How to lock RBN, boost and claim protocol revenues
Last updated
Last updated
In this guide you will find instructions for the governance portal functions related to the mechanisms of Ribbonomics: RBN lock/unlock, protocol revenues, and boost. If while following these instructions you encounter any difficulties or errors, we are at your disposal in our Discord server Support channel.
Here’s the link to the governance portal: https://vote.ribbon.finance
One important thing you need to keep in mind: locking, as you will read, gives you significant benefits but it’s quite different from staking. When you stake your vault shares, as illustrated in this guide, you are free to come and go whenever you want but when you lock your RBN you must respect the lockup date, otherwise you’ll incur a severe exit penalty. In addition, unlike vault shares and staked vault shares, veRBN are not transferable.
You can get the most out of combining the two, staking + locking, because of the rewards boost. veRBN will also give you a percentage of protocol revenues, paid weekly in ETH.
Please refer to the first section of this guide if you need help connecting your wallet. The locking mechanism is only available on ETH mainnet.
The first thing you’ll need to do is to authorize the portal to use your RBN. Select "LOCK RBN" at the bottom right (desktop) or "APPROVE" at the bottom (mobile). A tab will appear to confirm approval, and lastly you will need to authorize the transaction in your wallet. You’ll only need to do this once per wallet.
Once the onchain transaction is confirmed, you will receive a confirmation notification at the top.
At this point, you can lock your RBNs by selecting "LOCK RBN" again (desktop) or "LOCK" (mobile).
Two disclaimer cards will appear with very important information about how the lock works:
You will turn your RBN into veRBN: veRBN allow you to multiply your staking rewards, vote in biweekly gauges to determine which vaults receive the greatest rewards, participate in governance, and receive protocol revenues. However, these benefits are given to you in exchange for the lockup period, so if you unlock early you will have to pay a penalty. This penalty will result in a reduction of your RBN.
The veRBN you will receive depend on the length of your lockup: the longer the lockup, the more veRBN you will receive, the more voting power you will have in the biweekly gauges, the more protocol revenues you will get. The relationship between lock duration and amount of veRBN is linear, up to a maximum of 1:1 for the duration of 2 years. For example, locking 1000 RBN for 2 years will give you 1000 veRBN; locking for 1 year will give you 500 veRBN; locking for 6 months will give you 250 veRBN, and so on. Your veRBN will also continue to decrease linearly until you reach the end of the lockup, following the same logic.
Going on, you will have to choose the amount and duration of the lock, from a minimum of 1 week to a maximum of 2 years. You will be able to select a default duration, or by selecting the calendar symbol on the right you will be able to choose any expiration date.
A very important note: you cannot lock on the same wallet for different durations. One wallet = one lockup period. If you want to lock different amounts of RBN for different durations, you will necessarily have to use multiple wallets. Remember, however, that your staking rewards boost will only apply to wallets that contain staked vault shares.
After a lock preview, as a final step you’ll need to confirm the transaction in your wallet.
Once again, you’ll get a notification at the top of the screen.
You are now a veRBN holder!
At any time you can take action on your RBN by increasing either their quantity or lockup duration. Select “LOCK RBN” (desktop) or “LOCK” (mobile) and a new card will appear; you will then have the option to take action on your lockup.
You will be able to add more RBN.
And/Or you’ll be able to increase the lock time.
Both of these actions will increase your veRBN, counteracting their linear decrease.
Now that you have your veRBN it is time to apply the boost to your staking rewards, thus getting the most out of Ribbonomics.
Your boost applies to the entire wallet, so, if you have multiple vaults in staking, all positions will benefit, with varying multipliers based on the amounts of vault shares you hold.
If you are targeting a specific boost value (max 2.5x), you can use the rewards calculator: go to the staking page, following this guide. Select the calculator right in the middle of the screen and you’ll be able to simulate your boosting power and the amount of veRBN you need to reach your desired outcome.
Once you are ready to boost, from the staking page go to the vault card you invested in: you’ll notice the appearance of a new button at the bottom right: "APPLY BOOST."
Before you continue, though, know that even claiming some rewards will get the boost application. So freely choose whichever mode you prefer between the two:
If you want to claim (and boost), follow the instructions in this guide;
If you simply want to apply the boost without claim, select it and confirm the transaction.
You’ll get a notification at the top of the screen: your RBN rewards are now boosted.
Please notice that your boost will decrease over time, just as your veRBN will decrease linearly. If you increase your veRBN (see the previous section), remember to “APPLY BOOST'' (or CLAIM some rewards) to increase your boosting multiplier.
Your veRBN entitle you to receive a percentage of all the protocol fees, paid weekly in ETH. You also receive a portion of the RBN that were taken as penalties from early unlockers.
The distribution day for protocol revenues is Friday. Remember, however, that the first week, the week in which you make the lock, you will not receive anything: you will be able to get your first revenues starting from the second week and their amount will also contain those of the first week, for the actual lock days only.
To start claiming, select the Ribbon logo at the top right corner.
Select the rewards you want to claim: ETH from the protocol fees or the RBN left by others as penalties (you are entitled to both but you’ll need two separate transactions).
Confirm the claiming transaction in your wallet.
Once again, you’ll get a notification at the top of the screen.
To unlock your veRBN simply select "UNLOCK RNB" (desktop) or "UNLOCK" (mobile) in the lower right corner. A card will appear with the unlock preview for confirmation; please notice the early unlock penalty (zero if the lockup has expired). Confirm the transaction in your wallet.
You’ll get a notification at the top of the screen and you’ll receive your RBN in your wallet.
