Key Concepts
The foundational concepts that underpin IAMs.
Last updated
The foundational concepts that underpin IAMs.
Last updated
1. Incentivized Action Market (IAM)
A market for an onchain action (or series of actions). Actions can be e.g. "deposit into X protocol," "mint an NFT," or "execute a series of transactions." Incentive Providers offer incentives (points, tokens, or even NFTs) for users to complete these actions.
Users can create offers to complete those actions or negotiate for more incentives. Incentive Providers can choose to provide the amount of incentives requested or ignore the offer. When these offers satisfy each other, the onchain transaction(s) are atomically executed, and the IP's incentives are distributed.
Each IAM is immutable and entirely non-custodial.
Offers enable each user to express their individual requirements to complete the Incentivized Action.
Example: User A and User B create offers on an IAM which incentivizes deposits into a pool with points. User A believes the points are worth $1 each, and User B believes they are worth $10 each. Since User B's $10 offer is higher than User A's $1 offer, his offer executes first. This happens because the nominal amount of points spent makes this offer cheaper for the Incentive Provider.
Anyone can create offers using assets currently in another IAM. This enables high capital efficiency, and users to be earning while placing offers for more incentives elsewhere.
The Open Incentive Graph is an index of all offers and IAMs that is accessible to all. Front-ends and wallets embed the graph to surface IAMs to their users.
