The Everclear Collective is an ecosystem composed of autonomous entities and individuals aligned with the common goal of realizing the Everclear vision. This documentation outlines the various components of the Everclear Collective and the collaborative efforts driving the advancement of the Everclear protocol.

Components of the Everclear Collective

The Everclear DAO

The Everclear DAO, comprised of CLEAR token holders, governs critical aspects of Everclear's smart contracts and is responsible for allocating resources from the DAO treasury to fund protocol development and growth.

The Everclear Foundation

The Everclear Foundation is a Cayman Islands foundation company that was established for the purpose of supporting the Everclear ecosystem. The Everclear Foundation is an independent entity with fiduciary responsibilities to support the Everclear ecosystem through activities such as strategic stewardship and partnership initiatives.

Core Contributors

Core Contributors are organizations funded by the DAO to undertake research and development efforts, aimed at improving the Everclear protocol. Core Contributors engage in an open Everclear Governance Proposal (EGP) process to solicit input from the community and propose upgrades.

The Broader Everclear Community

The Everclear ecosystem encompasses a diverse community comprising users and infrastructure operators, such as routers. This engaged community actively participates in the protocol's utilization, provides feedback, and aids in maintaining the protocol's robustness.

The Everclear Foundation is a Cayman Islands foundation company dedicated to supporting the Everclear ecosystem.

What does the Everclear Foundation do?

The Everclear Foundation, a shareholderless legal entity that is, by its constitutional documents, mission aligned with the Everclear ecosystem, takes any actions that it feels will benefit the Everclear ecosystem. These may include:

• Entering into agreements with partners and third parties for the benefit of the Everclear ecosystem.

• Owning and administering intellectual property rights on behalf of the Everclear ecosystem.

• Administering grants of CLEAR tokens to projects that will advance the Everclear ecosystem.

• Coordinating and funding research and development related to the Everclear ecosystem.

• Creating and administering the Everclear Governance Proposal (EGP) process - an open process by which Core Contributors and other community members can propose and discuss improvements to the Everclear protocol.

• Hosting and moderating a user interface for the DAO Governance Process.

• Providing transparency and reporting to the DAO on the efficacy of Core Contributor work to provide accountability for CLEAR resource allocation.

• Communicating updates about the protocol and DAO to the broader Everclear community.

• Promoting decentralization of the Everclear protocol.

How does the Foundation Work?

The Everclear Foundation is made up of a board of directors, officers, consultants, and service providers. The current directors of the Foundation are Glen Kennedy, Dino Mihalopoulos, and Arjun Bhuptani.

The Everclear Foundation was initially funded by an allocation of 10.8% of the supply of NEXT tokens and a grant from Proxima Labs (formerly known as Connext Labs), the original development company behind the Everclear protocol.

Core Contributors are organizations (for-profit companies, developer guilds, or sub-DAOs) that develop and grow the Everclear protocol.

Core Contributors may be funded by the Everclear DAO and follow the Everclear Improvement Proposal process to get public feedback on proposed protocol changes prior to developing them.

Why Have Many Core Contributors?

A key part of the Everclear vision is for the Everclear protocol to become a true, credibly neutral public good. The Everclear ecosystem’s philosophy is that this outcome is best achieved by having a wide variety of contributors from many different backgrounds, spanning many different organizations. In order to minimize governance, the Everclear DAO has initially been set up to fund contributors in CLEAR tokens on an ongoing basis via vesting, with the capability for the DAO to adjust tokens vested quarterly or semi-annually based on efficacy and output of various Core Contributors. Core Contributors are then simultaneously:

• Collaborative with each other to ensure the best outcome for the Everclear protocol due to their shared collective ownership in the DAO through CLEAR.

• Competitive with each other (and with potential new Core Contributors) on ongoing grants of CLEAR from the DAO, ensuring a high quality of execution over potentially many years of research & development.

List of Core Contributors

As of the time of writing, the following organizations are involved in some capacity as Core Contributors to the Everclear ecosystem.

Roles and Responsibilities

The Security Council plays a critical role in safeguarding the Everclear protocol, its DAO members, and the wider community. Its responsibilities include:

• Conducting critical maintenance, including software updates and configurations

• Taking emergency actions in potentially time-sensitive situations

The Security Council operates under the purview of the Everclear DAO, which is responsible for holding membership elections.

