veARITECT Token Model

How veARITECT governance tokens work, including earning, decay, and the separation from $ARITECT.

veARITECT governance token

veARITECT is the governance token that determines voting power in Aritect. Unlike $ARITECT, it is non-transferable and earned exclusively through ecosystem participation.

Key properties

  • Non-transferable: Cannot be sent, sold, or delegated to other addresses.
  • Non-wrappable: Cannot be used in DeFi protocols or wrapper contracts.
  • Earned only: No purchase mechanism — must be earned through participation.
  • Decaying: Decreases over time without active governance participation.

Earning veARITECT

veARITECT is distributed through ecosystem engagement:

ActionveARITECT
Ecosystem participationPeriodic distribution
Vote cast+100
Proposal passed (100 bond)+200
Proposal passed (200 bond)+300
Proposal passed (500 bond)+500
Proposal rejectedBond burned (100-500)

Decay mechanism

To ensure governance remains in the hands of active participants:

  • Decay rate: -5% per month if no governance actions taken.
  • Reset: Any governance action (voting, proposing) resets the decay timer.
  • Purpose: Prevents accumulation of power by inactive participants.

Decay formula:

veARITECT(t+1) = veARITECT(t) × (1 - δ)^n

Where:
  δ = decay rate = 0.05 (5% per month)
  n = months since last governance action
  
  if action ∈ {vote, propose} ⇒ n := 0

Example: 1,000 veARITECT with no activity
  Month 0: 1,000
  Month 1: 1,000 × 0.95 = 950
  Month 6: 1,000 × 0.95⁶ = 735
  Month 12: 1,000 × 0.95¹² = 540

Proposer limits

To protect active proposers while maintaining accountability:

  • Monthly loss cap: Maximum 20% of veARITECT balance can be lost per month.
  • Bond locking: veARITECT locked as proposal bond is not subject to decay.
  • Recovery: Successful proposals reset monthly loss counter.
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                veARITECT STATE MACHINE                │
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                       │
│   ┌─────────┐     vote/propose      ┌─────────┐       │
│   │ ACTIVE  │ --------------------→ │ ACTIVE  │       │
│   │ δ = 0   │                       │ δ = 0   │       │
│   └────┬────┘                       └─────────┘       │
│        │                                              │
│        │ no action (30 days)                          │
│        ▼                                              │
│   ┌──────────┐                                        │
│   │ DECAYING │  veARITECT := veARITECT × 0.95         │
│   │ δ = 5%   │  (applied monthly)                     │
│   └──────────┘                                        │
│                                                       │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Why separate tokens?

The separation of $ARITECT (economic) and veARITECT (governance) eliminates critical attack vectors:

AttackHow it’s prevented
DeFi lending attackBorrowing $ARITECT provides zero veARITECT
Vote buyingveARITECT cannot be transferred or sold
Wrapper contractsveARITECT cannot be wrapped or delegated
Exchange custodyExchanges cannot accumulate veARITECT
Flash loan attacksveARITECT requires long-term participation