Glossary

Below is a list of terms related to the Mezo Earn system.

veBTC

Vote-escrowed BTC. An NFT representing locked Bitcoin that grants voting power and fee-earning rights in Mezo Earn. Voting weight decays linearly over the lock period.

Epoch

A 7-day cycle that governs voting and reward distribution. Epochs begin every Thursday at 00:00 UTC.

Gauge

A smart contract that receives and distributes rewards based on votes. The more voting weight a gauge receives, the larger its share of rewards for that epoch.

Lock

The act of committing BTC for a set period (1–28 days) to receive veBTC. Longer locks grant higher initial voting weight.

Staking Gauge

A gauge tied to a staking token (like LP tokens or MUSD savings receipts). Stakers earn rewards; voters earn fees.

Validator Gauge

A gauge that directs rewards to network validators who secure the Mezo chain.

Ecosystem Gauge

A gauge that routes rewards to partner protocols or ecosystem initiatives.

MUSD

Mezo’s bitcoin-backed stablecoin. Users can borrow MUSD against their BTC collateral.

Voting Weight

The influence a veBTC position has when voting for gauges. Calculated as locked BTC multiplied by remaining lock duration divided by max lock duration.

Decay

The gradual reduction in voting weight as a lock approaches expiration. Can be reset by extending the lock.