Election Process

Elections for the Security Council are held annually, excluding an initial 6-month bootstrapping phase, during which the Everclear Foundation will appoint the initial council.

Before each election cycle, the Everclear DAO will open a call for candidates, after which all eligible candidates will participate in the elections. In the proposal from September 2024, changes to the election and structure of the Security Council were outlined such that:

• New council is comprised of 8 regular members and a Lead, translating into a 7/9 multisig.

• The term of each cohort is 12 months.

• All the Council members (9 out of 9) have a technical background that allows them to read code and detect possible vulnerabilities.

• Monthly compensation is included for each Council member, which remunerates them for their work and the risk of taking on the responsibility that comes with being part of the Council.

• Maximum members of the same organization were reduced from 3 to 2

Criteria for Membership

To be considered for a position on the council, candidates must meet the following criteria:

• Garner support from at least 0.4% of the voting supply prior to the election.

• Maintain membership in the Everclear DAO for at least 3 months prior to the election.

• Have no more than 2 representatives from the same organization on the Council at a given time.

• Publicly disclose any potential conflicts of interest prior to campaigning for membership.

Emergency Removals

In the case of repeated non-compliance with the expected duties, any Security Council may be revoked at any time outside of standard elections if a majority of the existing council members agree on the removal. The Everclear DAO can also remove council members through a two-thirds majority vote with a minimum participation of 6% of the token supply.

Why have a Council?

While Everclear aims to move towards ungovernance in the future, the Everclear protocol is not currently ready to operate without a degree of administrative oversight in emergency and non-emergency situations. Electing a council allows the DAO to ensure they have representation at this level while allowing council members to gain experience operating the protocol.

CLEAR is the new DAO-approved governance and utility token of Everclear, replacing NEXT through a 1:1 migration. CLEAR is deployed as an xERC20 (crosschain native) token. Learn more about the migration process.

How is CLEAR used?

CLEAR serves multiple functions within the Everclear ecosystem:

Governance

CLEAR holders can participate in governing the Everclear DAO, which is responsible for allocating funding for the ongoing development of the protocol.

Staking and Fee Sharing

Holders can stake CLEAR to participate in protocol governance and earn a share of protocol fees. Through the vote-bonding mechanism, stakers help direct incentives to where liquidity is needed most in the ecosystem. Learn more about tokenomics.

Mainnet Token Deployments

The CLEAR token is located at 0x58b9cB810A68a7f3e1E4f8Cb45D1B9B3c79705E8 across all supported chains.

L2 Holders (Automatic Migration)

If you hold NEXT on any Layer 2 network (Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, BNB, Gnosis), your tokens were automatically upgraded to CLEAR.

L1 Holders (Manual Migration)

If you hold NEXT on Ethereum (L1), you'll need to migrate your tokens manually:

1. Visit the migration portal: https://stake.everclear.org/migrate-next

2. Connect your wallet containing NEXT tokens

3. Select the amount you wish to migrate

4. Confirm the transaction

Reversibility

The migration is currently reversible, allowing holders to convert CLEAR back to NEXT while liquidity continues to migrate. To migrate from CLEAR back to NEXT:

1. Visit the migration portal

2. Click the swap arrow to reverse the migration direction

3. Select the amount to unwrap

4. Confirm the transaction

Additional Resources

• For a detailed walkthrough of the migration process and related features, visit our Migration Guide

• Questions? Join our Discord

The Challenge: Bootstrapping Crosschain Liquidity

In web3 today, new chains and solvers face a critical deadlock: chains need solvers to provide liquidity for users to enter their ecosystem, but solvers need to know there will be volume before deploying capital. Neither can move first.

Currently, chains must negotiate one-to-one deals with bridges, often spending $100K-1M+ on manual agreements. This process is inefficient and expensive, leaving many chains without proper bridge support and limiting ecosystem growth.

The Solution: Vote-Bonding Mechanism

vbCLEAR creates a marketplace that transforms this process through a vote-bonding mechanism. By staking CLEAR, participants receive vote-bonded CLEAR (vbCLEAR), which allows them to direct incentives to specific chains, creating a coordinated system for liquidity deployment.

