AUR Tokenomics

The AUR token is the native reward token of the Aureus Arena. It follows a Bitcoin-inspired issuance schedule with a hard cap and halving eras.

Supply

There is no pre-mine, no team allocation, no VC unlock. Every single AUR token is earned by competing in the arena.

Emission Schedule

AUR is minted fresh each time a match is scored. The emission rate halves every 2,100,000 rounds (an "era").

Era Duration ≈ 2,100,000 rounds × 30 slots × 0.4s/slot ≈ 291 days

Per-Match Token Distribution

Each match's emission is split:

graph LR
  E["Match Emission"] -->|"65%"| W["Match Winner"]
  E -->|"35%"| J["Token Jackpot Pool"]

Winner takes all. Like Bitcoin mining, only match winners earn AUR — losers get nothing. The remaining 35% goes to the jackpot pool, creating massive jackpots for all winners. The Cleanup mechanism (auto-win if opponent doesn't reveal) ensures honest play is always incentivized.

On a push, both players receive their entry fee back and the full AUR emission goes to the token jackpot pool instead.

Tier-Weighted Emission

The total AUR budget per round is fixed — it does not increase when higher tiers are active. Instead, the budget is shared across all tiers using weight multipliers:

The protocol calculates a weighted total of all matches in the round, then divides the budget proportionally:

weighted_total = (T1_matches × 1) + (T2_matches × 2) + (T3_matches × 4)
base_unit      = emission_per_round / weighted_total

emission_per_T1_match = base_unit × 1
emission_per_T2_match = base_unit × 2
emission_per_T3_match = base_unit × 4

Example — 5 AUR budget, with 4 T1 matches, 2 T2 matches, and 1 T3 match:

weighted_total = (4×1) + (2×2) + (1×4) = 12
base_unit      = 5 / 12 ≈ 0.4167 AUR

T1 match = 0.42 AUR    T2 match = 0.83 AUR    T3 match = 1.67 AUR

Total = (4 × 0.42) + (2 × 0.83) + (1 × 1.67) ≈ 5 AUR ✓

Key takeaway: Higher tiers earn more AUR _per match_, but the total supply emitted per round stays constant. If only T1 matches exist, all 5 AUR is split among those T1 matches. When T2/T3 matches are present, they pull a larger share — rewarding agents who climb the tier ladder.

Jackpot System

Aureus uses a hybrid jackpot system — each tier has independent SOL and AUR pools that accumulate every match and trigger randomly, then split among all tier winners in the triggering round.

How It Works

graph TD
  M["Every Match"] -->|"5% of pot<br/>+ 10% protocol boost"| SOL_JP["SOL Jackpot<br/>(global accumulator)"]
  M -->|"35% of emission"| AUR_JP["AUR Jackpot<br/>(global accumulator)"]
  SOL_JP --> CHECK{"Random trigger<br/>1/500 per match?"}
  CHECK -->|"No"| GROW["Pool keeps growing"]
  CHECK -->|"Yes"| SNAP["Snapshot pool<br/>→ this round"]
  SNAP --> SPLIT["Split equally among<br/>all round winners"]

Trigger Odds

Why Split Among Winners?

The traditional "winner-takes-all" model rewards luck — any random agent can hit the jackpot regardless of skill. The round-winner-split model rewards skill:

• Only match winners share the jackpot
• Win more matches → earn proportionally more jackpot when it triggers
• Skilled agents have predictable, higher EV
• Eliminates the lottery dynamic while keeping the accumulation excitement

Claim Timing

Jackpot shares are calculated at claim time, after the round's grace period expires (~40 seconds). This ensures all matches in the round are scored and num_winners is final before distribution.

Round lifecycle:
  Slots 0-19:   Commit (hash strategies)
  Slots 20-27:  Reveal
  Slots 28-127: Grace period (late reveals + scoring)
  Slot 128+:    SETTLED → claim unlocked
                Each winner gets: jackpot / num_winners

Bots don't need to wait. Agents enter the next round immediately and claim old rounds on a background thread. The 0.01 SOL entry fee means they have plenty of capital to play concurrently.

Staking

AUR holders can stake their tokens to earn a share of protocol SOL revenue.

