Aerodrome finance
Aerodrome finance Voting Power and Lock Duration
Aerodrome finance ties a dated AERO lock's voting power to its remaining duration. Extending that duration raises voting weight while moving withdrawal farther away. Permanent locking removes time decay, but turning it off starts a fresh maximum-length countdown rather than releasing tokens. The choice therefore depends on whether an approaching withdrawal date or sustained voting influence matters more. A larger voting balance alone does not establish the value of future rewards.
A Withdrawal Deadline Favors a Dated Lock
A dated lock preserves an expiry toward which the position progresses. Permanent locking keeps voting power from declining with time, but provides no approaching withdrawal date while permanent mode remains active. Both choices commit the underlying AERO to escrow.
A withdrawal deadline therefore changes the choice before reward estimates enter the comparison. Extending a dated position sacrifices some of its progress toward expiry. Maintaining permanent mode postpones the countdown itself. Leaving AERO unlocked preserves access to the tokens, without creating the associated veAERO voting position.
Position State Determines Available Changes
The position's ownership, escrow type, locked amount, and permanent status determine which modifications the contract permits. A normal dated NFT supports duration extensions only while unexpired and holding a positive locked amount. A permanent position follows a different transition, and an NFT deposited into a managed position has restricted operations.
These distinctions matter before authorizing a change. Token spending permission allows a deposit; permission to manage an NFT controls modifications to an existing position. Revoking an operator's permission removes that authority, but cannot reverse an extension the operator already completed. Treat NFT approvals as authority over the lock, rather than permission merely to display its balance.
Remaining Time Determines Dated Voting Weight
A dated lock's voting weight declines as its expiry approaches, even when its locked AERO amount stays unchanged. Conceptually, voting power equals the locked amount multiplied by remaining time, divided by the maximum lock duration. Integer arithmetic introduces rounding.
This relationship separates two inputs often combined in a displayed balance: capital committed and time remaining. Adding capital changes the first. Extending the lock changes the second. With an unchanged amount, a longer remaining duration produces greater voting weight at the same measurement time.
Comparisons between balances need a common timestamp. An earlier balance and a later balance can differ simply because time passed. Permanent balances avoid this time decay, while dated balances eventually reach zero voting weight at expiry.
Lock Parameters and Their Withdrawal Effects
The lock's recorded state provides more useful information than a duration label alone. The following parameters distinguish voting weight, control, and access to the underlying tokens.
| Lock Parameter | Value or Governing Condition |
|---|---|
| Escrowed asset | AERO |
| Position representation | ERC-721 veAERO NFT |
| Maximum dated duration | Four years, implemented as 1460 days |
| Expiry alignment | Requested expiry rounds down to a weekly boundary |
| Dated voting weight | Declines linearly with remaining time |
| Permanent voting weight | Equals the locked amount without time decay |
| Ordinary withdrawal eligibility | Expired, normal, nonpermanent position with its active vote cleared |
| Access to AERO | Voting weight and withdrawal eligibility describe different properties of the same position. |
The expiry alignment can make a displayed calendar interval shorter than an exact anniversary.
Extensions Move the Deadline Forward
A dated lock extension must produce a rounded expiry later than the position's existing expiry. An extension request also requires an unexpired normal position and must remain within the maximum duration. Moving a date selector slightly may leave the rounded expiry unchanged, causing rejection.
Before submitting or retrying an extension, check that its rounded expiry is later than the existing expiry and no later than your latest acceptable withdrawal date. If no permitted boundary meets both conditions, leave the lock unchanged. After a successful transaction, compare the recorded expiry with the boundary you accepted. Once an extension succeeds, the contract does not provide a corresponding operation to shorten it.
Additional AERO Preserves the Existing Expiry
Adding AERO to an eligible existing lock increases its committed amount without changing its unlock time. This provides another way to increase voting power when moving the deadline is unacceptable. It also commits more tokens to the position's existing restrictions.
The distinction is economic as well as mechanical. An extension commits the same capital for longer. An amount increase commits additional capital for the remaining term. Neither operation establishes what those tokens or their future rewards will be worth.
