Announcing $KERNEL tokenomics

Restaking has dominated TVL and developer growth across Ethereum and other L1s with USD 30B+ TVL across 150+ protocols. Kernel has been at the center of the restaking evolution and has become a dominant player with the three major products.

  1. Kelp LRT ($2B+ TVL): rsETH is the second largest Liquid Restaking Token on Ethereum
  2. Kernel (25+ ecosystem projects, $50M+ TVL): Top restaking infrastructure using BTC and BNB as shared security with 50 Mn+ TVL and spawning 25+ ecosystem projects in the coming months.
  3. Gain ($200M+ TVL): On-chain tokenized reward strategies with DeFi composability

$KERNEL is the unified governance token across the three products and will be used to reward early supporters and users of the protocol.

$KERNEL’s tokenomics are community-first and utility-driven, empowering users to shape the protocol’s future right from launch. The following sections illustrate distribution, token utility, and more.

Community-first token distribution

$KERNEL token distribution demonstrates our commitment to our users. Here is the breakdown of the Total Supply

  • Community Rewards & Airdrops: 55%

    • 20% of total supply earmarked for airdrops
    • 35% is allocated for future rewards
  • Ecosystem & Partners: 5% (includes Ecosystem partners, market makers, Onchain liquidity etc.)

  • Private Sale: 20% (includes completed and future private sale)

  • Team & Advisors: 20%

  • Team and Private sale tokens are vested over 24 months after a 6-month lock-up post TGE.

Detailed monthly unlock schedule of $KERNEL will be shared closer to TGE.

Additionally, early users and supporters have received the following benefits:

  • 25% boosted rewards for very early restakers on Kelp LRT between 12th Dec - Jan 1st 2024, 100k Kelp miles/ rsETH minted between 18th Jan - 9th Feb’24
  • Additional incentives across multiple campaigns including RTOB, Kelp Carnival etc.

$KERNEL Utility

$KERNEL can be utilized in the following ways at token launch:

  • Governance participation on key decisions across the three products, including Kelp LRT, Kernel and Gain
  • Restake $KERNEL to provide shared economic security for Kernel ecosystem projects, middleware, applications
    • Potential air drops and Restaking rewards from ecosystem projects including middleware, Defi protocols etc.
  • Provide liquidity on AMMs for additional $KERNEL rewards

The next phase for $KERNEL utility introduces several additional use cases subject to governance approval:

  • Staking $KERNEL to provide insurance against potential slashing events across rsETH (LRT) and Kernel
  • $KERNEL buybacks with a large % of protocol revenue

Airdrop seasons

$KERNEL will be airdropped to users and supporters across multiple seasons with 20% dedicated to airdrops. Season 1 airdrop allocation will be 10% of $KERNEL total supply.

Season 1:

  • Allocation: 10% of total supply allocated till Dec 31, 2024
  • Eligibility: Users who earned Kelp Miles / Kernel Points across the 3 products till Dec 31st, 2024
  • Boosted rewards: Users who restake / have restaked in Season 1 or before Jan 15, 2025 get a 15% loyalty boost in Season 2!
    Restake before Jan 15, 2025 across Kelp or Kernel to be eligible for the loyalty boost.
    • Restake on Kelp here
    • Restake on Kernel here

Season 2:

  • Allocation: 5% of total supply
  • Boosted rewards: Extra 15% loyalty boost upon restaking before Jan 15, 2025
  • Timeline: January 1 - April 30, 2025

Season 3 and beyond, subject to governance approval:

  • Allocation: 5% of total supply
  • Timelines: TBD

Wen TGE

$KERNEL TGE is targeted in Q1 2025.

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