Lock & boost breakdown
| Metric | Value |
|---|
veCRV decay over the lock
Your veCRV balance falls linearly every week from the day you lock and hits exactly zero the week the lock expires — it is a countdown, not a static balance.
| Weeks elapsed | Years elapsed | veCRV balance remaining |
|---|
Two payouts, one lock — and they don't move together
Vote-escrow tokenomics, pioneered by Curve and forked across most of DeFi (Balancer, Frax, Ribbon and dozens of Curve-fork DEXes all run a version of it), splits your reward into two completely separate income streams from a single locked-CRV position. The gauge boost multiplies rewards you already earn as a liquidity provider in a specific pool — it is worthless if you don't also hold LP tokens there. Bribe income is the opposite: paid by third parties purely for your vote on where next week's CRV emissions go, whether or not you provide liquidity anywhere. This calculator runs both off the same veCRV number so you can see them side by side instead of hunting two different dashboards.
The boost formula itself is Curve's actual on-chain math, not an approximation: workingBalance = min(yourLP, 0.4×yourLP + 0.6×gaugeTotalLP×(yourVeCRV÷totalVeCRV)), then boost = workingBalance ÷ (0.4×yourLP), clamped to the 1x–2.5x range Curve enforces on-chain. The 0.4 term is a floor — every LP gets at least 1x with zero veCRV — and the 0.6 term is where locking pays off, but only relative to that gauge's total LP supply, which is why the same veCRV balance boosts a small illiquid pool far more than a mega-pool like the 3pool.
Two numbers in this calculator move without you touching anything: your veCRV balance decays every single week toward the lock's expiry date (shown in the decay table below), and the protocol-wide total veCRV supply shifts as everyone else locks, extends or lets their locks expire — which changes your share of the boost formula's 0.6 term even if your own CRV and LP balance never change. Re-locking (extending the unlock date back toward the max) is the only way to hold a boost steady instead of watching it decay toward 1x.
FAQ
How is veCRV calculated from a CRV lock?
veCRV received is linear in lock time: veCRV = CRV locked × (lock weeks ÷ 208), where 208 weeks is the 4-year maximum lock. Locking 10,000 CRV for the full 4 years gives 10,000 veCRV. Locking the same amount for 1 year gives only 2,500 veCRV. From the moment you lock, that veCRV balance decays linearly every week toward zero, reaching exactly zero the week your lock expires — it is not a fixed balance, it is a countdown.
What is the Curve gauge boost formula, and why can it only reach 2.5x?
Curve's real on-chain formula computes a working balance for your LP deposit: workingBalance = min(yourLP, 0.4 × yourLP + 0.6 × gaugeTotalLP × (yourVeCRV ÷ totalVeCRV)). Boost = workingBalance ÷ (0.4 × yourLP), clamped between 1x and 2.5x. The 0.4 term guarantees every LP a baseline 1x with zero veCRV; the 0.6 term rewards a bigger share of protocol-wide veCRV relative to your share of that specific gauge's LP supply. Whales with a small LP position but a large veCRV lock hit the 2.5x cap fast — small LPs with no veCRV stay at 1x.
How is Votium/Hidden Hand-style bribe income different from the LP boost?
The boost only pays out if you are also an LP in that specific gauge — it multiplies your own LP rewards. Bribe income is separate: third parties (usually the protocol whose token trades in a pool) pay veCRV holders directly, in a token of their choosing, purely for casting gauge-weight votes toward that pool, regardless of whether you provide liquidity there. This calculator estimates it as veCRV × bribe rate per veCRV per round × rounds per year, since bribe marketplaces like Votium historically ran on Curve's roughly biweekly gauge-vote cadence (about 26 rounds/year).
Why does my boost multiplier change if I don't touch my CRV lock or LP balance?
Two things move independently of your own position: your veCRV balance decays every week toward the lock's expiry (so re-locking or extending resets the countdown and restores your boost), and the protocol-wide total veCRV supply changes as other users lock, extend or let locks expire, which shifts your share of the 0.6×gaugeTotalLP×(yourVeCRV÷totalVeCRV) term even if your own numbers are unchanged. A boost calculator is a snapshot, not a guarantee — it needs re-checking as your lock ages and total veCRV supply shifts.