Vesting is a schedule that releases earned rewards over time rather than all at once. Campaigns use vesting to align participants with a project’s longer-term success and to reduce immediate sell pressure. For participants, vesting terms materially change what a reward is worth, which is why disclosure of vesting upfront has become a standard expectation.
A reward is earned in full at settlement but released in portions across a defined period. Schedules vary in length and shape, and some begin only after an initial delay, so the same headline allocation can reach a participant over very different timeframes.
To align participants with a project’s longer-term success and to reduce immediate sell pressure. Releasing an entire reward pool at once concentrates selling into a single moment, particularly around a TGE, which works against both the project and the participants holding.
Materially. A reward released over a long schedule carries exposure to whatever happens to the token in the meantime, which the same figure paid immediately does not. Comparing two campaigns on headline pool size alone, without reading the vesting terms, compares numbers that are not equivalent.
Because participants cannot price a campaign without it. Disclosure of vesting upfront has become a standard expectation, and campaigns that publish pool size, split, and vesting terms together let participants judge the offer before committing effort.
The length of the schedule, its shape, and whether it begins immediately or after a delay. A schedule that starts only after an initial cliff delivers nothing for that whole period. Length and shape then determine how much exposure a participant carries to the token’s performance while waiting, which is the substance of what vesting changes.
It means the reward is earned at settlement but released in portions over time rather than all at once. Participants receive the full amount only after the schedule completes, which carries exposure to whatever happens to the token in the interim.
To align participants with the project’s longer-term success and to reduce immediate sell pressure. Releasing a full reward pool at once concentrates selling into a single moment, which is particularly acute around a TGE. Releasing an entire pool at once concentrates selling into a single moment, which works against both the project and participants holding.
It changes what the reward is worth rather than simply reducing it. A vested allocation carries exposure to future token performance in both directions, which an immediate payout does not, so the two are not equivalent even at identical headline figures.
Disclosure of vesting upfront has become a standard expectation, because participants cannot price a campaign without it. Campaigns publishing pool size, split, and vesting terms together let participants judge the offer before committing effort. A campaign that withholds them until after participation is asking for a commitment that cannot be priced.
