Everclear Introduces: CLEAR

This guest post is brought to you by The Everclear Team. Five months have passed since our interview with Arjun Bhuptani, and Everclear, the first Clearing Layer, is now live. You can revisit the podcast below:

In the short time since Mainnet has been live, the protocol has already achieved cross-chain transaction fees as low as 2 basis points (0.02%!) and is netting up to 50% of transactions.

As volumes increase during Mainnet, even higher netting rates and lower transaction costs are anticipated.

This week marks an even bigger milestone: the transition to CLEAR and the launch of staking with Season 1 rewards. Let’s dive into what this means.

But first, a special thanks to our sponsors!

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Let’s Recap: What Is Everclear?

Everclear is the first Clearing Layer—a B2B protocol that coordinates liquidity rebalancing across chains. It’s designed to solve liquidity challenges for other bridges and their solvers.

Since the launch of its Mainnet Beta, Everclear achieved:

• 0.02% fees for crosschain txs

• 50% netting of flows

• 3x month-over-month growth

• 30min settlement time

These accomplishments demonstrate Everclear's potential to significantly reduce costs and complexity for cross-chain operations while increasing solver capital utilization compared to existing protocols.

By facilitating bi-directional liquidity settlement, Everclear achieves up to 80% cost reduction, similar to how Visa and stock exchanges net out transactions. Since Mainnet Beta, the protocol has shown ~3x MoM growth in cross-chain volumes and adoption.

A New Era: CLEAR Staking Is Here

The Everclear DAO is now introducing CLEAR, a transition from the previous NEXT token. This migration introduces a staking and vote-bonding system (vbCLEAR) to incentivize solvers and stakers, as well as a fee-sharing mechanism to reward ecosystem participants, making CLEAR a productive and yield generative asset.

CLEAR introduces a vote-bonding system that aligns incentives for all participants:

• Stake CLEAR: Stake for up to 2 years to earn vbCLEAR, which provides governance power and receive a portion of protocol fees.

• Vote with vbCLEAR: Direct emissions to incentivize liquidity where it’s needed most, helping new chains to bootstrap their initial crosschain liquidity

Special thanks to our sponsor Mantle, the team behind the fast-growing LRT, cmETH!

Why vbCLEAR Is Needed

vbCLEAR introduces a new approach to incentivizing liquidity allocation in a fragmented blockchain landscape.

For chain abstraction to succeed, intent solvers must hold liquidity on every new rollup. Currently, new rollups rely on 1:1 relationships with intent bridges, a process dependent on custom agreements and business development—a model that doesn’t scale for the growing number of chains. To address this, chains should be able to directly incentivize any solver on any intent platform, cutting the cost and complexity of gaining bridge support.

The vbCLEAR model creates this marketplace by enabling chains and asset issuers to lock CLEAR tokens and direct incentives through governance votes. This approach motivates solvers to allocate liquidity to new chains before user transaction volumes are present, solving the chicken-and-egg problem of ecosystem bootstrapping. Over time, incentives taper off as organic revenue takes over.

Paired with Everclear’s efficient rebalancing solutions, vbCLEAR reduces risks for solvers, lowering barriers and enabling rapid expansion to new chains, driving ecosystem growth.

Where Does The Yield Come From?

CLEAR staking generates value for its participants through multiple revenue streams. Protocol fees collected from solvers rebalancing liquidity flow back to vbCLEAR holders, ensuring a sustainable yield tied to the protocol’s growth.

1. Protocol Fees:

   • Every time solvers or users rebalance liquidity across chains using Everclear, they pay a fee.

   • These fees are aggregated into a pool, and after covering gas costs, the net fees are distributed to vbCLEAR holders.

   • As Everclear’s adoption grows and more liquidity flows through the protocol, these fees—and therefore your yield—will increase.

2. Incentive Pools (e.g., Season 1):

   • To kickstart participation, Everclear has allocated significant rewards for early stakers. For Season 1, this includes CLEAR tokens, which will be distributed over three months to vbCLEAR holders proportional to their stake.

The Full Flow

Everclear’s model aligns incentives across its ecosystem. Chains and DAOs stake CLEAR to attract liquidity, solvers act on these incentives to rebalance efficiently, and protocol fees collected during this process are redistributed to vbCLEAR holders. This interconnected flow ensures a thriving and well-supported liquidity-clearing system while benefiting all participants.

1. Chains and DAOs Buy and Lock CLEAR (together with any token holder that wants to participate):

   • Chains or DAOs stake CLEAR to incentivize solvers to provide liquidity for their ecosystem.

   • They vote using vbCLEAR to direct emissions (reward flows) to their chain, ensuring liquidity arrives where it’s most needed.

2. Solvers Respond to Incentives:

   • Solvers move liquidity to chains offering the best rewards. By supporting flows to those chains, solvers earn emissions proportional to their activity.

3. Protocol Generates Fees:

   • As solvers settle transactions and rebalance liquidity, they pay protocol fees. A portion of these fees flows back to vbCLEAR holders, creating sustainable yield.

4. Stakers Benefit:

   • vbCLEAR holders receive ongoing rewards from both protocol fees and the incentive pool. The longer and larger the stake, the more vbCLEAR you earn—and the more influence you have in shaping the Everclear ecosystem.

Key Participants

• Chains & DAOs: Incentivize liquidity and solver support to bootstrap their ecosystems.

• Solvers: Earn emissions by rebalancing liquidity efficiently across chains.

• Stakers: Earn governance power, protocol fees, and additional rewards by staking CLEAR.

CLEAR aligns the interests of all participants, ensuring sustainable growth and adoption of Everclear’s liquidity-clearing system. With Season 1 starting December 6, 2024, now is the perfect time to get involved.

Season 1 Is Starting!

Season 1 will begin on December 6, 2024, and last for three months. The proposed rewards pool for Season 1 includes 6.25M CLEAR for participants in the aggregate.

How can you participate?

1. Get & Stake CLEAR: Earn vbCLEAR, participate in governance, and gain emissions rewards.

2. Solvers: Actively rebalance liquidity to earn rewards tied to settlement activity.

• Don’t forget to follow The Everclear Team for all of their updates!