Summary

“Merit” is a merkle-tree-based periodic airdrop system, designed to reward Aave-aligned user behaviors and enhance protocol competitiveness.

Motivation

Addressing the competitive DeFi landscape, “Merit” seeks to elevate Aave’s appeal and efficiency through a rewarding mechanism that prioritises DAO-beneficial actions, distinguishing Aave from competitors employing artificial incentive methods.

Specification

The “Merit” system employs a booster-based model to reward specific user actions with points, dictating the weekly StkAAVE and GHO distribution. The system incorporates merit boosters and diluters to adjust user rewards based on their alignment with Aave’s objectives.

Rewarded Actions

Actions that align with Aave’s strategic objectives will be rewarded:

Merit boosters

Merit boosters enhance these rewards for specific behaviors:

Behavior Multiplier description
Second-degree user of aligned protocol Booster for users coming from aligned protocols that favour Aave over other protocols.
Migrator Incentive for moving positions to Aave from others protocols, currently Spark and Morpho
Aavenger Usage of AAVE as collateral
Holdooor Booster for ≥100-day AAVE holders in the past year
Stakoor Booster for ≥100-day stkAAVE holders in the past year
Staker Bonus for staking AAVE, StkBPT, StkGHO
Active in Governance Rewards for voting or delegating to an Aave DAO recognised delegate platform
ETH Maxi Supply WETH on Ethereum, Lido, Arbitrum and Base instances
User of Non-Aligned Protocol Severe dilution

There were also some previously rewarded behaviours which are not rewarded in current Merit rounds, these are shown below for reference.

Behavior Multiplier description
Cooldown dilution Dilution for leaving Safety Module
OG DAO Participant Booster for early DAO voters or delegates
MakerDAO fren Usage of sDAI as collateral
Diversity Supporter Rewards for using a variety of LSTs

And furthermore, a summary of all past rounds and rewarded behaviours:

Merit Round Action Rewards Boosters Diluters Start block End block
Round 1 1. Deposit LST, borrow wETH
  1. Deposit LST, borrow wETH using emode
  2. Deposit sDAI, borrow GHO
  3. Deposit USDC/USDT, borrow GHO
  4. Deposit AAVE, borrow GHO | 1.Staker
  5. Active in Gov
  6. First Degree User
  7. Second Degree User of aligned protocol
  8. Migrator
  9. Diversity Supporter
  10. OG DAO Participant
  11. Holdoor
  12. Stakoor | 1. User of non Aligned Protocol
  13. Dumpoor - Sold threshold amount of the previous week’s airdrop
  14. Freerider - Has not voted or delegated to a recognised Aave DAO delegate platform | 19125929 | 19517980 | | Round 2 | 1. Borrow wETH
  15. Borrow GHO
  16. Hold StkGHO | 1.Staker
  17. Active in Gov
  18. Second Degree User of aligned protocol
  19. Migrator
  20. Diversity Supporter
  21. OG DAO Participant
  22. Holdoor
  23. Stakoor
  24. Aavenger | 1. User of non aligned Protocol
  25. Morpho & Spark users | 19425718 | 19617409 | | Round 3 | Same as Round 2 | Same as Round 2 | Same as Round 2 | 19617409 | 19766500 | | Round 4 | 1. Borrow GHO
  26. Hold StkGHO | 1.Staker
  27. Active in Gov
  28. Diversity Supporter
  29. Migrator
  30. Diversity Supporter
  31. Holdoor
  32. Stakoor
  33. Aavenger | 1. SktGHO cooldown users
  34. Morpho users | 19766500 | 19981055 | | Round 5 | Same as Round 4 | Same as Round 4 | Same as Round 4 | 19981055 | 20188000 | | Round 6 | Same as Round 5 | 1.Staker
  35. Active in Gov
  36. ETH Maxi
  37. Migrator
  38. Diversity Supporter
  39. Holdoor
  40. Stakoor
  41. Aavenger | Same as Round 5 | 20188001 | 20410000 | | Round 7 | 1. Hold stkGHO
  42. Borrow USDC on Base | 1.Staker
  43. Active in Gov
  44. ETH Maxi
  45. Migrator
  46. Second Degree Aligned User of Defisaver or Gnosis Safe
  47. Holdoor
  48. Stakoor
  49. Aavenger | 1. Morpho users | 20410001 | 20627000 |

Merit Diluters

Merit Diluters will dilute part or all rewards for certain behaviours:

Behavior Effect
User of Non-Aligned Protocol Severe dilution (up to -100%)