Mechanism Details

Staking

• Holders can stake CLEAR for periods ranging from 3 to 24 months

• Longer staking periods result in greater voting power through vbCLEAR

• Early unstaking is possible with penalties between 5 and 22.5% proportional to the remaining lock period

• Fixed yield is distributed to stakers based on lock time

• Stakers can claim yield from any chain on a two-weekly distribution cadence

Voting

• Voting occurs in two-week epochs

• vbCLEAR holders vote to direct emissions toward specific chains

• Votes must be recast each epoch

• Holders can delegate their voting power to active participants

• One vote per wallet per epoch

Stakeholder Benefits & Actions

Token Supply and Distribution

The total supply of CLEAR is capped at 1,000,000,000 tokens.

Everclear structured its token distribution to prioritize long-term growth in the ecosystem. Crypto projects often require years of weathering various aspects of market cycles, and the distribution allocation strikes a balance between short-term incentives and long-term sustainability.

Everclear (prev Connext) allocated 11% of its tokens (107M) to the public during its initial distribution in September 2023. This portion was intended to reward the community of active participants prior to the distribution event.

The 22.4% for early backers, consisting primarily of investors, alongside 13.2% for ecosystem and strategic backers, aims to create a diverse stakeholder base that supports the development of the protocol as it grows from its infancy stage into a sustainable, self-supporting ecosystem.

The 11.9% allocated between Foundation and Labs is held to maintain the development of the protocol and operational needs to maintain the protocol’s infrastructure over time.

The 15.5% held by DAO is designed to ensure a wide base of ecosystem participants and foster decentralized growth of contributors to the ecosystem — often managing grants to a variety of parties committed to expanding Everclear’s adoption.

Distribution Overview:

How is Circulating Supply Calculated?

The circulating supply, as of Jan 8, 2025, stands at 20.75% of the total token supply.

Unlock Schedule Overview

The total blended unlock rate across the entire token allocation base is 3.0% over a period of 18 months. Accordingly, approximately 56% of the currently locked supply is expected to be unlocked within the same 18-month timeframe, with 53% comprising team and backers’ tokens and 3% allocated to other parties.

Each category of token holders is subject to varying lock-up terms and schedules based on various factors, including differing degrees of contribution, timing of contribution, milestones, and legal considerations.

How are Foundation and Labs tokens utilized?

The Foundation generally uses its tokens to incentivize the growth of the protocol, typically through business development/strategic partnership type arrangements, broader community building initiatives, and, most importantly, aligning long-term incentives of employees/contributors to Everclear Foundation. These token grants are typically set up with lock-up schedules, which is why they're excluded from circulating supply.

Proxima Labs is primarily responsible for the technical development of the protocol. As such, Labs employees are often rewarded with long-term token grants, subject to a lock-up period.

Data Definitions

Circulating Supply

We define circulating supply as the best approximation of the number of tokens that are actively circulating in the market and held by the general public.

In accordance with best practices, we exclude the following categories:

1. Locked Tokens: Tokens allocated to Team, Backers, and grants/airdrops that remain subject to lockup periods.

2. DAO-Allocated Tokens: Although technically unlocked, these tokens are earmarked for ecosystem grants and development, which may involve subsequent lockup conditions.

3. Foundation and Proxima Labs Allocations: Due to legal and operational restrictions, these tokens are primarily reserved for initiatives subject to lockups, such as:

   1. Employee incentives

   2. OTC fundraising

   3. Partnerships

Spoke Deployments

The contracts deployed to Spokes act as the entry point to execute actions in the Tokenomics system.

Deployments: Ethereum mainnet and Gnosis.

Deployments: Arbitrum, Optimism, BSC, and Polygon.

Hub Deployments

The contracts deployed on Everclear's Hub chain receive messages from Spokes and execute actions related to Tokenomics.

Airdrop Overview

The NEXT airdrop was conducted as a first-of-its-kind airdrop mechanism, allowing eligible recipients to natively claim NEXT on the chain of their choice without the need to use a bridge or pay unnecessary gas fees.

The claiming period for the NEXT airdrop has now closed, and all unclaimed tokens have been returned to the Everclear DAO.

NEXT Details

Airdrop Eligibility Criteria

Sybil Filtering

To mitigate Sybil attacks, the following filters were applied to the data:

• Removal of Known Malicious Actors. Addresses associated with previous Sybil attempts or known hackers were eliminated from the data.

