Samurai Starter and The Evolution of Single-token Staking

Samurai Starter introduces a revolutionary FIRST in token staking with veAERO rewards

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Samurai Starter

6 min readMay 16, 2024

It is no secret that single-token or single-sided token staking in crypto is a flawed mechanism.

Crypto projects often offer yield (APR) to their community for staking or locking up their native tokens for a period of time — whether it be days, weeks, or even years. But, the economic value-add to the project for doing so is minimal, at best. At worst, it is downright chart wrecking. Stakers more often than not will continuously dump their token rewards and the cost to the project almost always outweighs the benefits (which are minimal, anyway).

The system is broken… until today…

Samurai Starter has devised an innovative strategy for incentivizing single-token staking which is a win-win for all parties.

$SAM Staking

Currently, our users can lock $SAM for a period of three, six, nine, or twelve months for two core purposes:

1. Launchpad Access

Gain access to the hottest launches in crypto by any one of the three following ways:

Hold SamNFT or…
Stake $SAM or…
Provide WETH/SAM liquidity on Aerodrome Finance.

2. Participation in Samurai Sanka — our community interaction platform

Samurai Sanka is our community interaction platform that incentivizes participation on the Samurai Starter platform and social channels, as well as on those of our partners.

For participating in Samurai Sanka, you receive Samurai Points which can be earned by staking $SAM or WETH/SAM LP tokens (coming soon), participating in Samurai Starter token launches, and engaging with our partners’ platforms and socials.

You can learn all about Samurai Sanka and Samurai Points here, with a breakdown of the Samurai Sanka Season One prizes here.

However, as you know by now, we love to reward our community, but we do not want to provide $SAM rewards for simply staking tokens (again, the economic value of doing that is negligible, if not negative). This would only create constant sell pressure on $SAM.

Therefore, it is time to introduce staking rewards that don’t wreck the $SAM chart… veAERO rewards!

We are the first crypto protocol in the world to offer such a solution!

Let’s break this down as easy as possible, step-by-step.

What is Aerodrome Finance?

Aerodrome Finance is a ve(3,3) DEX and one of the leading DEXs on Base. If you are unfamiliar with ve(3,3) DEX mechanics, you can check out our ve(3,3) explainer here.

All $SAM exchange liquidity and trading takes place on Aerodrome.

Samurai Starter x Aerodrome: How it All Works

Samurai Starter’s $SAM token is currently trading on Aerodrome with over $400k in liquidity. Here’s a breakdown of how things work:

WETH/SAM liquidity providers earn $AERO for providing LP.
Samurai Starter ‘bribes’ veAERO holders weekly with $SAM incentives in order for them to vote for the WETH/SAM pair, earning $AERO emissions for the pool.
veAERO holders vote weekly for the WETH/SAM LP pair, thereby directing more $AERO rewards to WETH/SAM LPs in the week ahead while earning $SAM for their votes.

This process happens weekly with a deadline of every Thursday at 00:00 UTC.

To summarize the strategies and incentives by stakeholder…

Samurai Starter:

Earns $AERO on protocol owned liquidity (POL) and gains enhanced token liquidity for $SAM.
Samurai has a significant veAERO position currently totalling more than 280,000 veAERO which is used to vote for WETH/SAM.
Samurai Starter also provides $SAM incentives weekly to increase the votes we receive, thereby increasing $AERO yield to WETH/SAM LPs.

WETH/SAM LPs:

Earn liquid $AERO rewards in return for supporting $SAM and the Samurai Starter ecosystem.

veAERO voters:

Earn $SAM incentives for voting for the WETH/SAM pair so WETH/SAM LPs can earn higher yield in $AERO.

We now add a fourth beneficiary to this liquidity flywheel — $SAM stakers!

Stake $SAM — earn veAERO!

On Thursday, May 2nd, Samurai Starter set up a second wallet for protocol owned liquidity (POL) in which we paired our $SAM token with WETH (wrapped Ether) and staked it on Aerodrome.

We deposited $30k USD worth of WETH/SAM into the liquidity pool through this Samurai Sanka Rewards Wallet.

The POL — just like all other WETH/SAM LPs — has been earning over 300% APR since its inception on May 2nd with the yield coming in the form of $AERO tokens.

As of the time of writing, this LP has returned over 6k AERO with a market value over $6,500 USD!

Where does this yield go?

The yield from the Samurai Sanka Rewards Wallet will be distributed bi-weekly to $SAM stakers and Samurai Sanka participants in the form of veAERO!

You read that right.

Stake $SAM, join IDOs, participate in Samurai Sanka — earn veAERO!

What is veAERO?

veAERO is a form of $AERO that is locked into an NFT for a specified period of time that provides its holders with voting rights to direct $AERO emissions to LP pairs on the platform.

The process is straightforward:

Hold veAERO.
Vote for WETH/SAM weekly before 00:00 UTC every Thursday at https://aerodrome.finance/vote.
Receive $SAM rewards for voting.
Rinse and repeat — weekly.

The WETH/SAM pair on the Aerodrome Finance Vote Page

As you can see in the above screenshot, in this epoch there was 504,000 $SAM offered in bribes. If you as a veAERO holder voted for WETH/SAM, you would receive a proportional share of that 504,000 $SAM based on the total number of votes for our pair — at the time of the screenshot voting APR was 84%!

You can do that weekly to earn additional $SAM while also benefiting Samurai Starter by voting for our liquidity pair (i.e. we earn more AERO rewards with more votes).

Earn more $SAM, add it to your $SAM stake, have a greater chance to gain more veAERO… which earns more $SAM. A win for all!

How do I earn veAERO from Samurai Starter?

You’ll be able to claim your share of these veAERO rewards in three main ways:

Stake $SAM.
Participate in token launches and other crypto events.
Interact with our partners to earn Samurai Points.

During Season One, Samurai Points provide lottery tickets (one ticket per 1,000 Samurai Points) to win rewards. These rewards include the veAERO that comes from the Samurai Sanka Rewards Wallet.

The $AERO farmed from the Samurai Sanka Rewards Wallet will be max locked (4 years) and distributed to winners in blocks of veAERO in various sizes.

When you receive the veAERO NFT in your wallets, it will already be set to vote for WETH/SAM weekly. All you will have to do is claim your $SAM bribe rewards weekly and make sure your vote is continuously set to WETH/SAM.

How do I vote for WETH/SAM with my veAERO?

Let’s break it down step-by-step:

Go to https://aerodrome.finance/vote weekly before 00:00 UTC on Thursday.

2. Click “Select” in the bottom right corner which will bring you to this pop up:

3. Set your vote to 100% and press the blue “Vote” button.

4. That is it for voting!

5. On Thursdays, you can go to your Aerodrome dashboard at https://aerodrome.finance/dash to claim your rewards!

What can I do with my $SAM rewards?

To gain the most value and to participate fully in the Samurai Starter x Aerodrome Finance liquidity flywheel, you can match your $SAM rewards with WETH and provide liquidity in order to start earning your own $AERO rewards.

Here’s the process:

Obtain veAERO from Samurai Sanka or other means.
Vote for WETH/SAM to earn $SAM bribe incentives.
Pair your $SAM rewards with WETH and provide liquidity.
Earn AERO from your LP and lock it for more voting power.
Vote for WETH/SAM to earn $SAM bribe incentives.

Keep it going for years and watch your crypto account grow!

More to come!

We will release concise tweet threads and the like on this topic, and we are always available in our Telegram group to answer any questions you may have.

Let’s build an amazing liquidity flywheel together!