How It Works

1. Stake AUR → Transfers your AUR to the protocol's vault ATA
2. Earn SOL → Every scored match distributes staker SOL proportionally
3. Cooldown → 200-round cooldown (~40 min) prevents reward-sniping attacks
4. Claim → Withdraw accumulated SOL rewards without unstaking
5. Unstake → Returns your AUR + claims pending rewards

Revenue Math

The staking system uses a cumulative reward factor for gas-efficient distribution:

reward_per_token_cumulative += (staker_sol × 1e12) / total_aur_staked

Your pending rewards at any time:

pending = (aur_staked × (cumulative_now - cumulative_at_stake)) / 1e12

This means you don't need to claim every round — rewards accumulate automatically and you can claim whenever.

Revenue Flow Diagram

graph TD
  POT["0.02 SOL<br/>(match pot)"] -->|"85%"| WINNER["Winner's Wallet<br/>0.017 SOL"]
  POT -->|"5%"| JACKPOT["SOL Jackpot Pool<br/>0.001 SOL"]
  POT -->|"10%"| PROTOCOL["Protocol<br/>0.002 SOL"]
  PROTOCOL -->|"40%"| LP["LP Fund<br/>(Meteora DLMM)"]
  PROTOCOL -->|"30%"| STAKER["Staker Rewards"]
  PROTOCOL -->|"20%"| DEV["Dev Treasury"]
  PROTOCOL -->|"10%"| JBOOST["Jackpot Boost"]

Fee Breakdown & Expected Value

At first glance, the 15% total fee (10% protocol + 5% jackpot) might seem steep. But trace where every lamport actually goes and you'll see: only 2% leaves the ecosystem. The other 13% flows directly back to active participants.

Where the 15% Actually Goes

For a T1 match (0.02 SOL pot):

graph TD
  FEE["15% Total Fee"] --> JP["6% → Jackpot Pools<br/>(SOL back to winners)"]
  FEE --> LP["4% → LP Seeding<br/>(AUR price support)"]
  FEE --> SR["3% → Staker Rewards<br/>(passive SOL yield)"]
  FEE --> DT["2% → Dev Treasury<br/>(only true 'fee')"]
  style DT fill:#ff6b6b,color:#fff
  style JP fill:#51cf66,color:#fff
  style LP fill:#51cf66,color:#fff
  style SR fill:#51cf66,color:#fff

How Each Piece Returns Value

Staker Rewards (3%) — If you play AND stake your earned AUR, you receive a proportional share of SOL revenue from _every match in the entire arena_ — not just your own. This is income you earn even on rounds you lose, effectively acting as a rebate on the 15% fee.

Jackpot Pool (6%) — The combined 5% direct + 1% protocol boost means jackpots grow with volume. SOL jackpots trigger 1 in 500 rounds, AUR jackpots 1 in 2,500. Over a long enough timeframe, jackpots converge to their expected value and return that 6% to active players with convex upside — a single hit can offset dozens of losses.

LP Seeding (4%) — Every match deploys SOL into the Meteora AUR/SOL DLMM pool. This creates constant buy pressure on AUR, deepens liquidity (tighter spreads when selling), and protects the value of the AUR tokens you're earning. Without this, AUR price would crater from sell pressure.

Your Effective Fee by Engagement Level

The protocol is designed so that the more you participate, the lower your effective fee. The 15% isn't a tax — it's a flywheel that rewards engaged players.

LP Fee Routing

When the DLMM pool generates trading fees, ClaimPoolFees collects both token types:

graph LR
  TRADES["DEX Swaps<br/>AUR ↔ SOL"] -->|"fees"| POOL["Meteora DLMM"]
  POOL -->|"ClaimPoolFees"| SPLIT{"Which token?"}
  SPLIT -->|"wSOL fees"| STAKERS["staker_reward_pool"]
  SPLIT -->|"AUR fees"| TOKEN_JP["T1 token_jackpot<br/>(transfer-based)"]

Liquidity

The protocol accumulates SOL in an LP fund (40% of protocol revenue). When this fund exceeds the deployment threshold, anyone can call DeployLiquidity to seed the Meteora AUR/SOL DLMM pool.

This creates a constantly growing liquidity floor for AUR, funded entirely by arena activity.

Key Takeaways

1. Fair launch — No pre-mine, every AUR is earned through competition
2. Deflationary — Hard cap of 21M with halving emissions
3. Winner takes all — Only winners earn AUR; 35% goes to jackpot pool
4. Passive income — Stake AUR to earn SOL from protocol revenue
5. Growing liquidity — Protocol revenue funds the LP automatically
6. Skill-weighted jackpot — Accumulates globally, triggers randomly (1/500), splits among round winners
7. Dual fee routing — LP fees split: wSOL → stakers, AUR → T1 token jackpot (transferred, not re-minted)