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Gauges & Incentives Overview

A gauge is a contract that pays rewards to LPs who stake their LP or vault tokens in it. A pool or lending vault works without one. LPs who don't stake in the gauge earn trading fees or interest, but not the gauge's rewards.

Rewards reach a gauge in two ways:

  • CRV emissions: a share of Curve's weekly CRV inflation, set by veCRV gauge weight votes. The gauge must first be whitelisted by the Curve DAO.
  • Direct gauge rewards: tokens you deposit into the gauge yourself. No vote is needed.

For every way to fund LP yield, including vote incentives and Merkl, and when each fits, see Incentivizing a Pool.

Incentivizing a Pool
Compare the ways to fund LP yield on a Curve pool and when each fits.
How to Get a Gauge
Learn how to get a gauge for a pool or lending market.

Why Use a Gauge​

Rewards give LPs a reason to deposit. More liquidity means lower slippage for anyone trading your token.

Gauges also connect three groups:

  • Protocols get deeper liquidity for their token.
  • LPs earn CRV, direct gauge rewards or both.
  • veCRV holders decide where CRV goes and can earn vote incentives for it.

Types of Rewards Through a Gauge​

CRV Emissions​

  • Paid from the Curve DAO's CRV inflation schedule and updated every week.
  • Split between gauges by veCRV gauge weight votes.
  • Need a gauge that the DAO has whitelisted.

Direct Gauge Rewards​

  • Paid in a token you choose, from a budget you fund.
  • Need no governance vote, so they can start right after the gauge is deployed.
  • Rewards are standard ERC-20 tokens, at most 8 per gauge, and a token can't be removed once added.

Deploying Gauges and Receiving CRV Emissions​

Anyone can deploy a gauge for a Curve pool or lending vault. Once deployed, it can pay direct gauge rewards, such as your project's token or a stablecoin.

To receive CRV emissions, the gauge must first be whitelisted by a Curve DAO vote. After that, its share of CRV depends on veCRV gauge weight votes, which update weekly. A gauge on another chain gets CRV through a root gauge on Ethereum, which is what the DAO whitelists and veCRV votes on. CRV reaches LPs there about a week later, after it accumulates in the root gauge and is bridged. See Gauge Weights on L2s.