Acquire and Lock CRV Tokens

To participate in the Curve Wars, you must first acquire CRV tokens from a decentralized exchange like Curve Finance itself or a centralized exchange. The core action is to lock these tokens in the veCRV (vote-escrowed CRV) contract. The amount of voting power you receive is proportional to the quantity of CRV locked and the lock duration, which can range from 1 week to 4 years. A longer lock yields a higher multiplier, up to a maximum of 2.5x for a 4-year lock. This process is irreversible; tokens cannot be withdrawn until the lock expires.

• Sub-step 1: Approve the Contract: Interact with the CRV token contract to approve the veCRV contract (address: 0x5f3b5DfEb7B28CDbD7FAba78963EE202a494e2A2) to spend your tokens.
• Sub-step 2: Execute the Lock: Call the create_lock function, specifying the amount and the unlock time (as a UNIX timestamp).
• Sub-step 3: Verify veCRV Balance: Check your balance of the non-transferable veCRV NFT, which represents your locked position and voting power.

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// Example call to create a lock for 10,000 CRV for 4 years
IERC20(CRV).approve(veCRV_contract, 10000 * 1e18);
VotingEscrow(veCRV_contract).create_lock(10000 * 1e18, block.timestamp + 126144000);

Tip: Use a veCRV calculator on the Curve website to estimate your voting power and potential rewards before locking.

Direct Voting Power for Gauge Weight

Your veCRV balance grants you the right to vote weekly on gauge weight distributions. Each liquidity pool on Curve has an associated gauge. The percentage of the weekly CRV inflation a pool receives is directly determined by the proportion of total veCRV votes it attracts. This is the primary mechanism of the Curve Wars, as protocols bribe voters to direct emissions to their pools, increasing liquidity provider (LP) yields. Your vote decays linearly over time, requiring you to re-cast your votes each week to maintain maximum influence.

• Sub-step 1: Connect to Voting Interface: Navigate to the 'Vote' tab on the Curve DAO interface (dao.curve.fi) while connected with your wallet holding the veCRV NFT.
• Sub-step 2: Allocate Voting Power: Distribute your voting power across one or more gauges. You can allocate 100% to a single gauge or split it.
• Sub-step 3: Confirm the Transaction: Sign the transaction to cast your vote. The vote will be active until the next weekly epoch.

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# Using the Curve CLI (simplified example) to vote for a specific gauge
curve vote --gauge 0x7ca5b0a2910B33e9759DC7dDB0413949071D7575 --weight 100

Tip: Monitor vote-locking platforms like Votium or Warden for bribe offerings from protocols (e.g., Convex, Frax) incentivizing votes for their gauges.

Claim Rewards and Bribes

Holding veCRV generates multiple revenue streams. The primary yield comes from a share of the trading fees (50% of all fees on Curve) and CRV inflation directed to the gauges you voted for. Additionally, you can claim external bribes offered by other DeFi protocols on vote-markets. These bribes are often paid in the protocol's native token (e.g., CVX, FXS) or stablecoins. Rewards accrue continuously and can be claimed at any time, though some bribe platforms have specific claim windows after each voting epoch.

• Sub-step 1: Claim Protocol Fees & CRV: Use the 'Claim' function on the Curve DAO interface or directly on the veCRV contract to withdraw accrued fees and CRV rewards.
• Sub-step 2: Check Bribe Platforms: Visit platforms like Votium (app.votium.fi) and connect your wallet to see available bribes for the gauges you supported.
• Sub-step 3: Claim Bribes: Execute the claim transaction for each available bribe, which will send the reward tokens to your wallet.

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// Example using ethers.js to claim accrued fees from the veCRV contract
const veContract = new ethers.Contract(veCRV_address, veABI, signer);
await veContract.claim();

Tip: Automate reward claiming using keeper networks or DeFi aggregator dashboards to save on gas costs and time.

Delegate or Boost Liquidity Provision

You can amplify your yield farming strategy by delegating your veCRV voting power to a liquidity management protocol like Convex Finance (CVX). By locking your veCRV with Convex, you receive cvxCRV and a share of their massive aggregated voting power, often leading to higher bribe rewards. Alternatively, you can use your veCRV to boost your own LP yields. If you provide liquidity in a Curve pool, holding veCRV gives you a yield multiplier of up to 2.5x on your share of the CRV emissions from that pool's gauge.

• Sub-step 1: Stake in Convex: Deposit your veCRV NFT into Convex Finance (vault address: 0xF147b8125d2ef93FB6965Db97D6746952a133934) to receive cvxCRV tokens and protocol rewards.
• Sub-step 2: Check Your Boost: If providing liquidity directly, verify your boost multiplier on the Curve pool's 'Gauge' page. It's calculated as min(2.5, 0.4 + 1.5 * (your_veCRV / (total_lp_supply * 0.4))).
• Sub-step 3: Manage LP Positions: Deposit LP tokens into the correct gauge and ensure your veCRV is held in the same wallet to activate the boost.

Tip: The boost is dynamic. If your share of the pool's liquidity increases or your veCRV balance decreases (due to decay), your multiplier will drop, requiring active portfolio management.

Detailed Instructions

Curve Finance is an Automated Market Maker (AMM) specializing in stablecoin and pegged-asset swaps with low slippage. Its core mechanism involves liquidity pools where users deposit assets to earn trading fees and, crucially, CRV token emissions as yield. The protocol directs these emissions to different pools based on a weekly gauge vote. The amount of CRV a liquidity provider (LP) receives is proportional to their share of the pool's liquidity and the pool's gauge weight.

