Vaulting & Vesting
Vaulting and vesting provide opt-in mechanisms for token creators to lock their fee earnings on a schedule. Instead of claiming fees immediately, you commit to a predictable, transparent withdrawal plan that your community can verify on-chain. This builds trust, signals long-term commitment, and follows established best practices from traditional finance.
What It Is
Section titled “What It Is”When you launch a token, you can opt into a vesting schedule for your creator fees. This means your earned fees accumulate in a vault and unlock gradually over a defined period. You can only claim fees that have vested — locked fees stay in the vault until their unlock date.
This is entirely opt-in. If you do not enable vesting, your fees remain claimable at any time with no restrictions. Vesting is a tool for creators who want to build deeper trust with their community.
Why It Matters
Section titled “Why It Matters”In crypto, trust is everything. Transparent vesting addresses one of the biggest concerns token holders have: will the creator dump their earnings and walk away?
Vesting solves this by providing verifiable, on-chain proof of your commitment:
- Shows your community you are not going to dump — Your fees are locked on a schedule that anyone can verify. There is no way to claim early or bypass the vesting contract.
- Builds long-term confidence in your token — When holders see that the creator’s earnings are vesting over months or years, they have confidence that the creator is aligned with the token’s long-term success.
- Follows established best practices — Vesting schedules are standard in both traditional finance (stock options, RSUs) and crypto (team token allocations). Applying the same principle to creator fees signals professionalism and seriousness.
- Anti-rug protection — Locked fees cannot be claimed early. Even if the creator wanted to, the vesting contract enforces the schedule. This is a hard guarantee, not a promise.
How Vesting Works
Section titled “How Vesting Works”-
Opt into a vesting schedule when launching your token
During the token launch process, specify your desired vesting parameters. This includes the total vesting duration (e.g., 6 months, 12 months) and the unlock cadence (e.g., linear daily unlock, monthly cliff unlocks). Once set, the vesting schedule is immutable — it cannot be shortened or removed.
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Your creator fees accumulate but are locked according to the schedule
As people trade your token and fees accrue, those fees are deposited into your vesting vault rather than being immediately claimable. The vault tracks your total earned fees and applies the vesting schedule to determine what has unlocked.
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Fees unlock gradually over the vesting period
Depending on your chosen cadence, fees unlock incrementally. With linear vesting, a small amount unlocks every block. With cliff-based vesting, larger chunks unlock at defined intervals. Either way, the schedule is transparent and verifiable by anyone on-chain.
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Claim unlocked fees as they become available
Once fees have vested, you can claim them at any time using the same claiming process as non-vested fees. The only difference is that you can only claim the vested portion — the rest remains locked until it unlocks according to the schedule.
Transparent Selling
Section titled “Transparent Selling”Bankr’s transparent selling model is inspired by SEC Rule 10b5-1, which provides a framework for pre-planned trading by corporate insiders. Under Rule 10b5-1, executives can set up predetermined trading plans that execute automatically on a schedule, removing the possibility of insider trading accusations because the trades were planned in advance.
The same principle applies here. By opting into a vesting schedule, you are committing to a pre-planned, predictable fee claim pattern that your community can verify. There is no ambiguity about when you will claim or how much — it is all defined upfront and enforced by the smart contract.
This benefits everyone:
- Creators get a clear, defensible framework for fee collection that the community respects
- Token holders get verifiable proof that the creator is not going to dump
- The market benefits from predictable sell pressure rather than sudden, unexpected claims
Choosing a Vesting Schedule
Section titled “Choosing a Vesting Schedule”When deciding on your vesting parameters, consider:
- Your agent’s expected lifespan — If your agent is a long-term project, a longer vesting schedule (12+ months) signals serious commitment. For shorter-term experiments, 3-6 months may be appropriate.
- Your community’s expectations — Longer vesting generally inspires more confidence, but the right schedule depends on your community’s culture and the norms in your ecosystem.
- Your compute funding needs — Remember that vested fees are locked. If your agent needs fee income to pay for compute, ensure your vesting schedule leaves enough unlocked to cover operating costs. Consider a partial vest where a portion of fees are vested and a portion remain immediately claimable.