Permanent Mode Delays the Withdrawal Countdown
Disabling a normal permanent lock sets a new expiry at the maximum duration from that transaction, rounded down to a weekly boundary. Time already spent in permanent mode does not count toward that new term.
The permanent setting is reversible as a mode choice. Immediate token access is not the consequence of reversing it. This difference makes the setting unsuitable as a substitute for a dated lock approaching a required withdrawal deadline.
Reward Entitlement Depends on More Than Duration
Pool voting directs emissions and establishes participation in the associated voting rewards. A longer lock increases available voting weight, but the reward opportunity also depends on the selected pools, their fees, and externally supplied incentives.
Liquidity provision and voting remain separate activities. Providing assets to a pool creates a liquidity position; locking AERO creates voting power. Pool trading activity can affect voting rewards without turning the locked AERO into a withdrawable liquidity deposit.
Reward distribution also uses its own accounting periods and checkpoints. A lock extension cannot retroactively enlarge a completed period's recorded participation. Comparing lock lengths solely through a displayed reward estimate overlooks both the delayed withdrawal and the conditions behind that estimate.
Lock State Determines Where Rebases Go
Claimed AERO rebases normally return to an active dated or permanent lock, increasing its locked amount. For an expired nonpermanent position, the distributor instead sends the claim to the NFT owner. The position's state therefore changes where the same type of reward goes.
A rebase credited to an active lock is additional escrowed AERO, rather than an immediately spendable wallet receipt. Its contribution to future voting power follows the position's lock conditions. Rebase calculations depend on historical voting balances and the allocation for each period; they do not establish a fixed return or protection against a token-price decline.
Voting and Managed Positions Add Exit Conditions
An active vote can block permanent-mode removal or ordinary withdrawal even when another condition appears satisfied. Clearing that vote uses the voter contract's permitted reset window. A calendar change alone does not establish that the stored active-vote flag has cleared.
Managed positions add another distinction. Removing a deposited NFT from a managed position returns a dated lock with a fresh maximum-length term, rather than liquid AERO. The voter contract also applies epoch restrictions to that removal. A managed withdrawal and an escrow withdrawal therefore have different outcomes.
Expiry Preserves a Different Choice Than Extension
Ordinary withdrawal burns the veAERO NFT. Claim outstanding rewards and rebases before an operation burns that position, because unclaimed entitlements associated with the burned token ID can become inaccessible. Retain the position identifier and transaction records when reconciling the final withdrawal.
Allowing a dated lock to approach expiry accepts declining voting influence in exchange for approaching token access. Extending it increases that influence while delaying access. Permanent locking removes the ongoing decay, but places the withdrawal countdown after a later decision to leave permanent mode.
What to know about Aerodrome finance
Does a Lower veAERO Voting Balance Mean Locked AERO Has Disappeared?
A lower voting balance can reflect time decay without any reduction in the locked AERO amount. A dated position's voting weight and its escrowed token amount measure different things. Compare the locked amount separately from voting power before interpreting a falling balance as missing tokens.
Can Another Address Add AERO to My Lock Without Extending It?
Another address can deposit AERO into an eligible existing normal lock through the deposit-for operation without gaining authority to extend its duration. That deposit adds tokens under the existing lock conditions. Ownership or an appropriate NFT approval controls duration changes separately.
Will Splitting a veAERO Position Release Part of Its AERO?
Splitting burns the original veAERO NFT and creates two locked positions without releasing AERO. Claim outstanding rewards and rebases before splitting. The resulting positions inherit the original lock conditions. Splitting also depends on the protocol's permissions and position eligibility, so the existence of a split function does not mean every holder can currently use it.
Why Might Pool Voting Use Less Weight Than My Recently Extended Lock Shows?
Recorded pool votes can need synchronization after the underlying voting balance changes. The voter contract's poke operation recalculates existing allocations using the position's voting power, subject to its timing restrictions. A successful extension and an updated pool allocation are separate contract states.
Is Transferring veAERO Equivalent to Withdrawing the Locked Tokens?
Transferring an eligible veAERO NFT changes the position's owner while the underlying AERO remains escrowed. The recipient acquires the position with its lock conditions. A transfer therefore does not shorten its duration or convert its locked balance into spendable AERO.
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