Convex Finance

Convex lets Curve LPs and CRV holders earn boosted rewards without locking CRV themselves. It aggregates veCRV voting power to maximize gauge boosts and auto-compounds CRV/CVX rewards for depositors.

Controls a dominant share of veCRV, making it the primary venue for boosted Curve yield and the heart of the Curve bribe economy.

- cvxCRV (liquid staked CRV): A liquid wrapper minted when users stake CRV through Convex. Convex locks the CRV as veCRV permanently, so the CRV-to-cvxCRV conversion is one-way. cvxCRV can be traded on the open market or staked to earn a share of Curve trading fees (as 3CRV), a portion of the boosted CRV earned by all Convex LPs, and CVX rewards. - CVX (governance/reward token): Convex's native token with a hard cap of 100 million. 50% is emitted pro-rata to Curve LPs based on CRV earned through the platform; the remainder covers liquidity mining (25%), team (10%), treasury (9.7%), investors (3.3%) and veCRV-holder airdrops (2%). - vlCVX (vote-locked CVX): CVX locked for a 16-week epoch (16 weeks plus a few days) to receive vlCVX voting power. vlCVX holders direct how Convex's aggregated veCRV position votes on Curve gauge weights, and receive a share of protocol-earned CRV plus bribe/incentive income. - Boosted Curve LP vaults: Curve LP-token deposit vaults. Because Convex holds a very large veCRV balance, deposited LP positions receive a near-maximum CRV boost without the LP having to lock any CRV themselves; depositors also earn CVX on top of base Curve rewards. - Votium bribe marketplace (integration): An external incentive/bribe marketplace where protocols pay vlCVX voters to direct Convex's veCRV weight toward their Curve gauge. Central to the Convex-mediated Curve bribe economy.

- Convex Finance (CVX): Token, Governance token (vlCVX vote-locked) - cvxCRV (cvxCRV): Receipt, Locked / Vote-Escrow Receipt - vlCVX (vlCVX): Receipt, Locked / Vote-Escrow Receipt

- Systemic: Convex is almost entirely dependent on Curve and its veCRV vote-escrow model. A collapse in CRV value, changes to Curve's gauge/boost mechanics, or a CRV emissions wind-down would directly undermine Convex's core value proposition. - Reserve / Depeg: cvxCRV can depeg from CRV. Because minting cvxCRV permanently locks CRV as veCRV, the only exit is selling cvxCRV on secondary markets, where it has historically traded at a discount to CRV under sell pressure. - Governance: Governance power is concentrated in vote-locked CVX (vlCVX). Large vlCVX holders and a bribe-driven vote market (Votium) can steer Convex's very large veCRV bloc, creating vote-buying and centralization-of-influence risk over Curve emissions. - Smart Contract: Convex is a complex system of vaults, staking wrappers and cross-protocol integrations. Despite multiple audits, bugs or exploits in Convex contracts, or in the Curve/Frax contracts it wraps, could lead to loss of deposited funds. - Counterparty: Convex is run by a pseudonymous team and relies on external integrations (Curve, Frax, Votium). Users depend on those parties and on Convex's own privileged contract roles behaving honestly and remaining available.

- Actively managed yield / index fund wrapper: similar in that Users deposit an asset and a manager pools it to capture scale advantages (here, an outsized veCRV boost) that an individual could not achieve alone, returning enhanced yield.; differs in that Non-custodial and governed by token holders rather than a licensed manager; the 'boost' comes from on-chain vote-escrow mechanics, and the deposit token (cvxCRV) is itself a permanent, irreversible claim traded on open markets. - Proxy-voting / shareholder-activism aggregator: similar in that Aggregates dispersed voting rights (veCRV) into a concentrated bloc and monetizes control over how those votes are cast, similar to a proxy advisor marshalling shareholder votes.; differs in that Voting power is openly rented via a transparent bribe market (Votium) rather than delegated by mandate, and the votes allocate token emissions rather than corporate board seats.