# Introduction

The Balancer ecosystem is utilizing a modified version of Curve's vyper gauge infrastructure. Here, we outline how you can utilize our staking gauge system. We cover both how you can apply for a veBAL gauge to receive BAL rewards and how secondary reward programs can be set up.

# BAL Incentives through veBAL Gauges

BAL is emitted to staking gauges that have been added to our veBAL system. For a pool to be eligible for BAL rewards, it needs to be voted in by governance. A guide on how to set up a gauge can be found in the gauge creation section

# Secondary Reward Token Incentives

The Balancer Maxis have built a sophisticated infrastructure to create and manage secondary reward campaigns for Balancer staking gauges. To make full use of this system, the Maxis provide tooling to facilitate the setup.

For secondary reward distributions on Balancer, following limitations apply (given Balancer's staking gauges are based on Curve's Vyper implementation):

1. A staking gauge can have up to 6 reward tokens. The Maxis recommend to use less than 3 to avoid issues if a gauge will receive BAL (and subsequently AURA) rewards.
2. A gauge distributes rewards in a 1 week schedule after receiving funds. Meaning if you deposit 100 Token A on Monday 00:00 UTC, then those 100 tokens will be distributed over 7 days at a rate of 14.285 tokens / day assuming there is BPT staked in the gauge.
3. Each reward token has its own 1 week distribution schedule based on the time of deposit

# Guide: Create a secondary Reward Token Program on Balancer

These sections will provide a step-by-step guide on how to enable, program and distribute secondary rewards based on the Maxis rewards injector infrastructure

# Step 1: Token Whitelisting

Prerequisite for the reward token to be properly picked up by our infrastructure is that it is whitelisted in our tokenlist. Whitelist the reward token by doing a pull-request hereopen in new window. Make sure you are providing a checksummed entry for the relevant network.

# Step 2: Gauge Creation

Depending on the network your pool is deployed on, the procedures slightly differ which is explained further below. This assumes that the pool is deployed and has at least a few dollars of liquidity in it. Make sure to check the main app. If the pool is explorable and shows basic stats, it means it has been indexed by our backend, and you can proceed with creating a gauge.

# Deploying a gauge on Ethereum Mainnet

1. Select Ethereum on the gauge creator toolopen in new window

2. Search your pool in the pool list

3. If a gauge has already been created, you can skip this step (UI will show a warning)

4. If no gauge entry was found for your pool, select it

5. Depending on your pool composition, select a voting cap between 2% and an uncapped gauge (please refer to gauge caps here)

6. Execute the transaction by clicking "Create Mainnet Gauge"

7. The gauge ID will show up under event logs and in the UI (example tx logsopen in new window)

# Deploying a gauge on a Layer 2 network (Gnosis)

1. Go to gauge creator toolopen in new window and select a Layer 2 network (e.g.) Gnosis chain
2. Search for your target pool.
3. The tool will provide you with information if a gauge on the target network already exists
4. Create the Child Chain Gauge and execute the transaction
5. There is no need to create a root gauge - only do this if you plan on applying for a veBAL gauge to receive BAL rewards! More detailed instructions on this process can be found hereopen in new window.

# Step 3: Rewards Injector Creation

Depending on your use-case you want to create a rewards injector for your reward token. In that case, you need to follow a series of configuration steps outlined below. A rewards injector has the purpose of streamlining the distribution of rewards to gauges on Balancer. It takes care of correct token deposits and timely execution based on Chainlink automation. Furthermore, our rewards injector infrastructure is fully customizable and manageable through our operations UIopen in new window overall streamlining the process. Follow these steps if you want to utilize our infrastructure:

1. Create a new rewards injector from the factory following the documentationopen in new window. Depending on your needs, choose different initial configuration parameters

2. If your new injector has been set up correctly, it will show up in the Injector v2 viewer drop-down listopen in new window
3. For the injector to properly work, set up Chainlink automation as outlined in the injector documentationopen in new window. If this is not configured, the injector will not automatically trigger reward distributions to gauges.

# Step 4: Gauge configuration

# Whitelisting reward tokens on a target gauge

A gauge can only receive secondary token rewards from a registered distributor. On the gauge contract you can read the current configuration via the reward_data field by passing the reward token address as input argument. If your reward token is not registered, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Add Reward Token to Gaugeopen in new window payload builder on the operations UI
2. For the input arguments, do the following:
   • Target gauge: the gauge you want to whitelist
   • Reward token: your desired reward token
   • Distributor addresse: your injector or alternative reward distributor
3. Click "Add Reward"
4. Generate payload and review / simulate via tenderly
5. Do a pull request for the Balancer Maxis operations repository. A Maxi will review the payload and load it within 12h of receiving the request
6. Once the payload has been executed by our managed multi-sig, you should see the reward token configuration by using the reward_data method

# Step 5: Rewards Injector Configuration

The Maxis have built comprehensive infrastructure and tooling to make this process as easy as possible. Before configuring an injector make sure the following criteria are met:

• Gauge created
• Reward token and injector as distributor correctly set up
• Reward token is whitelisted on the Balancer tokenlistopen in new window
• Chainlink Automation: Injector Upkeep is correctly configured and there is enough LINK to fund the upkeep (more details on this topic hereopen in new window)

Now you can create your own schedule with the injector configuration toolopen in new window

1. Click on "Add Recipients"
2. Choose the parameter set for your incentive program:
   • Recipients: Enter your target gauge(s) you set up in the previous steps
   • Define the amount per one week period you want to emit
   • Define for how many periods (weeks) the program will run
   • If you want to define a specific start date, fill out a UNIX time stamp
3. Generate the payload
4. Review if the Tenderly simulation passes correctly
5. If the Balancer Maxis are set as manager, do a pull request to our repository. If you have set your own multi-sig or other EOA as manager, execute the payload via your safe.

# Step 6: Funding of the Rewards injector

Funding is straightforward: you can simply deposit funds into the injector contract. Rest assured that the configured owner can sweep any amounts left in the injector at any time.

# Secondary Reward Setup Checklist

Given the many steps involved in setting up a secondary rewards program, we made this checklist for you to go through based on the above step-by-step guide: