# $veLAIKA Role

veLAIKA is Laika’s meta-governance asset.

By locking $LAIKA you mint non-transferable veLAIKA and gain the right to route protocol emissions, set global parameters, and curate LaunchOS—earning a share of protocol revenue and posted bribes in return.

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### What veLAIKA governs (scope)

* <mark style="color:yellow;">**Gauge weights (StakeOS):**</mark> route weekly protocol emissions across staking pools.
* <mark style="color:yellow;">**Global policy:**</mark> epoch cadence, bribe windows, caps/decays, fee split policies, buyback schedules.
* <mark style="color:yellow;">**Launch curation:**</mark> commit–reveal voting for Cabal launches (no interim tallies, anti-frontrun).
* <mark style="color:yellow;">**Protocol treasuries:**</mark> reserves, ecosystem grants, program budgets, emergency pauses.

> Principle: veLAIKA keeps the rails coherent so project DAOs (via veTOKEN) can operate sovereign economies within them.

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### What veLAIKA earns (incentives)

* <mark style="color:yellow;">**Protocol revenue share (per policy):**</mark> a portion of fees routed to veLAIKA holders.
* <mark style="color:yellow;">**Bribes:**</mark> pro-rata payouts from projects/third parties that incentivize your gauge votes.
* <mark style="color:yellow;">**Curation perks:**</mark> *earned* access such as curated-launch alpha windows for aligned voters.

Rewards are settled per epoch and claimable in-app; all flows are on-chain and transparent.

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### Locking & voting power

* **Lock to mint veLAIKA:** choose a duration (default range 30–1,460 days).
* **Convex curve:** longer locks receive more than linear voting power (cap \~5× at 4 years).
* **Non-transferable:** veLAIKA cannot be traded; influence is earned by commitment.
* **Snapshoted power:** your voting weight is fixed at the epoch/proposal snapshot.
* **Early exit penalty:** unlocking before expiry burns/forfeits a portion of the principal (policy-defined).

> Exact curve & penalties are displayed in-app and governed on-chain. See StakeOS → Core mechanics for the formula.

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### Weekly lifecycle (holder runbook)

1. Re/Lock $LAIKA to adjust your horizon.
2. Vote gauges (StakeOS) to route next epoch emissions; optionally stake a position in Cabal curation.
3. Monitor bribes posted to pools; reweight toward best risk-adjusted outcomes (not only raw APR).
4. Claim protocol revenue + bribes at epoch rollover.
5. Review dashboards: pool health (lock rate, median duration), vote entropy, bribe efficiency.

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### Curation (LaunchOS)

* Commit–reveal voting hides interim tallies; only the winner is revealed at the end of the round.
* Randomized TGE window post-vote reduces sniping.
* Perks for aligned voters: curated winners can grant an alpha window (e.g., 1-minute allowlist) to supporters per protocol policy.

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### Interplay with veTOKEN (project layer)

* veLAIKA sets global rails and routes cross-project emissions.
* veTOKEN governs a single project (treasury, incentives, module toggles) and may participate in curation.
* Healthy outcomes emerge when veLAIKA rewards broad, long-duration locking at the project level (visible in pool analytics).

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### Defaults & thresholds (governance-tunable)

* Epoch length: 7 days
* Bribe window close: \~24h before tally
* Fee split policy: shown live in the app; adjustments via protocol vote
* Claim windows: continuous across epochs; unclaimed rewards accrue

{% hint style="info" %}
Active parameters are always visible in-app. Any change requires an on-chain vote and, where relevant, a timelock before effect.
{% endhint %}

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### Risks & safeguards (plain language)

* No guarantees: APRs/revenues vary with market conditions and governance outcomes.
* Locks are binding: early exit penalties apply per policy.
* Bribes are final once an epoch starts.
* Transparency: all votes, weights, and payouts are traceable on-chain; verify official links/contracts in-app.