GLD

Docs

How the protocol works: rounds, resolution, payouts, jackpot, emission and staking.

Introduction

GLD is a Gold Digging Protocol: a grid mining game that runs entirely on-chain. Every round, a 5×5 grid of 25 tiles opens and anyone can deploy ETH onto any tiles they like. When the round closes, one tile is drawn at random and everyone who deployed on that winning tile digs up a pro-rata share of the pot — converted to PAXG (tokenized gold) and paid out on Solana, plus freshly mined GLD, the protocol's fixed-supply token.

GLD is not a promise of profit; it is a transparent, verifiable game of chance with all rules enforced by smart contracts. There is no house wallet quietly taking the other side: every wei of ETH stays in the contract until it is claimed by winners and stakers, or rolled into the next round.

Mining

Rounds and tiles

Mining happens in 90-second rounds: a 60-second betting window, then a 30-second reveal window. While betting is open you can deploy ETH to one or more of the 25 tiles, with a custom amount per tile. Your very first deploy also carries a one-time 0.0001 ETH account deposit. Deploys are final: once committed, they cannot be moved or withdrawn until the round resolves.

Resolution

Just before betting closes, anyone can pin the round's randomness: the contract commits to a future drand beacon that only unlocks after the betting window (plus a safety buffer), so the outcome cannot be known while deploys are still open. A keeper then delivers the beacon inside the reveal window. The random word picks the winning tile (1–25, uniformly), decides the jackpot, and finalizes payouts. Nobody — including the deployer of the contracts — can influence or predict the draw.

The 90/10 split

  • 90% of the pot goes to everyone who deployed on the winning tile, pro-rata — claimed to the rewards treasury and paid out in PAXG on Solana.
  • 2% of the pot feeds the jackpot pool (in ETH).
  • ~8% of the pot is streamed to veGLD stakers in ETH, pro-rata to lock weight.

Rollover

If nobody deployed on the winning tile, the pot does not vanish — it rolls over into the next round as a bonus pot, making the next round juicier for everyone.

The jackpot

Every round carries a 1-in-625 chance of a jackpot hit. When it lands, the entire jackpot — an ETH pool plus a GLD pool — is paid out to that round's winners, pro-rata to their deploys on the winning tile. The ETH pool is fed by 2% of every round's pot and by the GLD trading tax (swapped to ETH); the GLD pool grows from direct GLD donations.

GLD emission and single-miner rounds

Each resolved round also mints new GLD through the protocol hub, distributed to the winning tile's deployers — this is how GLD enters circulation. Emission is a flat rate per round (no halvings) up to the 500,000 GLD cap. In about half of all rounds — "single miner" rounds — one deployer, picked at random weighted by their stake on the winning tile, takes the entire GLD emission instead of a pro-rata share.

Refining

Claiming freshly mined GLD costs a 10% refining fee, which is redistributed to everyone still holding unclaimed GLD — patience literally pays. Claims routed into a permanent veGLD lock bypass the fee entirely.

Staking

veGLD locks

GLD can be locked into veGLD, a soulbound NFT (ERC-721) representing your position. Locks earn a share of the staker fee from every round, paid in ETH, pro-rata to lock weight.

  • Normal locks run up to 120 days, with a weight multiplier from ~1.00x to 2.50x (1 + 1.5 × duration / 120d). Staking weight does not decay — it stays constant until expiry.
  • Permanent locks burn the GLD forever and carry a 4.00x multiplier, earning fee share indefinitely.

Claiming and withdrawing

ETH rewards accrue every resolved round and can be claimed at any time without touching the principal. Expired normal locks can be withdrawn in full; permanent locks can never be withdrawn — the GLD is burned.

LP staking

The protocol also supports staking liquidity-pool tokens for a slice of round fees. When an LP staking contract is not configured for a deployment, that slice simply stays with veGLD lockers.

Tokenomics

  • Hard cap: 500,000 GLD. The token contract cannot mint beyond it.
  • Flat emission per round via the protocol hub; a small genesis seed bootstraps liquidity (8% team vesting / 4% growth are carved out of the seed and each mint).
  • A 2% tax applies to GLD buys and sells on liquidity pools (decrease-only, can never be raised); the tax is swapped to ETH and feeds the jackpot pool.
  • Burns — including permanent veGLD locks — reduce supply and reopen mint headroom (circular emission).

Fee flows

Round deploys (ETH)
└── Pot (100%)
    ├── 90% ────────────────► winning tile deployers (pro-rata),
    │                         paid in PAXG on Solana
    ├── 2% ─────────────────► jackpot ETH pool
    └── ~8% staker fee ─────► veGLD lockers (ETH rewards)

GLD trades on liquidity pools
└── 2% tax ──► swapped to ETH ──► jackpot pool ──► paid to a round's
                                                   winners on a 1/625 hit

GLD emission (flat per round)
└───────────────────────────► winning tile deployers (pro-rata,
                              or one weighted winner in single-miner rounds)

Claimed GLD
└── 10% refining fee ───────► redistributed to unclaimed-GLD holders

The result is a closed loop: miners deploy ETH and dig PAXG + GLD, lockers stake GLD and earn the ETH staker fee, and the trading tax keeps the jackpot pool topped up for the next lucky round.