• Interaction Analysis. The interaction amount, frequency, and volume were analyzed across Ethereum, Polygon, and Binance Smart Chain (BNB). Addresses matching identified sybil-patterns (suspiciously high amounts of activity, identical transfer types, etc.) were eliminated from the airdrop.

• Fund Flow Analysis. Addresses that share a funding source may indicate Sybil accounts.

• Address Clustering. Transaction graphs were analyzed using clustering and community detection algorithms to identify sybils.

Working Constitution of the Everclear DAO

The Everclear DAO Constitution establishes the principles and values that guide the operations of the Everclear DAO. It is intended to act as a framework for DAO participants to determine which actions should be considered to be a worthwhile allocation of resources and in the best interests of the broader Everclear ecosystem (the “Everclear Collective”).

The Everclear DAO Constitution is a working document aimed at aligning the mission of the Everclear Collective and is expected to evolve through the input of the community according to the process defined in Article 5 below.

Article 1: Purpose of the DAO

The vision of Everclear is to empower builders to create applications that are universally accessible from any chain, using any token, all while maintaining the highest possible security.

The core purpose of the Everclear DAO is to realize the Everclear vision by effectively allocating resources to individuals and organizations (“Core Contributors”) that develop the Everclear protocol and grow the adoption of the Everclear network.

Article 2: Rights and Responsibilities of the DAO

The Everclear DAO is comprised of CLEAR (formerly NEXT) holders who vote on proposals submitted by members of the broader Everclear Collective.

The DAO has the following capabilities:

• Allocating assets from treasury to Core Contributors to support the development and growth of the protocol.

• Allocating assets from treasury to fund operational expenses for the protocol until financial sustainability is achieved.

• Evaluating the efficacy of resource allocation and optimizing it over time.

The Everclear DAO is additionally responsible for electing and removing members of the Security Council, an operational multisig that can take critical actions on behalf of Everclear, such as vetoing DAO votes, performing routine upgrades, and pausing the protocol in the event of an emergency, until such time as the Security Council is no longer needed.

Article 3: Ungovernance of the Everclear Protocol

Governance by CLEAR holder vote is a critical first step in decentralizing the resource allocation and administration of the Everclear protocol.

True decentralization and permissionless operation of the Everclear protocol are achieved by ossifying repeatable governance processes and enshrining them directly into the underlying protocol. This process is called ungovernance.

A further goal of the Everclear DAO is long-term self-limitation through ungovernance by reducing human-made decisions and automating processes such as resource allocation, fair utilization, and network administration directly within the core protocol based on appropriate on-chain metrics or incentive design.

Article 4: Guiding Principles of the Everclear DAO

The Everclear DAO should aim to embody the key principles that guide the Everclear vision and Collective:

• A Positive Sum Mindset: Everclear is a public good that aims to push the entire web3 space forward. When evaluating proposals, the DAO should prioritize initiatives that optimize for value creation over extraction and collaboration over unhealthy competition.

• Resiliency: Everclear is the foundational infrastructure for the future of the Internet. Trust minimization, decentralization, and security are the means by which the protocol can ensure that it continues to operate fairly and securely decades into the future.

• Data Orientation: Everclear is ultimately an experiment in decentralized coordination around a shared public good. Data is our most powerful tool to determine whether this experiment is succeeding and should be leveraged wherever possible by the DAO.

• Openness, Transparency & Integrity: Everclear is an open and accessible network that welcomes new ideas and perspectives and operates with a high degree of transparency and integrity throughout its process. The DAO should work to uphold and embody these values wherever possible.

Article 5: Amending this Constitution

The working constitution will remain in effect until changed, with a mandatory review one year after the DAO launch.

Any proposed amendments to the constitution require a two-thirds majority vote with a minimum of 6% token participation to be passed.

DISCLAIMER

This Constitution is solely for the purposes of aligning the mission and priorities of DAO members to expand and improve the Everclear protocol to empower builders to create applications that are universally accessible from any chain, using any token, while maintaining the highest possible security. This is not a legally binding agreement and is not intended to create a partnership or any legal entity or relationship amongst the members of the DAO. The DAO is made up of a diffuse, disparate, and decentralized group of tokenholders that will have different priorities and goals. And while this Constitution aims to align on certain fundamental aspects regarding the use of the protocol, ultimately, the constraints on the actions of the members of the DAO are solely those that are imposed technologically (or as otherwise required by law).

