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Token Mechanics

Detailed explanation of token minting, proposal execution, and onchain fund flows

Overview

How META tokens are minted, the proposal lifecycle, and onchain fund flows.

Proposal Lifecycle

Stage 1: Proposal Creation

Anyone can create a proposal that includes token minting. When a proposal is created:

  1. The proposal is published onchain with all details publicly visible
  2. The proposal specifies:
    • Number of tokens to mint (if any)
    • Recipient address for minted tokens
    • Purpose and rationale

Stage 2: Stake Accumulation

Before a proposal can go live for trading:

  • 200,000 tokens (2% of initial 10M supply) must be staked on the proposal
  • Staking is permissionless - any token holder can stake
  • Stakes are returned after proposal is live for trading (no lockup or slashing risk)
  • This prevents spam proposals from consuming governance resources

Stage 3: Conditional Market Trading (3 Days)

Once sufficient stake is accumulated:

Markets Open
The project moves half its spot liquidity into conditional markets
Trading Period
Traders have 3 full days to trade in pass/fail markets
Price Discovery
The market determines whether the proposal will increase or decrease token value
Public Information
All trading activity is visible onchain in real-time

Stage 4: Resolution & Execution

After the 3-day trading period, the proposal is finalized using a TWAP-based mechanism:

Outcome Condition Result
Pass Pass market TWAP > Fail market TWAP Tokens minted, proposal executed
Fail Fail market TWAP ≥ Pass market TWAP No tokens minted, proposal rejected

Execution is automatic and immediate - once the TWAP calculation determines the outcome, there is no additional timelock. The governance executor performs the onchain mint instruction to the proposal-specified destination.

Timelock & Grace Periods

Is There a Delay Between Approval and Minting?

The timeline for a token minting proposal:

Day 0: Proposal created (publicly visible)
       ↓
Day 0-X: Stake accumulation period (variable)
       ↓
Day X: Proposal goes live, markets open
       ↓
Day X+3: Trading period ends
       ↓
Day X+3: If passed, tokens minted immediately

Pre-Vote Announcement

Yes, all supply-increasing proposals are formally announced before trading begins:

  1. Proposal creation is an onchain transaction visible to all
  2. The stake accumulation period provides additional notice
  3. APIs and frontends display pending proposals
  4. Social channels typically discuss significant proposals

Inflation Structure

Is META an Infinite Issuance Model?

In the current model:

  • No hard cap is enforced by the token contract itself (so "infinite issuance" is possible in principle)
  • But issuance is gated by governance and must be publicly proposed and pass the futarchy mechanism before execution
  • The mint authority is the governance program — not a human operator
  • There is no "silent" or off-chain discretionary minting
Aspect Description
Hard Cap None at protocol level
Scheduled Inflation None - no automatic token emissions
Minting Authority Governance program only - not a human operator
Dilution Protection Market-based - proposals that harm value are rejected

Why No Hard Cap?

The governance-controlled model provides flexibility while maintaining accountability:

Operational Funding
Projects may need to fund development, marketing, or operations
Ecosystem Growth
Token incentives can attract users and liquidity
Market Discipline
The futarchy system rejects proposals that would dilute value unfairly

The absence of a hard cap is offset by the requirement that all minting must be approved by market participants who have capital at risk.

Onchain Fund Flow

Where Do Minted Tokens Go?

When tokens are minted through a proposal, they are sent to an address specified in the proposal itself:

Proposal Specifies Recipient

The proposal creator defines the recipient address when creating the proposal. This could be: - A specific wallet address - A smart contract (e.g., vesting contract) - The project treasury - A multi-sig wallet

Address is Public

The recipient address is visible onchain from the moment the proposal is created. Anyone can verify where tokens will go before trading.

Tokens Minted Directly

Upon proposal passage, tokens are minted directly to the specified address. There is no intermediate custody contract.

Is the Recipient Address Fixed or Dynamic?

This means:

  • Different proposals can send tokens to different addresses
  • Participants can evaluate the recipient as part of their trading decision
  • Full transparency on the destination of all minted tokens

Onchain Flow Diagram

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    PROPOSAL CREATED                         │
│  • Defines: mint amount, recipient address, purpose         │
│  • Publicly visible onchain                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    STAKE ACCUMULATION                       │
│  • 200,000 tokens staked (no lockup risk)                   │
│  • Variable duration                                        │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                 CONDITIONAL MARKETS (3 DAYS)                │
│  • Pass market: "value if proposal passes"                  │
│  • Fail market: "value if proposal fails"                   │
│  • All trades visible onchain                               │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│               TWAP-BASED FINALIZATION                       │
│  Pass TWAP > Fail TWAP?                                     │
│  ├─ YES → Governance executor mints to recipient            │
│  └─ NO  → No tokens minted, proposal rejected               │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Supply verification and JSON-RPC fetch: Token Details.