How the Grid Works

Every ~2 minutes, a new round begins. Four phases. One winner. No mercy.

Round Lifecycle

Each round is triggered by the first deployment. Once someone commits ETH to a square, the round clock starts. After ~60 blocks, the round resolves automatically.

Phase 1: DEPLOY

Players choose a square on the 5x5 grid and commit ETH. Multiple players can deploy to the same square. The first deployment starts the round clock. You have ~60 blocks to position yourself.

Phase 2: RESOLVE

Round ends. On-chain RNG selects 1 winning square out of 25. The grid does not care who you are. It picks a winner and moves on.

Phase 3: LOCK IN

Winners lock in ETH + GRID token rewards within 24 hours. Bots can run checkpoints for miners and earn a small fee for the service.

Phase 4: CLAIM

Withdraw ETH winnings directly. Withdraw GRID tokens with a 10% fee redistributed to the mining pool. The grid feeds itself.

Odds and Probability

Each round, every square has an equal 1-in-25 (4%) chance of being selected. The RNG is fully on-chain — no off-chain oracles, no manipulation vectors. Strategy comes from timing, position selection, and ETH commitment.

Deploying

Choose your square on the 5x5 grid. Commit ETH. The first deployment starts the round clock.

Choosing a Square

The grid contains 25 squares, addressed as [row, col] coordinates from [0,0] to [4,4]. You select one square per deployment and attach ETH.

Multiple players can deploy to the same square. If that square wins, the pot is split proportionally based on each player's ETH commitment to that square.

Deployment Amounts

There is no minimum or maximum deployment amount. Deploy as much or as little ETH as you want. Higher commitments to a winning square earn a proportionally larger share of the pot.

Round Timing

The first deployment to any square starts the round clock. From that moment, you have ~60 blocks (~2 minutes) before the round resolves. Late deployments are still valid — the window stays open until the block limit.

Resolution

On-chain RNG selects 1 winning square out of 25. No oracles. No off-chain dependencies.

On-Chain RNG

Winner selection uses on-chain randomness derived from block data. The random value is computed at resolution time and mapped to one of the 25 grid squares. Every square has an equal 1-in-25 probability.

Resolution Trigger

Resolution happens automatically when the block count reaches ~60 blocks after the first deployment. Anyone can call the resolve function to trigger it. The protocol does not require a centralized keeper.

Empty Square Wins

When the winning square has no deployments, the round's entire pot (minus protocol fee) rolls into the treasury. This creates organic accumulation — and makes the Motherlode jackpot grow larger over time.

Claiming Rewards

Winners lock in their rewards. ETH flows directly. GRID tokens carry a 10% recycling fee.

Lock-In Period

After resolution, winners have 24 hours to lock in their rewards. Bots can run checkpoints on behalf of miners and earn a small fee for the service. This creates a permissionless infrastructure layer.

ETH Rewards

Withdraw ETH winnings directly with no additional fee beyond the 2% protocol fee already deducted at the round level. Your share is proportional to your deployment on the winning square.

GRID Token Rewards

Withdraw GRID tokens with a 10% claim fee. This fee is redistributed to the mining pool — recycled back into future round rewards. The grid feeds itself.

Fee Structure

2% protocol fee on all deployed ETH. The rest flows to winners and the burn engine.

Fee Breakdown

How Fees Flow

When ETH is deployed to the grid, the 2% protocol fee is deducted immediately. The remaining 98% enters the round pot. Upon resolution, the pot is distributed according to the table above.

Burn Engine

Treasury ETH converts to WETH, swaps for GRID on Uniswap V3. 90% of purchased GRID is burned permanently. 10% distributed to stakers.

The Burn Process

The burn engine operates as a continuous deflationary mechanism:

1. Treasury ETH is converted to WETH
2. WETH is swapped for GRID on Uniswap V3
3. 90% of acquired GRID is sent to the burn address (permanently removed from supply)
4. 10% of acquired GRID is distributed to stakers as yield

Deflationary Impact

Every round that generates fees triggers the burn engine. As protocol activity increases, burn rate accelerates. With a fixed max supply of 21,000,000 GRID and continuous burning, the circulating supply decreases over time.

Staking

Stake GRID tokens. Earn passive yield from every burn cycle. Yield accrues automatically via a global reward factor. No harvesting needed.

How Staking Works

Staking is simple: deposit GRID tokens into the staking contract. Your yield accrues automatically based on a global reward factor that updates with every burn cycle. No claiming, no compounding, no harvesting.

Yield Source

Staking yield comes from the burn engine. When the engine swaps ETH for GRID, 10% of acquired tokens are distributed proportionally to all stakers. The more protocol activity, the higher the yield.

Auto-Compounding

Yield accrues automatically via a global reward factor. No need to manually harvest or restake. Your staked balance grows passively with every burn cycle.

Motherlode

0.2 GRID accumulates in the jackpot pool every round. 1-in-625 chance to trigger. The pot grows until someone hits it.

How the Motherlode Works

Every round, 0.2 GRID is added to the Motherlode jackpot pool. The jackpot has a 1-in-625 chance of triggering per round. When triggered, the entire accumulated pot is distributed to that round's winners.

Accumulation

Because the trigger probability is low, the jackpot accumulates over hundreds of rounds. At 0.2 GRID per round with ~720 rounds per day, the pot can grow significantly before someone hits it.

Distribution

When the Motherlode triggers, the entire jackpot is added to the round's reward pool. It is distributed the same way as regular rewards — proportional to deployment on the winning square.

Reward Modes

50% of rounds: GRID split proportionally across winning miners. 50% of rounds: one miner takes it all. Random weighted selection.

Split Mode (50% of rounds)

In split mode, GRID rewards are distributed proportionally across all miners who deployed to the winning square. Your share is based on your ETH commitment relative to the total ETH on that square.

Winner-Take-All Mode (50% of rounds)

In winner-take-all mode, a single miner receives the entire GRID reward. The winner is selected via random weighted selection — miners who committed more ETH to the winning square have proportionally higher chances of being selected.

Tokenomics

$GRID is the native token of the GRIDLOCK protocol. Fixed supply. Deflationary by design. Earned through competitive mining.

Supply

Allocation

Deflationary Mechanics

$GRID supply decreases over time through the burn engine. Every round that generates fees triggers a buy-and-burn cycle via Uniswap V3. With 95% of tokens distributed through mining and continuous burning, effective circulating supply shrinks.

Initial Liquidity

420,000 GRID (2% of supply) is paired with 1 ETH on Uniswap V3 at launch. This provides the initial trading pair for the burn engine to operate and for miners to exit positions.

Smart Contracts

All GRIDLOCK contracts are deployed on Base L2. Fully on-chain. Permissionless. Immutable.

Contract Addresses

Security

All contracts are deployed as immutable — no proxy patterns, no admin keys, no upgrade paths. Once deployed, the protocol runs autonomously. Code is law.

Verification

All source code will be verified on BaseScan and published in the project's public repository. Anyone can audit the logic, read the state, and verify the randomness mechanism.