Additionally, this is not an offering or solicitation of an offer to become a member of the DAO, to purchase tokens, or to otherwise engage in an enterprise. The Everclear Foundation makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the completeness or accuracy of the information herein or elsewhere presented related to the Everclear DAO or to the functionality or long-term direction of the DAO.

The following series of documents outlines:

• Proposal and Voting Mechanisms

• Passing a Proposal

• Proposal Structure Guidelines

• How-to Guides

• Security Council Election Processes

This is a suggested process for developing and advancing Everclear Improvement Proposals. It is a dynamic document intended to be owned, refined, and enforced by the Everclear community.

1. Everclear Forum: Forum is used for governance-related discussions. Community members must register for an account before sharing or liking posts.

2. Snapshot: Snapshot is a voting interface used for delegating votes and creating and voting on proposals.

3. Crosschain Governance: In line with the Everclear DAO vision to empower builders to create applications that are universally accessible from any chain, using any token, Everclear supports voting and delegation across multiple chains as well as cross-chain proposal execution.

Types of Proposals

There are three main types of governance proposals you can make:

1. Executable Proposal: This is a proposal for a series of smart contract operations to be executed by accounts the DAO controls. These can include transfers of tokens as well as arbitrary smart contract calls. Examples of this include allocating funding to a workstream multisig wallet or upgrading the Everclear core contract. To maintain the security of the protocol, the proposed code must be audited by a high-quality third-party auditor and reviewed by the Security Council. Executable proposals have a quorum requirement of 15 million CLEAR tokens and require a minimum approval of 50% to pass.

2. Social Proposal: This proposal seeks the consensus of the DAO members on a matter that cannot be implemented or enforced via on-chain mechanisms. Social proposals have a quorum requirement of 15 million CLEAR tokens and require a minimum approval of 50% to pass.

3. Constitutional Amendment: This is a social proposal that asks the DAO to amend the constitution. The draft proposal should include the exact changes proposed to be made to the constitution. A quorum of 36 million is currently required, and a minimum approval of two-thirds to pass.

Phases of Proposal

Phase 1: Request for Comments

A governance forum post providing a description of a proposal.

To create a Request for Comment:

• Ask a general, non-biased question to the community on the forum about a potential change. Forum posts should be labeled as follows: “Request for Comment - [Your Title Here]“.

• Reach out to your network to build support for the proposal. Discuss the proposal and solicit delegates to provide feedback on it. Be willing to respond to questions and comments. Share your viewpoint, but try to remain impartial.

Phase 2: Formal Vote

A final governance forum post incorporating any feedback from the Request for Comments phase. The proposal in this phase should include the following sections: Everclear Governance Proposal Template

To Create a Formal Vote:

1. Navigate to the relevant RFC and post a comment that the formal vote is live. Include the relevant title “Formal Vote [Social/Constitutional/Executable [Proposal Number]] — [Your Title Here]” and link to any relevant Snapshot polls/discussion threads. Proposal numbers should be in a “CGP#” format. Topics that begin with “Formal Vote” that have not successfully passed Request for Comment stages should be removed by community moderators.

2. Ensure at least 600,000 CLEAR is delegated to your address in order to submit a proposal or find a delegate who has enough delegated CLEAR to meet the proposal threshold and propose on your behalf.

   • Social Proposal or Constitutional Amendment: Navigate to Snapshot and schedule the proposal for a snapshot vote. Votes are delayed by 2 days, and voting lasts for 7 days. If the snapshot vote passes, the proposal is passed, and you are done!

   • Executable Proposal: Generate the transaction using the Everclear Zodiac module. If the transaction is not cross-chain, the SAFE transaction builder can be used to generate the executable data. Submit the proposal to a vote via Snapshot transaction builder. Votes are delayed by 2 days, voting lasts for 7 days, and “For,” “Abstain,” and “Against” are the voting options. If the proposal passes, anyone can request execution via Snapshot UI. Requesters must post a 5 WETH bond, and there is a 3-day delay. Once the delay elapses, anyone can execute the proposal via Snapshot, which will return the bond to the requester and execute on-chain transaction.

