How Voting Works
When you lock BTC, you receive voting power tokenized as an NFT. Each week (epoch), you may allocate that power across different gauges—pools like BTC/MUSD, the MUSD Savings Rate, or other protocol functions. The gauges you vote for receive a proportional share of total fees for that epoch. More emissions attract more liquidity providers. More liquidity can increase trading volume, which can increase fees. Those fees flow back to you—the voter—creating a positive feedback loop where your influence grows in tandem with protocol success.What You Earn
Trading Fees
100% of fees generated by pools you vote for, distributed proportionally. If you allocated 1% of a gauge’s votes and that pool generated 500.
Incentives
External protocols deposit incentives to attract votes toward their preferred gauges. These are split among all voters on that gauge, creating a secondary revenue stream.
Passive Bridging Fees
All veBTC holders receive bridging and chain fees proportional to their boosted weight—no voting required.
Voting Power and Boost
Your effective voting power depends on two factors: your base veBTC weight and any boost from veMEZO.Base Weight (veBTC Only)
Without any veMEZO, your voting power equals your veBTC weight, which decays linearly as your lock approaches expiration. Lock 1 BTC for 28 days, and your initial power is 1.0, decaying continuously until it reaches zero at expiration.Boosted Weight (veBTC + veMEZO)
When veMEZO votes are directed to your veBTC position, your voting power is multiplied by a boost factor between 1x and 5x. The boost depends on:- Your share of total veBTC in the system
- The share of total veMEZO directed to your position
- Larger BTC positions require proportionally more veMEZO to reach max boost
- You can receive boost by holding veMEZO yourself, or by attracting veMEZO votes through incentives
- Boost must be “poked” to take effect after changes
The Weekly Epoch
Mezo operates in 7-day epochs starting Thursday at 00:00 UTC. Each epoch is a fresh cycle for voting power, fees, and incentives.1
Epoch Begins
New voting period starts
2
Cast Votes
Allocate your voting power throughout the week
3
Epoch Ends
Votes are tallied
4
Emissions Distributed
MEZO emissions flow to gauges based on votes
5
Rewards Claimable
Fees and incentives become available
6
Repeat
New epoch begins
Critical: Votes don’t carry over. If you don’t vote in a given epoch, you forfeit your share of fees and incentives for that week.
Epoch Alignment
Lock durations are aligned to epoch boundaries and rounded down to the nearest full week. This means:- A 28-day max lock created mid-epoch will have an effective duration of approximately 21–28 days, depending on when you lock
- Locks always expire at epoch transitions (Thursday 00:00 UTC)
How to Vote
Voting with veBTC
veBTC holders vote on staking gauges, validator gauges, and ecosystem gauges to direct emissions and earn fees.1
Access Vote Tab
Visit the Vote tab to view your active veBTC positions. Click Allocate next to the position you want to vote with.
2
Allocate Voting Power
Enter the percentage of your voting power for each gauge. For example:
- 50% to BTC/MUSD pool
- 30% to MUSD/mUSDC pool
- 20% to mcbBTC/BTC pool
3
Submit Votes
Review your allocation and click Submit Votes in the right sidebar. Sign the transaction to register your vote for the current epoch.
Votes don’t carry over between epochs. You must vote each week to continue earning fees and incentives.
Voting with veMEZO
veMEZO holders vote on veBTC boost gauges to provide boost to BTC positions in exchange for incentives.1
Navigate to Boost Gauges
Go to the Boost Gauges section to see all available veBTC positions seeking boost.
2
Review Gauges
Check each gauge for:
- Current incentives posted
- Amount of veMEZO already directed to that gauge
- Estimated yield based on your veMEZO allocation
3
Allocate veMEZO
Enter the percentage of your veMEZO voting power to direct to each boost gauge.
4
Submit
Click Submit Votes and sign the transaction.
veMEZO voters do not receive trading fees, MUSD revenue, or bridging fees from the veBTC positions they boost. Those rewards go to the veBTC holder. veMEZO voters only earn the incentives explicitly posted on boost gauges.
Maximizing Your Boost (For veBTC Holders)
If you hold both veBTC and veMEZO, you can maximize your voting power:Option 1: Self-Boost
1
Access Boost Gauge
Go to your veBTC position’s boost gauge
2
Allocate veMEZO
Direct your veMEZO voting power to it
3
Submit
Click Submit Votes
4
Poke
Poke your veBTC position to activate the new boost
Option 2: Attract External Boost
1
Navigate to Gauge
Go to your veBTC position’s boost gauge
2
Add Incentives
Click Add Incentives and deposit tokens (any ERC-20) as incentives
3
Attract Votes
veMEZO holders will see your incentives and may direct votes your way
4
Poke
Poke your position after receiving new veMEZO votes
Important: Poke After Changes
When your veMEZO situation changes, the boost doesn’t automatically update. You need to poke your veBTC position to refresh its boosted weight. Poke when:- You receive new veMEZO votes on your boost gauge
- You direct your own veMEZO to your position
- You claim veMEZO rebase distributions
- You extend your veMEZO lock
1
Access Position
Go to your veBTC position
2
Poke
Click Poke
3
Apply
Sign the transaction - your new boosted weight applies immediately
Choosing Where to Vote
Different gauges offer different opportunities. Some factors you may consider when allocating votes:- Trading volume and fee generation
- Incentives posted by protocols
- Total votes already allocated to a gauge
- Your own priorities for the Mezo ecosystem
- Incentive amounts posted by veBTC holders
- Duration and reliability of incentive postings
- Alignment with your own veBTC positions (if any)