Liquidity · Vaults · CVX
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.
Boosted Curve yield without locking CRV yourself.
CVX price
$2.03
-12.7% 24h
Latest data · 15 min delay
Controls a dominant share of veCRV, making it the primary venue for boosted Curve yield and the heart of the Curve bribe economy.
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.
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%).
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.
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.
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.
100,000,000 CVX (hard cap); 50% distributed pro-rata to Curve LPs by CRV earned through Convex
Convex Finance docs - TokenomicsLargest single veCRV holder at over 41% of supply per Dune data (June 2024); has hovered around ~50% since mid-2022
Switchere - Convex Finance guideCVX vote-locks into vlCVX for a 16-week epoch (16 weeks plus a few days) to gain gauge-voting power
Curve Wars analysis - tokenbrice.xyzHow Convex Finance maps onto established TradFi structures, and where it diverges.
Actively managed yield / index fund wrapper
Convex Finance
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.
TradFi analogue
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
Convex Finance
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.
TradFi analogue
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.
Convex core team
Pseudonymous founding/development team Convex was launched in May 2021 by a pseudonymous team; core contributors are known primarily by online handles rather than public identities.
vlCVX governance (Convex DAO)
Token-holder governance Protocol decisions and, most importantly, the direction of Convex's veCRV gauge votes are controlled by vote-locked CVX (vlCVX) holders via on-chain and Snapshot voting.
Key milestones: launches, upgrades, exploits and governance events.
MixBytes audit of core platform
ExecutedMixBytes completed a security audit of the Convex platform contracts ahead of launch.
SourceConvex-Frax staking platform audited (PeckShield)
ExecutedPeckShield audited the Convex-Frax staking platform, extending Convex's boost model to Frax's vote-escrow system.
SourceSidechain platform audit (PeckShield)
ExecutedPeckShield audited Convex's sidechain platform, expanding Convex beyond Ethereum mainnet.
SourceConvex lets Curve liquidity providers earn boosted CRV and trading fees without locking CRV themselves. It aggregates users' CRV into a large veCRV position, applies a near-maximum boost to pooled LP deposits, and adds CVX rewards on top.
cvxCRV is a liquid token received when you stake CRV via Convex. The underlying CRV is permanently locked as veCRV by Convex, so converting CRV to cvxCRV is irreversible; to exit you must sell cvxCRV on a secondary market, where it can trade below CRV.
vlCVX is vote-locked CVX. Locking CVX for a 16-week epoch grants vlCVX, which controls how Convex's veCRV votes on Curve gauge weights and earns a share of protocol CRV and bribe income.
By holding roughly half of all veCRV, Convex became the dominant force directing Curve's CRV emissions. Protocols compete to acquire or bribe vlCVX (largely via Votium) to steer that voting power toward their own Curve pools.
CVX has a hard cap of 100 million tokens. Half is distributed pro-rata to LPs based on CRV earned through Convex, with the rest allocated to liquidity mining, team, treasury, investors and veCRV-holder airdrops.
