Ref Finance and $REF
Ref.finance is the first major DeFi application on the NEAR blockchain.
Since the launch of our automated market maker (AMM), the product and ecosystem have grown rapidly. Recently, the SKYWARD <> NEAR pair became the first to surpass $1 million in total value locked (TVL).
And this is just the beginning. Over time, Ref will grow from a single product (an automated market maker) into a first-of-its-kind suite of products running on a synchronous shard.
In the not-to-distant future, expect to see:
- New curve types (for like-kind assets such as USDT <> DAI)
- Generalized lending (borrow against your NEAR!)
- Native stablecoin integrations
- …and a few surprises ;)
$REF
To help fuel this growth, the DAO recently voted to create a $REF ecosystem token. And things are moving fast to integrate it into the ecosystem!
The forum is live at gov.ref.finance, and a proposal is being discussed to conduct a price discovery auction on Skyward.
As part of the discussion, here are our thoughts on the tokenomics for $REF. Please note this is subject to community and DAO approval.
Distribution
Total Supply: 100,000,000
5% - Airdrops
- 3% - Early users
- 2% - Strategic airdrop
60% - Liquidity Incentives
- 25% first year
- 18.3% second year
- 11.67% third year
- 5% fourth year
35% - Treasury
- 10% Development Fund
- 2.5% Skyward sale
- 2.5% Liquidity for $REF pairs (REF <> NEAR, REF <> USDC)
- 20% Future community-building activities (further airdrops, strategic partnerships, etc)
Ref Finance is a community-led project, and we want the distribution to reflect that. We propose that nearly the entire supply (minimum 65%, as high as 85%) be distributed directly to participants based on their interactions with the protocol.
Airdrops
Early, active users of Ref Finance will receive an airdrop of 3% of the total supply. These tokens will be locked for a total of 6 months. The first 50% will unlock after 3 months, with an additional 50% unlocking after 6 months.
Prior to the sale, we will post the full airdrop recipient list, along with instructions for claiming your airdrop!
Liquidity Incentives
$REF will be a primary reward token for LPs using the Ref Finance multi-token yield farming mechanism. Over four years, 60% of $REF will be distributed via farming.
We will release the initial batch of incentivized pairs shortly. After the initial batch, the DAO will be responsible for choosing which pairs to incentivize with $REF rewards.
Projects will be able to submit proposals to gov.ref.finance to have their pairs receive $REF rewards. This creates synergy with Skyward, as projects can apply to have their token whitelisted and rewarded on Ref prior to the sale as part of their due diligence by the community.
Additionally, the DAO can adopt an oTokens-style approach, where projects must stake $REF in order to make a proposal to receive liquidity incentives.
Utility
We expect the $REF token to be used the following ways:
Governance
Currently, the Ref DAO is made up of a council and a community board. One of the first proposals post-airdrop and Skyward sale will be to add token holders as a third role.
$REF holders will be able to stake their $REF to vote on proposals, similar to the council and community board. This will include treasury management decisions, liquidity incentives, and (eventually) even protocol upgrades.
Fee Management
Ref currently takes a protocol fee of 0.5% from swaps. This fee can be adjusted by the DAO.
The revenue from this fee resides with the protocol currently, which means the DAO itself. The DAO can choose to direct these funds to $REF holders, either through direct redemption or via buybacks of $REF.
As the protocol evolves and progresses along its roadmap, the opportunity for fees may increase.
Community and Ecosystem Development
To grow the Ref community, we need an army of content creators, developers, designers, moderators, memelords, and more. The $REF token is a great way to align incentives with these groups, and will likely be distributed by the DAO to these incredibly valuable contributors.
Get Involved
Do you have ideas for Ref or the $REF token? Let us know!
- Post on the forum: gov.ref.finance
- Join the telegram: https://t.me/ref_finance
- Follow us on twitter: https://twitter.com/finance_ref
- Come hang in Discord: https://discord.gg/SJBGcfMxJz
