Curators & the basket
Curators are the traders behind a fund. Their job is distribution and market calls: bring holders, spot the next runner early, and keep the basket current. Everything operational (pricing, rebalancing, yield, pool upkeep) is automated by Own's keeper.
Who curates
- Own is a curator of every fund. Own's protocol curator seat is permanent and takes a third of every fund's curator income and a third of the curators' say.
- Up to 10 other curators per fund. Own launches each fund with its curators. Curators can be required to keep a minimum stake in the fund; a curator who falls short loses their share until they top it up.
- Curators can be replaced. Once public curation is on, stakers can add, remove or replace curators by proposal (never Own's seat).
How curators are paid
All curator income comes from the fund's activity, so it grows with the fund.
| Income | Source |
|---|---|
| Fund fee | The 1% fee on every mint and redeem |
| Pool tax | The tax on every pool buy and sell, after Hookr's share |
| Curator yield | A share of staker yield (15% by default), minted on top so stakers lose nothing; paid as staked fund tokens that unlock in 30-day periods |
| Bribe cut | A cut of every bribe (15% by default), once public curation is on |
Own takes a third of everything and the other curators split the rest equally. While a fund has no other active curator, Own takes all of it. Own's share is claimable at once; other curators' yield vests in 30-day periods and a curator removed mid-period forfeits that period's locked yield (it is burned, raising NAV).
Worked example
An illustrative $10M fund with two curators beside Own:
| Stream | Assumption | A year |
|---|---|---|
| Fund fee | $5M of mints and redeems × 1% | $50,000 |
| Pool tax | $20M of pool volume × 0.8% to curators | $160,000 |
| Curator yield | $8M staked × 24% tier yield × 15% | $288,000 |
| Curator income | $498,000 | |
| Own's third | $166,000 | |
| Each other curator | $166,000 |
Curator yield is paid in fund tokens, so its value follows the fund.
How the basket is set
Each fund starts with curated mode: Own sets the basket and weights on the curators' calls, from an eligibility list of vetted tokens with reliable price feeds. A fund holds at most 25 tokens.
When a fund is big enough for open governance, Own turns on public curation and the basket is set by a weekly vote:
| Rule | Detail |
|---|---|
| Who votes | Curators hold 30% of the vote; stakers who escrow their staked tokens hold 70%, pro rata |
| Silent stake | Staked tokens that don't vote follow the curators |
| Epoch | Weekly, flipping Thursday 00:00 UTC |
| Guardrails | A token under 2% of the vote is targeted at 0; no token above 25%; no weight moves more than 5 points a week |
| Proposals | Curators, or stakers with $5k escrowed, propose listing or delisting a token and curator changes. A proposal passes with more yes than no and a 20% quorum; Own can veto within a day |
| Bribes | Anyone, usually a token team, can pay bribes in USDG, $MONEY or the token itself to stakers who vote for a token. Stakers earn them by locking their escrow for 4 weeks; curators take a cut |
Rebalancing
When weights change or prices drift, the keeper rebalances through Dutch auctions: it offers an amount of one basket token for another, starting 2% above the oracle rate and falling over 4 hours to 3% below it. Anyone fills any part at the current price, from any venue. Every fill is re-checked against the oracle, and rebalancing is capped at 10% of the basket a day, so no single day can move the fund far.
What the admin can and can't do
Fund administration sits with Own's 3-of-5 Safe through the fund admin role, separate from eUSD's roles.
- Can: upgrade the fund contracts, set fees (fund fee at most 10%), yield tiers (capped at 3% a day), curator yield (at most 50%), mint locks and pool issuance, set the eligibility list and price feeds, add or remove curators, pause minting and launch deposits, veto proposals.
- Can't: pause redemptions. Every holder can always redeem for their slice of the basket.
See Risks for what this trust means for holders.