Question 1

What is PUFFER?

Accepted Answer

PUFFER is the native governance token of the Puffer Protocol and UniFi ecosystem. Its core use is to form governance voting rights after being locked: holders who lock PUFFER receive vlPUFFER and use this credential to participate in governance and vote on incentive directions; PUFFER itself is not equivalent to company equity or a fixed-income instrument.

Question 2

What does locking PUFFER do, and what conditions are required to begin locking?

Accepted Answer

Locking PUFFER converts the token amount and lock duration into vlPUFFER voting rights, enabling holders to participate in governance and influence incentive allocations. The current guide states that a single lock requires at least 10 PUFFER and a minimum lock period of 30 days; ETH is also required to pay Ethereum network gas fees when submitting the lock transaction. After locking, the amount locked can be increased or the lock time can be extended, both of which increase vlPUFFER; however, vlPUFFER is non-transferable and cannot be transferred or traded between wallets as an ordinary token. The originally locked PUFFER can only be withdrawn after expiration.

Question 3

What is vlPUFFER, and how does it differ from PUFFER?

Accepted Answer

vlPUFFER is a non-transferable governance credential generated after locking PUFFER, representing a holder's voting rights in the Puffer ecosystem. It is not another freely tradable asset: it cannot be traded or transferred to another wallet, and its balance is used to measure influence in governance voting and reward allocations. Therefore, holding PUFFER is not the same as holding vlPUFFER. The former is the original token that is locked; the latter is the governance weight generated during the lock period. Once the lock expires and the original PUFFER is withdrawn, the corresponding lock relationship ends.

Question 4

How does the lock period affect vlPUFFER and withdrawal timing?

Accepted Answer

The lock period directly determines the vlPUFFER multiplier: 30 days is 1x, 3 months is 3x, 6 months is 6x, 9 months is 9x, 12 months is 12x, 18 months is 18x, and 24 months is 24x. The relationship can be understood as: vlPUFFER = amount of locked PUFFER × the multiplier for the corresponding period. For example, locking 100 PUFFER for 12 months corresponds to 1,200 vlPUFFER. Extending the lock period increases the multiplier and governance weight, but also means the original PUFFER must wait longer before it can be withdrawn; it can be withdrawn by the holder after expiration. If it remains unwithdrawn for 7 days after expiration, another party can perform an expired-lock kick: the executor receives 1% of the locked amount, and the remaining 99% is automatically returned to the original holder.

Question 5

How are PUFFER's supply and allocation arranged?

Accepted Answer

The 2025 DAO report lists PUFFER's total supply as 1 billion tokens. Of that amount, the ecosystem and community account for 40%, investors 26%, early contributors and advisors 20%, Protocol Guild 1%, and the Season 1 and Season 2 airdrops 7.5% and 5.5%, respectively. These percentages describe the total-supply allocation structure listed in that report. Total supply is not the same as the amount available at TGE. The report also disclosed an initial supply at TGE of 102.3 million tokens, or 10.23% of total supply. Therefore, when assessing the tradable or circulating amount at a particular time, the 1 billion-token total supply cannot be directly treated as the amount that had entered the market at that time.

Question 6

How can vlPUFFER be used to participate in or delegate Puffer governance?

Accepted Answer

The basic path to participating in governance is to first lock PUFFER to obtain vlPUFFER, then connect a wallet to view proposals and vote. Proposals are first created and discussed in the governance forum, then move to the governance page in the Puffer application for voting; the vlPUFFER balance determines voting influence. Holders who do not want to vote personally can delegate vlPUFFER voting rights to another wallet and may change or revoke the delegation at any time. Under the voting rules described in the guide, a proposal is approved when yes votes are no fewer than no votes at the end of the voting period; if nobody votes, the rules likewise treat approval and rejection as equal.

Question 7

What is the relationship between Season 2 on-chain incentives and PUFFER governance?

Accepted Answer

The 2025 Season 2 update brought incentives on-chain and replaced the previous points-based incentives with CARROT. The report states that governance power obtained by locking PUFFER can be used for biweekly gauge voting, and the voting outcome determines the direction of CARROT reward allocations among liquidity providers, developers, and ecosystem programs. This means rewards are not generated automatically only by the amount of tokens held: locking creates vlPUFFER, which is then used to influence incentive destinations. The report described CARROT as being proportionally convertible into PUFFER at the end of Season 2; this was a planned statement in the report at the time and cannot be treated as a current conversion commitment without conditions.

Question 8

What fees and liquidity effects are involved in locking PUFFER?

Accepted Answer

The cost of locking PUFFER includes not only giving up the liquidity to withdraw the original tokens before expiration, but also the Ethereum gas fee required to initiate the lock transaction. Gas fees are affected by network activity at the time, and users need to retain ETH in their wallets to pay them; they are not the same fee as the locked amount or the vlPUFFER multiplier. Before proceeding, the lock amount, lock period, and transaction details displayed by the wallet should be verified. After the transaction is confirmed, increasing the locked amount or extending the lock period requires submitting the relevant on-chain transaction again; after the term expires, withdrawal of the original PUFFER also requires a state change completed by the holder or the expired-lock kick mechanism.

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