• Sub-step 1: Analyze a pool's gauge weight: Check the current allocation for a pool like the 3pool (DAI/USDC/USDT) on the Curve DAO dashboard. A weight of 10% means 10% of the week's CRV emissions go to that pool's LPs.
• Sub-step 2: Calculate personal emission rewards: Use the formula (Your LP Tokens / Total LP Tokens) * (Gauge Weight * Total Weekly CRV Emission). For example, if you own 1000 LP tokens in a pool with 10M total tokens, a 15% gauge weight, and weekly emissions of 2,000,000 CRV, your share is (1000/10,000,000) * (0.15 * 2,000,000) = 30 CRV.
• Sub-step 3: Monitor the gauge controller: Verify the vote results and gauge weights on-chain by querying the GaugeController contract (0x2F50D538606Fa9EDD2B11E2446BEb18C9D5846bB) using a call like gauge_relative_weight("pool_gauge_address").

Tip: Higher gauge weight directly translates to higher APY for a pool, making it the primary battleground for the "Curve Wars."

Detailed Instructions

The vote-escrowed (ve) model is central to Curve's governance. To gain influence over gauge weights, you must lock CRV tokens to receive veCRV, a non-transferable, decaying voting token. The voting power and fee boosts you receive are proportional to the amount of CRV locked and the lock duration, which can be up to 4 years. The longer the lock, the greater your initial voting power. This mechanism aligns long-term incentives between voters and the protocol.

• Sub-step 1: Acquire CRV tokens: Purchase CRV on a decentralized exchange (DEX) like the Curve pool itself or a centralized exchange. You'll need a Web3 wallet (e.g., MetaMask) with funds.
• Sub-step 2: Lock CRV for veCRV: Navigate to the Curve DAO page and connect your wallet. Use the create_lock function in the VotingEscrow contract (0x5f3b5DfEb7B28CDbD7FAba78963EE202a494e2A2). A transaction locking 10,000 CRV for 4 years would look like:

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create_lock(
  _value: 10000000000000000000000, // 10,000 CRV (with 18 decimals)
  _unlock_time: 1735689600 // A UNIX timestamp ~4 years in the future
)

• Sub-step 3: Verify your veCRV balance: Your veCRV balance decays linearly over time. Check it by calling balanceOf(your_wallet_address) on the same VotingEscrow contract.

Tip: Committing to a 4-year lock provides the maximum immediate voting power and a 2.5x boost on your CRV earnings from providing liquidity.

Detailed Instructions

Gauge weight voting is the act of using your veCRV to allocate points to specific liquidity pool gauges. This is the essence of the Curve Wars. Protocols and individuals vote to direct CRV emissions to pools where they have a strategic interest, often because they provide liquidity there or have issued a token in that pool. The process uses a weekly voting cycle that concludes every Thursday.

• Sub-step 1: Identify your target pool: Determine which pool's gauge you want to boost. This is often a pool containing a token from a protocol you support (e.g., a Frax Finance pool). Find its gauge address in the Curve UI or on-chain.
• Sub-step 2: Cast your vote: Call the vote_for_gauge_weights function on the GaugeController contract. You must specify the gauge address and the voting power (out of 10,000) to allocate. To allocate 30% of your power to gauge 0x123..., the call is:

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vote_for_gauge_weights(
  _gauge_addr: "0x123...",
  _user_weight: 3000 // 30% of 10,000
)

• Sub-step 3: Manage vote decay: Your vote's influence decays linearly over the week. To maintain maximum influence, many voters "re-vote" or "re-lock" their positions regularly to reset the decay.

Tip: Large holders ("whales") and coordinated vote-bribing platforms like Votium and Hidden Hand are key players, offering direct payments (bribes) to veCRV holders to vote for specific gauges.

Detailed Instructions

Owning veCRV confers two primary financial benefits beyond voting: a share of protocol trading fees and access to bribe markets. A portion (50%) of all trading fees generated on Curve is distributed to veCRV holders, claimable weekly. Additionally, external protocols create bribe markets, offering tokens (e.g., FXS, CVX) in exchange for your vote, creating a direct revenue stream for veCRV governance participation.

• Sub-step 1: Claim fee rewards: Regularly check your claimable fees on the Curve DAO page. Use the claim function in the FeeDistributor contract (0xA464e6DCda8AC41e03616F95f4BC98a13b8922Dc) to claim accrued fees in 3CRV (Curve's DAO-owned stablecoin LP token).
• Sub-step 2: Participate in a bribe market: Visit a platform like Votium. Connect your wallet, see the list of active bribe offers for each gauge (e.g., "Vote for the FRAX pool and receive 500 FXS"), and claim the bribe after you have voted. The bribe is typically distributed after the weekly voting epoch ends.
• Sub-step 3: Calculate total yield: Aggregate your yield from CRV emissions (boosted by veCRV), trading fee rebates, and bribe income to determine your total Annual Percentage Yield (APY) from participation.

Tip: The most sophisticated participants use vote-locking services like Convex Finance (CVX), which aggregates user's CRV, locks it en masse for maximum veCRV, and manages voting on their behalf, sharing the boosted rewards and bribe income.