Bonding#

Bonding is the primary mechanism through which the Slohm treasury acquires assets. Users deposit accepted tokens into the protocol and receive Slohm at a premium above the current market rate. Every bond directly strengthens the reserve — all bonded assets enter the treasury immediately.

What is Bonding?#

A bond is a transaction where a user exchanges an accepted asset for Slohm at a defined premium over market price. Rather than buying Slohm on the open market, bonders sell their assets directly to the protocol. In return, they receive more Slohm than they would get at the current market rate — but the payout vests over time rather than being delivered immediately.

This creates a mutually beneficial exchange: the protocol receives productive assets for its treasury, and the bonder receives Slohm at a discount relative to what they would pay on the market.

How Bonding Works#

The bonding process follows a straightforward flow:

Select an asset — Choose from the accepted bond assets (BTC, Moto, or Pill).
Deposit — Send the asset to the protocol's bond contract.
Receive a bond note — The protocol records your bond with its payout amount and vesting schedule.
Claim as it vests — Your Slohm payout becomes claimable progressively as blocks pass.

Once fully vested, you can claim the entire payout. Claimed Slohm can then be staked to earn rebase rewards, creating a compounding effect.

Bond Vesting#

Bonds do not pay out immediately. Instead, they vest linearly over a defined number of blocks. This vesting mechanism prevents immediate sell pressure and aligns bonder incentives with long-term protocol health.

| Parameter | Production | Testnet | |---|---|---| | Vesting term | 720 blocks (~5 days) | 5 blocks (~50 seconds) |

Vesting is block-based, not time-based — each new Bitcoin block brings you closer to full payout. You can claim your vested Slohm at any point during the vesting period; you do not need to wait until the full term is complete.

Bond Premium Mechanics#

The bond premium is the additional Slohm a bonder receives compared to the current market rate. This premium serves a critical role: it incentivizes consistent treasury inflows by making bonding more attractive than simply buying on the market.

The premium adjusts dynamically based on supply and demand for bonds. When demand for bonds is high, premiums compress. When demand is low, premiums expand to attract new depositors. This self-adjusting mechanism helps maintain a steady flow of assets into the treasury.

Accepted Assets#

The protocol accepts the following assets for bonding:

BTC — Native Bitcoin, the base asset of the L1.
Moto — An OPNet-native token accepted as a reserve asset.
Pill — An OPNet-native token accepted as a reserve asset.

Each accepted asset has its own bond market with independent pricing and capacity. Additional assets may be added through protocol updates over time.

How Bonds Strengthen the Protocol#

Bonding is the engine of treasury growth. Every bond deposits real, productive assets into the reserve — and these assets begin generating yield immediately through the protocol's reserve strategies.

The mechanics work as follows:

All bonded assets enter the reserve immediately — There is no delay between when you bond and when those assets become part of the treasury backing.
New Slohm is minted to cover the payout — The treasury's total value increases by the full value of the bonded asset, while the supply increases by only the payout amount (at the premium rate).
The reserve floor strengthens — Because the treasury receives the full asset value while minting Slohm at a premium (meaning fewer tokens than the asset's market value), bonding improves the backing per token for all holders.

This is the fundamental mechanism that makes Slohm a reserve protocol rather than a simple staking token. The treasury grows with every bond, and that growth benefits every token holder.

What's Next?#

Once your bond has vested and you've claimed your Slohm, the next step is Staking — where your Slohm earns additional rewards through treasury-funded rebase distributions.