> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/mezo-org/documentation/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Voting on Mezo

> Learn how voting works, what you earn, and how to vote with veBTC and veMEZO

Mezo's governance model is simple: lock your commitment, earn the right to direct the protocol's future. Through voting, veBTC holders capture the economic value of fees and determine where the chain's value is allocated.

## 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

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Trading Fees" icon="money-bill-trend-up">
    100% of fees generated by pools you vote for, distributed proportionally. If you allocated 1% of a gauge's votes and that pool generated $50,000 in fees, you earn $500.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Incentives" icon="gift">
    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.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Passive Bridging Fees" icon="bridge">
    All veBTC holders receive bridging and chain fees proportional to their boosted weight—no voting required.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

This creates a market for votes. Protocols compete to attract your voting power, and you capture the value of that competition.

## 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

**Key points:**

* 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.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Epoch Begins">
    New voting period starts
  </Step>

  <Step title="Cast Votes">
    Allocate your voting power throughout the week
  </Step>

  <Step title="Epoch Ends">
    Votes are tallied
  </Step>

  <Step title="Emissions Distributed">
    MEZO emissions flow to gauges based on votes
  </Step>

  <Step title="Rewards Claimable">
    Fees and incentives become available
  </Step>

  <Step title="Repeat">
    New epoch begins
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  **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.
</Note>

### 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)

This ensures voting weight calculations remain consistent across the system.

## How to Vote

### Voting with veBTC

veBTC holders vote on staking gauges, validator gauges, and ecosystem gauges to direct emissions and earn fees.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Access Vote Tab">
    Visit the **Vote** tab to view your active veBTC positions. Click **Allocate** next to the position you want to vote with.
  </Step>

  <Step title="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
  </Step>

  <Step title="Submit Votes">
    Review your allocation and click **Submit Votes** in the right sidebar. Sign the transaction to register your vote for the current epoch.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  Votes don't carry over between epochs. You must vote each week to continue earning fees and incentives.
</Note>

### Voting with veMEZO

veMEZO holders vote on veBTC boost gauges to provide boost to BTC positions in exchange for incentives.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Navigate to Boost Gauges">
    Go to the **Boost Gauges** section to see all available veBTC positions seeking boost.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Review Gauges">
    Check each gauge for:

    * Current incentives posted
    * Amount of veMEZO already directed to that gauge
    * Estimated yield based on your veMEZO allocation
  </Step>

  <Step title="Allocate veMEZO">
    Enter the percentage of your veMEZO voting power to direct to each boost gauge.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Submit">
    Click **Submit Votes** and sign the transaction.
  </Step>
</Steps>

**What You Earn:** When you direct veMEZO votes to a boost gauge, you earn a share of any incentives posted on that gauge, proportional to your share of veMEZO votes.

<Note>
  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.
</Note>

## Maximizing Your Boost (For veBTC Holders)

If you hold both veBTC and veMEZO, you can maximize your voting power:

### Option 1: Self-Boost

<Steps>
  <Step title="Access Boost Gauge">
    Go to your veBTC position's boost gauge
  </Step>

  <Step title="Allocate veMEZO">
    Direct your veMEZO voting power to it
  </Step>

  <Step title="Submit">
    Click **Submit Votes**
  </Step>

  <Step title="Poke">
    **Poke** your veBTC position to activate the new boost
  </Step>
</Steps>

### Option 2: Attract External Boost

<Steps>
  <Step title="Navigate to Gauge">
    Go to your veBTC position's boost gauge
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add Incentives">
    Click **Add Incentives** and deposit tokens (any ERC-20) as incentives
  </Step>

  <Step title="Attract Votes">
    veMEZO holders will see your incentives and may direct votes your way
  </Step>

  <Step title="Poke">
    **Poke** your position after receiving new veMEZO votes
  </Step>
</Steps>

## 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

<Steps>
  <Step title="Access Position">
    Go to your veBTC position
  </Step>

  <Step title="Poke">
    Click **Poke**
  </Step>

  <Step title="Apply">
    Sign the transaction - your new boosted weight applies immediately
  </Step>
</Steps>

## 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

For veMEZO holders voting on boost gauges:

* Incentive amounts posted by veBTC holders
* Duration and reliability of incentive postings
* Alignment with your own veBTC positions (if any)

Monitor gauge weights, fee generation, and incentive markets each epoch to inform your decisions.