Elections for the Security Council are held annually, excluding an initial 6-month bootstrapping phase, during which the Everclear Foundation will appoint the initial council.

Before each election cycle, the Everclear DAO will open a one-month-long call for candidates, followed by the voting period. The top 8 candidates will then be inducted into the council for one term that will last for 12 months. Serving multiple terms will be possible, however, it will require candidates to submit a new application and be elected into the Security Council through a formal vote.

Changes to these elections may be proposed by the DAO, but not in an ongoing election cycle.

Criteria for Membership

Any DAO member may declare their candidacy for the Security Council. To be considered for a position on the council, candidates must meet the following criteria:

• Posess a technical background and the ability to read code and detect possible vulnerabilities.

• Garner support from at least 0.4% of the voting supply prior to the election.

• Maintain membership in the Everclear DAO for at least 3 months prior to the election.

• Have no more than 2 representatives from the same organization on the Council at a given time.

• Publicly disclose any potential conflicts of interest prior to campaigning for membership.

Experience & Expectations of Candidates

Elected Special Council members are expected to:

• Provide emergency contact where they can be reached in case of emergency

• Possess the mandatory skills necessary to act in this role, such as knowledge of best security practices, use of hardware wallet, ability to review and sign transactions, etc.

Everclear Security Council - Template & Introductions

Interested individuals are encouraged to use the following template as part of their application to become a part of the Everclear Security Council.

Instructions:

Copy this template, fill in your details and responses, and post it as a reply below.

Candidate Biography & Introduction

Name: [Name of individual or organization]

Twitter Link: [Please link your Twitter account or any other social media presence of yours]

Wallet Address or ENS: [Please insert your wallet address or ENS]

Introduction & Area of Expertise / Skillset:

• Please introduce yourself to the community by giving an overview of your relevant professional experience in more detail. Make sure to include the skills you have that match the requirements outlined here]

• Why do you think you are the right person to be a part of the Security Council?

Everclear DAO Vision & Goals

[Please share your vision for the Everclear DAO and what the goals of the DAO should look like.]

Current Security Council

This is an Everclear Governance Proposal Template. Proposers are required to copy and include the following sections within Everclear Governance Proposals:

“[Social/Constitutional/Executable [CGP#]] — [Your Title Here]”

• Abstract - Abstract is a multi-sentence (short paragraph) summary. This should be a very short and human-readable version of the specification section. Someone should be able to read only the abstract to understand what the proposal does.

• Motivation - A statement on why the community should implement the CGP.

• Rationale - An explanation of how the CGP aligns with the community's mission and guiding principles. Please reviews the Constitution for vision and guiding principles.

• Key Terms - Definitions of any terms within the proposal that are unique to the proposal, new to the community, and/or industry-specific. This section is optional, but recommended.

• Specifications - The specification should describe the proposal in detail. The specification should be detailed enough to cover all the details of the proposal.

• Steps to Implement - The steps to implement the CGP, including associated costs, manpower, and other resources for each step where applicable. CGPs that involve transactions with third parties (such as grants) will need to ensure that applicable legal documentation and procedures are also included.

• Timeline - Relevant timing details, including but not limited to start date, milestones, and completion dates.

• Overall Cost - The total cost to implement the CGP. The overall cost section should include a breakdown of the total cost of the CGP, including any associated costs for each step where applicable. Consider both fixed costs and recurring costs.

As a member of the Connext DAO, you can actively participate in the DAO's decision-making process by voting on governance proposals that other DAO members submit.

As a CLEAR token holder (or delegate), you can participate in these Snapshot polls and "temperature check" discussions:

1. Go to the Connext DAO governance forum.

2. Locate the proposal you'd like to vote on and read through the proposal and the discussion thread.

3. Provide feedback and participate in the discussion to help shape the proposal.

4. The forum submission for any given proposal will usually include a link to a Snapshot poll that allows you to vote on the proposal:

   • Navigate to Snapshot.

   • Connect your wallet.

   • Open the Connext DAO Snapshot space and locate the proposal you'd like to vote on (or click the Snapshot link in the forum submission).

   • Cast your vote by following the prompts within Snapshot's UI. Voting options are “For,” “Abstain,” and “Against.”