Vote-Escrow (veTokens)
Locking governance tokens for a fixed period to gain amplified, time-weighted voting power — aligning voters with the long term.
Vote-escrow (the “ve” model, pioneered by Curve’s veCRV) grants voting power in proportion to how long you lock your tokens: lock for four years and you get maximum voting weight and reward-boosting; lock briefly and you get little. Locked tokens can’t be sold, tying voter influence to long-term commitment.
The design aims to fix short-termism and governance attacks — you can’t flash-borrow influence you must lock for years. It also spawned complex meta-economies (“bribe” markets where protocols pay ve-holders to vote rewards toward their pools). Elegant in theory, it concentrates power among long-term whales in practice, which is the recurring critique of the model.