ve8020 liquid-staking module for Aethir
After Aethir's token generation event, the project faced two problems common to DePIN tokens at launch: sell pressure that can destabilize the token, and governance turnout too low to call the network decentralized. Aethir needed a reason for holders to lock tokens and vote rather than sell.
Protofire built a ve8020 staking module on the Balancer 80/20 architecture, with three pools tuned to Aethir's participants: token holders, GPU container providers, and node checkers. Aethir reports that within 90 days of launch more than $20M in ATH was staked, governance participation rose from 12% to over 25% of holders, and the staker base grew into the tens of thousands. The module is live at stake.aethir.com.
“Rather than ship a single generic pool, Protofire built three, each matched to a distinct participant in Aethir's network.”
Why Aethir needed a staking layer after its token launch
Aethir runs a distributed GPU cloud, connecting underused enterprise-grade hardware with AI/ML and gaming clients through a blockchain-coordinated marketplace. The network gained momentum through 2023 and shipped its testnet, mainnet, and token launch in 2024, with thousands of GPU nodes sold and enterprise partnerships in place (source: Aethir).
The token launch created the harder problem. With billions of ATH entering circulation, the project was exposed to rapid sell-offs that could undermine the token holders and operators depend on. At the same time only about 12% of holders took part in governance votes (source: Aethir), not enough turnout to make decentralized decisions credible.
Aethir needed a mechanism that rewarded holding and turned passive holders into voters, without locking so much value into volatile positions that liquidity dried up.
How Protofire built Aethir's ve8020 staking module
Rather than ship a single generic pool, Protofire built three, each matched to a distinct participant in Aethir's network. The container pool ties rewards to GPU utilization, so payouts to hardware providers track real network demand instead of a fixed rate. The checker pool is insurance staking with slashing protection, backing the node checkers who keep the network honest. The ecosystem pool is the 80/20 ATH-to-stablecoin pool, giving holders a base reward and governance weight in return for locking.
All three run on the ve8020 model: a voting-escrow design where users lock an 80/20 pool token, keeping the majority of staked value in ATH while a stablecoin minority holds liquidity, adapted from the Balancer 80/20 pool architecture. Keeping most of the position in ATH ties voting power to the token itself; the stablecoin slice reduces impermanent loss for people supplying liquidity.
This is the same voting-escrow pattern Protofire built and open-sourced as ve8020-launchpad, which pairs Solidity contracts with Vyper voting-escrow logic derived from the Curve/Balancer upstream.
The module is ERC-20 compatible, so the pools interoperate with existing DeFi tooling, and it issues a liquid staking token (stATH) so stakers keep a usable, transferable claim while their ATH stays locked. Lock terms extend up to nearly four years; reward rates across the terms are set by Aethir's emission schedule.
The architecture separates settlement, asset management, and the user-facing app into distinct layers, which keeps each pool's reward logic auditable as Aethir adds partners and adjusts incentives.