Token design
The intended $IDLE utility model launching with the platform: stake-for-access credits, revenue-funded buy-and-burn, and discounted token payments. Design stage — no token exists yet.
In this chapter
The token launches with the platform#
There is no IdleAI token today — it launches together with the platform, so the utility described here is live from day one rather than retrofitted. This chapter documents the intended design so the plumbing is built correctly ahead of launch. Do not buy, bridge, or deposit any asset claiming to be $IDLE — anything trading under that name before an official announcement is not ours.
Stake for daily inference allowance#
The core sink, modeled on Venice's VVV/DIEM design: stake $IDLE and receive a recurring daily inference allowance priced in USD. The staking vault contract (contracts/IdleStaking.sol draft) tracks positions on-chain with a 7-day unstaking cooldown; the billing service reads staked balances to grant each account's daily credit.
Sustainability is enforced at the source: the daily credit **pool** is bounded — a floor budget plus a share of trailing platform revenue — and split pro-rata across total staked supply (creditPerTokenPerDay is recomputed daily by the operator job). Total daily credit liability can never outrun what the platform actually earns; early stakers simply get a larger share of the same bounded pool.
| Parameter | Draft value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Entitlement | Share of a bounded daily credit pool, pro-rata by stake | Rate recomputed daily: max(floor, % of trailing-7d fees) ÷ totalStaked. |
| Claim banking | Up to 30 days of accrued allowance | Unclaimed credits accrue; long-idle stakes stop growing the liability. |
| Unstake cooldown | 7 days | Prevents flash in/out gaming of daily allowances. |
| Non-custodial usage | Staking only — no transfers needed to spend credit | Credit is an allowance, not a spend of the token. |
This turns the token into a capacity claim rather than a payment method: holders who want inference are incentivized to lock supply, which reduces circulating float as usage grows.
Pay with $IDLE, burn a share#
At launch, deposits accept $IDLE alongside USDG. The deposit path is already multi-asset: non-pegged tokens are priced on-chain via the Robinhood Chain Uniswap V3 QuoterV2 into USDG, with a configurable volatility haircut, and credited to the ledger in microdollars. A configurable share of each token deposit is forwarded to a burn address — verifiable deflation funded by real usage.
The critical constraint: upstream supply (currently OpenRouter) is paid in dollars. Token revenue must be convertible through real DEX liquidity on Robinhood Chain, or token deposits become IOUs against fiat costs. The haircut and deposit caps exist to keep that conversion sustainable.
Revenue-funded buyback#
Platform margin (the disclosed markup on upstream supply, plus supplier fees once third-party supply is active) accrues in the ledger's house account. The intended program: periodically swap a published share of accrued revenue to $IDLE on the DEX and burn it — buy pressure funded by real product revenue, not treasury recycling.
supplier-ops.mjs revenue reports the ledger accruals that would fund this: platform fees, supplier balances, in-flight holds, pending payouts, and lifetime billed volume.
Distribution thinking#
The token launches alongside the platform, so day-one utility is the distribution: staking unlocks allowance and token deposits pay for inference from the first block. Launch allocations, vesting, and emissions are undecided and require legal review before publication — whatever is chosen must be disclosed before the token trades, not after.
What actually makes this work#
Tokens like VVV sustain because real product revenue funds real buy pressure and staking removes float while usage grows. Launching the token with the platform means the utility must be real on day one — which is why the deposit plumbing, staking vault, and revenue accounting are built before the token exists.