holders.
3. Reward devoted AQUA holders with increased voting power.

To achieve these goals, we are transforming the AQUA Infinity Vault into a time-locked AQUA vault and replacing the AQUA-BNB pool with an AQUA-BTCB time-locked pool, each with distinct benefits. Holders can choose to retain their tokens as AQUA or as an LP pair, each with its own set of unique advantages.

Time-Locked AQUA-BTCB Pool Benefits:

• Gamma Rewards: Incentivizes liquidity provision, ultimately enhancing AQUA liquidity.
• Platform Profits Airdrop: Corresponds to the user’s net AQUA in the pool. Note: This mechanism will be activated following a governance overhaul that mandates AQUA holder votes for contract deployments.
• 1x Voting: Corresponds to the user’s net AQUA in the pool (not net AQUA-BTCB).
• Locking options of 3, 6, or 12 months with varying rewards based on the lock-in duration.

Time-Locked AQUA Vault Benefits:

• No Gamma Rewards.
• Platform Profits Airdrop: Corresponds to the user’s share of AQUA in the pool. Note: This mechanism will be activated following a governance overhaul that mandates AQUA holder votes for contract deployments.
• 5x Voting: Corresponds to the user’s AQUA in the pool.
• 12-Month Locking Period.

Implications for Planet Users:

• Users will have to migrate from GAMMA-BNB and AQUA-BNB to GAMMA-BTCB and AQUA-BTCB. There are several advantages, such as reduced exposure to BNB volatility, access to boosted rewards, and enabling lower slippage trades in a more stable asset.
• Users will have to migrate to the new farm too for all other pools.
• A migration tool will be provided to facilitate the transition from the existing farm and pools and to new pools in the new farm.
• Markets will continue to function without users doing anything — however, the boost is based on GAMMA-BTCB pool.

Timeline

We have already made considerable progress in writing the smart contracts and we expect the changes to go live by the end of October in a phased manner. This will immediately be followed by Pancake V3 aggregation, and then Biswap V3 aggregation.

Conclusion

We believe that the strategic transition from BNB to BTCB will enhance Planet’s stability, reduce our exposure to BNB volatility, and establish a more resilient foundation for the future.

The upcoming changes are designed to bolster the AQUA and GAMMA liquidity, align rewards with the community’s long-term objectives, and maximize the value proposition for our loyal users. Together, let us build a stronger and more prosperous Planet ecosystem.

We will be having an AMA next week to discuss primarily the marketing plan and Planet Ambassador Program, but we can clarify any question on the new tokenomics too. Look forward to speaking to you in the AMA.

Planet Finance Team