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🍿 popCORN System

The popCORN System is a yield distribution and governance mechanism designed to align long-term incentives across users, builders, and protocols on the Corn Network. It is implemented through a custom smart contract system that manages locking, vesting schedules, and—eventually—protocol-level voting over the ecosystem yield.

Core Concepts​

At its core, the popCORN system introduces a new token, popCORN, which represents vesting $CORN. This token is non-transferable, and it is minted in two ways:

  1. Rewards: Distributed through Merkl and other incentive platforms.
  2. Staking (Phase 2+): When users stake $CORN to participate in governance or earn bribes.

When users claim popCORN, they initiate a new vesting schedule:

  • 21% of the underlying $CORN is immediately claimable.
  • The remaining 79% vests linearly over 21 weeks.
  • Users may withdraw at any time but will forfeit the unvested portion.

Each claim or deposit creates a new “vesting bag” tracked by the popCORN contract. These bags are indexed by the user and timestamp, and can be managed via the Corn App’s Microwave interface.

Architecture Overview​

The popCORN token contract extends the ERC20 standard using OpenZeppelin’s ERC20WrapperUpgradeable and PausableUpgradeable libraries. It includes the following components:

  • Vesting Logic: Tracks claimable and locked balances per user using timestamp-normalized keys.
  • Whitelist Roles: Distinguishes between distributors, admins, and general users to control minting, transferring, and claiming behavior.
  • Withdrawal Handling: When a user withdraws from a vesting bag, the unvested portion is redistributed back to the Corn Foundation.

Full smart contract reference available here.

Vesting Enforcement​

The contract stores all vesting entries in a per-user mapping. Each entry consists of:

  • A normalized timestamp (rounded to the nearest day)
  • A locked balance

Unlocked amounts are calculated dynamically based on block time, and users may withdraw from individual bags or withdraw all unlocked balances in one call.

Governance & Yield Direction (Coming in Phase 3)​

The upcoming Phase 3 of the popCORN System will enable:

  • Voting: Users will stake popCORN to vote on how network-level yield ($CORN and $BTCN) is distributed across eligible applications.
  • Delegation: Voters will be able to delegate their votes and earn bribes through a permissionless bribe market.
  • Farmer’s Market: Protocols will compete for votes by offering bribes to staked popCORN holders.

These features will be governed by the popCORN protocol and contract updates, and full technical specifications will be published upon release.

Visit the Microwave guide to learn how to manage popCORN vesting.

For additional background on the user-facing system, see the popCORN Overview.