Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Flywheel Protocol?

Flywheel Protocol is modular reward infrastructure for tokenized ecosystems. It provides a standardized five-layer architecture for collecting revenue, converting it to reward tokens via oracle-verified swaps, and distributing rewards per-second to token holders — all with no inflation.

How is Flywheel different from traditional staking?

Traditional staking mints inflationary tokens as rewards, diluting existing holders. Flywheel uses real protocol revenue — trading fees, royalties, yield — to purchase reward tokens on the open market. What you earn is backed by actual value, not dilution.

Is Flywheel a protocol or a product?

Both. Flywheel is a protocol specification (the five-layer architecture with defined interfaces) and a set of reference contracts. Bullion is a product built on Flywheel — the first reference implementation proving the architecture in production.

What chains does Flywheel support?

Flywheel is EVM-compatible and can be deployed on any chain that supports Solidity smart contracts and has Chainlink oracle access. The reference implementation runs on Robinhood Chain.

Why five layers?

Each layer has a single responsibility with a well-defined interface. This modularity means layers can be developed, tested, upgraded, and replaced independently. A bug in the Conversion Router does not affect the Settlement Vault. New revenue sources can be added without touching reward accounting.

Can I use only part of the Flywheel stack?

Yes. The layers are independently composable. You can use Flywheel's Conversion Router with your own vault, or Flywheel's Settlement Vault with your own revenue sources and conversion logic. The interfaces are standardized but not coupled.

What tokens can be used for deposits and rewards?

Any ERC-20 token. The deposit token is what users stake. The reward token is what they earn. You configure both at deployment time. Flywheel is token-agnostic — it works with memecoins, stablecoins, governance tokens, or any other standard token.

How does the Conversion Router protect against bad prices?

Every swap is sandwiched between two Chainlink oracle queries. The pre-swap query establishes the fair market price. The post-swap query validates that the effective exchange rate is within the configured slippage tolerance. If not, the transaction reverts. This prevents sandwich attacks and DEX manipulation.

How are rewards calculated?

Rewards stream per-second based on your proportional share of the total deposited pool. If you have 10% of all deposits, you earn 10% of all future rewards. The formula is: pendingRewards = userDeposits × rewardPerToken / PRECISION - userCheckpoint. Rewards only need to be computed when you interact with the contract.

Why is there an activation period?

The activation period (default: 1 hour) prevents deposit-and-claim attacks. Without it, someone could deposit right before a large reward distribution, claim, and immediately withdraw — extracting value from long-term depositors. The activation delay ensures rewards go to committed participants.

What happens if I withdraw early?

If you withdraw within the penalty window (default: 24 hours), 5% of your withdrawn tokens are permanently burned. After the penalty window, withdrawals are fee-free. The burned tokens reduce total supply, benefiting remaining depositors through increased proportional share.

Can I claim rewards without withdrawing my deposit?

Yes. Claiming rewards and withdrawing your deposit are separate operations. You can claim accrued rewards at any time without affecting your active deposit position. Claims are free and unbounded in frequency.

What are LP staking rewards?

If you provide liquidity for the deposit-token/reward-token pair on a DEX, you can stake your LP NFT in the Settlement Vault to earn bonus reward tokens. The default split is 90% to depositors and 10% to LP stakers.

Is Flywheel audited?

The reference implementation (Bullion) is open-source and uses battle-tested OpenZeppelin libraries. Formal audits are recommended for each deployment. The protocol's simplicity and use of standard, audited components provide strong baseline security. Audit reports will be published as they become available.

What happens if the oracle goes down?

If Chainlink oracle data becomes stale (older than maxPriceAge, default 1 hour), all conversion transactions will revert. No swaps can execute against stale data. This is a safety feature — the protocol would rather pause conversions than settle at potentially manipulated prices. Deposits, withdrawals, and claims continue to function normally.

Can the protocol be paused?

Yes, through a time-bounded pause mechanism controlled by the PAUSER_ROLE. Any pause automatically expires after a configurable duration unless renewed. This prevents permanent lockout if the pauser key is compromised. Pausing affects deposits, withdrawals, and conversions independently.

Who controls the protocol parameters?

Parameter changes require TREASURY_ROLE access, which should be held by a multi-sig wallet. The KEEPER_ROLE (for triggering conversions) is permissionless — anyone can call the trigger function. This separation of concerns prevents any single entity from controlling the entire protocol.

How do I deploy my own Flywheel instance?

Clone the reference contracts from GitHub, configure your parameters (tokens, splits, penalties, oracle feeds), and deploy on your chosen EVM chain. See the Integration Checklist in the Integrations section for a step-by-step guide.

Do I need Chainlink oracles?

Oracle verification is a core security feature, but the Conversion Router interface is abstract. You could theoretically implement a different oracle provider. However, Chainlink is the recommended and battle-tested option with the widest token coverage.

Can I build on top of Flywheel?

Absolutely. All contracts expose standard interfaces (ERC-20, ERC-4626-compatible patterns, and custom interfaces). You can build auto-compounders, analytics dashboards, portfolio trackers, or derivative products on top of the protocol without permission.

Where are the contracts?

The reference implementation is open-source at github.com/Zbits33/flywheel-protocol. Contracts are verified on the block explorer for their respective deployment chains.