Locking LUTE

Locking is how you go from a passive LUTE holder to an active participant who directs emissions and collects the protocol's cash flow. You lock LUTE and receive veLUTE, a vote-escrowed NFT.

The Lock view: choose an amount and duration, preview your veLUTE

How a lock works

• You choose an amount of LUTE and a duration. The interface lets you lock for up to 26 weeks (~6 months).
• You receive veLUTE proportional to amount × (duration / max). Lock longer → more veLUTE per LUTE.
• Your veLUTE decays as the lock approaches its unlock date; voting power shrinks over time unless you extend or relock.
• At any point you can set the lock permanent: it stops decaying and holds maximum voting power indefinitely (until you switch permanent off, which restarts normal decay).
• When a non-permanent lock reaches its end, you withdraw your LUTE.

Relocking matters. Because voting power decays each epoch, the most active lockers (those who extend or relock regularly) keep a structurally higher voting power (and therefore a higher share of fees) than lockers who set and forget.

Managing a lock

Every lock is an individual veNFT you can manage from the Lock view:

Action	What it does
Increase	Add more LUTE to an existing lock.
Extend	Push the unlock date further out (up to the max) to restore voting power.
Merge	Combine two locks into one veNFT.
Permanent	Toggle no-decay, maximum-power mode on/off.
Withdraw	Reclaim your LUTE after a non-permanent lock expires.

Each lock is also rendered as a piece of on-chain instrument art; see The veNFT Instrument.

Why lock?

Locking is the only way to reach the parts of the flywheel that pay real cash flow:

• Direct emissions: decide which pools get LUTE each epoch.
• Earn the fees: collect 100% of trading fees from the pools you back.
• Earn bribes: collect incentives protocols pay to win your vote.

Next: how voting turns your veLUTE into income →