LFJOE: Vector Finance Enters the JOE Wars

Vector Finance
6 min readApr 16, 2022

Vector Finance is entering the JOE Wars with everything we’ve got. On Tuesday, April 19th at 6:00 PM UTC, our veJOE accumulation will begin. Users will be able to convert JOE to zJOE to earn rewards on our platform and similarly, users will be able to utilize our veJOE boosted pools to stake their liquidity.

To kick things off, we will be launching a JOE Rush program, where 500,000 VTX will be up for grabs.

JOE Rush

Vector is entering the JOE Wars with a bang. The first 3,000,000 JOE converted on Vector will receive locked VTX at a 1:6 ratio, just for converting. After converting, users will also receive zJOE staking rewards on top of this. We expect juicy APRs, which will come in the form of VTX tokens as well as protocol fee sharing. To recap — for every 6 JOE a user converts, they will receive 1 locked VTX in return. This will go on until 3,000,000 JOE are converted, so make sure to get in fast!

Note — the 1:6 bonus VTX from JOE Rush is locked for 16 weeks, just like regular locked VTX — which earns protocol revenue, bonus VTX, and voting rights while it is locked.

In order to address any potential arbitrage opportunities (converting JOE->zJOE, selling zJOE for JOE, then converting again), we have decided to wait to incentivize zJOE-JOE liquidity for 2 weeks after JOE Rush is completed.

Reminder that once JOE Rush is over, our protocol rewards for zJOE stakers will remain active. We will continue to incentivize converting and staking of zJOE, but are excited to reward the earliest of converters in order to jumpstart our veJOE accumulation.

Launch Date

JOE Rush will start on April 19th at 6:00 PM UTC. At this time, you can begin converting JOE for zJOE and deposit your LP tokens in our veJOE boosted pools (which will also be boosted with VTX rewards).

For the full list of boosted pools — check here and click the “Boost” tab: https://traderjoexyz.com/farm

What Are the JOE Wars?

Trader Joe recently completed a massive revamp to their tokenomics via the introduction of Rocket Joe, sJOE, and veJOE. Each addition has been an incredible success, with veJOE being the latest and most exciting one. With veJOE, “Vote Escrowed JOE” is earned as users stake their JOE in the veJOE pool. The more veJOE a user accumulates, the higher the yield they can get on boosted pools. Once a user unstakes any of their JOE, all of their accrued veJOE is immediately lost. #REKT

The veJOE mechanism creates a PvP situation for those farming on Trader Joe. The more veJOE you own, the more your share of the rewards, in proportion to your liquidity. Individual wallets and protocols are accumulating as much JOE as possible so they can get in on those boosted rewards. The battle for JOE is just getting started, and already $38 million worth of JOE is staked in the veJOE pool. With nearly $600 million TVL in the Trader Joe boosted farms, it’s easy to see there is a massive opportunity for a ve-token yield optimizer like Vector Finance to get involved by diamond handing JOE, and sharing the boosted rewards with our users.

Right now, 50% of all JOE emissions are being used for Trader Joe’s veJOE boosted farms.

How Does Vector Fit In?

Since we first saw the tokenomics for veJOE, we knew Vector Finance had to join in on the fun! Adding JOE to our stockpile will further our mission of bringing maximum value to VTX holders, and building the best ve-token yield optimizer on Avalanche. As the top PTP staker and vePTP holder on Platypus Finance, we’ve proven we’re capable of building an incredible flywheel for ve-token accumulation. We are going to apply the same winning formula to our zJOE program.

Trader Joe is the leading DEX on Avalanche. In the future, we expect veJOE to be used for voting on how to allocate emissions to these boosted pools, as well as which LP pools get added as boosted farms. Protocols that want to incentivize liquidity for their token will want to get access to veJOE, making it an incredibly scarce asset. Vector’s goal is to become the largest holder of veJOE, which will result in protocols wanting to acquire VTX to get access to these votes, or bribe locked VTX holders to vote their way.

With the addition of JOE to our portfolio of ve-tokens, we will become the go-to hub of ve-token aggregation on Avalanche. The VTX token will become even more powerful than it was previously, as we aspire to be the largest stakers of both vePTP and veJOE. This will provide locked VTX holders with tremendous decision making power in how liquidity is incentivized across the Avalanche ecosystem. Further, VTX stakers / lockers will receive another avenue of fee generation. We are following a similar structure to our Platypus strategy and rewarding VTX holders with 6% of all JOE APR generated from our veJOE boosted pools. The remaining 12% of our 18% fee will get redirected back to zJOE stakers.

~6 weeks after launching, Vector’s TVL is sitting at $365m, which stems from the $13m of PTP we have accrued. Further, users have locked up 55% of VTX circulating supply to take advantage of our protocol fees.

Accumulating JOE will only further increase our TVL, revenue stream, and utility for the VTX token.

How Will Vector’s Trader Joe Strategy Work?

The Trader Joe strategy will be very similar to the PTP strategy currently in place. Just like with PTP, Vector will incentivize conversion & staking of JOE. All JOE converted on Vector will be staked on Trader Joe to accumulate veJOE. This JOE will never be unstaked, meaning Vector will accrue veJOE into perpetuity.

Our veJOE balance will allow us to offer boosted APRs on our site, which will be available to all users. We will also further incentivize these LP pools with our own token, VTX. Vector will take an 18% fee on all JOE yield generated from the LP pools. 12% of the fee will go to zJOE stakers, 4% will go to VTX lockers, and the remaining 2% will go to VTX stakers.

The two primary users of the Trader Joe strategy are as follows:

  1. zJOE stakers
  2. LP pool stakers

zJOE Stakers — Convert & Stake Your JOE for Rewards

Users will be able to convert their JOE for zJOE and then stake their zJOE to receive ~67% of all fees accrued from the Trader Joe LP pools on Vector. zJOE stakers will also receive additional rewards from our governance token, VTX.

While zJOE cannot be converted back to JOE, Vector plans on establishing a liquidity pool of zJOE-JOE on Trader Joe so that users can trade one for the other. We plan to add liquidity and incentivize this pool 2 weeks after our JOE Rush program is concluded. As mentioned in the first section, this is to prevent any arbitrage from the unique mechanic we are offering with bonus locked VTX for early converters.

LP Pool Stakers — Stake your Trader Joe LPs

Looking to farm JOE in one of our boosted APR pools? We’ve got you covered. Starting at launch, you’ll be able to take advantage of our veJOE by depositing supported LP tokens (JOE-AVAX, USDC-AVAX, etc.) into the boosted pools on Vector. We will also be rewarding depositors with bonus VTX rewards.

For utilizing our accrued veJOE, we take a small fee from the rewards of LP token depositors (18%). This fee is more than made up for by the boosted APR you receive as a depositor — all without having to stake any JOE! The fee from these JOE rewards is then 100% distributed to zJOE stakers and VTX stakers/lockers. Note — LP pool APRs are shown already inclusive of fees (what you see is what you get)!

Breakdown of What Each Staking Pool Receives

  • zJOE Stakers — VTX & JOE (mostly VTX)
  • LP Pool Stakers — VTX & JOE (mostly JOE)
  • VTX Stakers & Lockers — VTX, xPTP, zJOE

TL;DR

  • Vector is adding a veJOE strategy
  • We will be accumulating and blackholing JOE forever
  • We will be launching JOE boosted farms — anyone who wants can utilize our accrued veJOE for booted rewards of JOE and VTX
  • zJOE stakers on Vector receive a portion of protocol revenue + VTX bonus rewards.
  • Extra incentive for early converters because of JOE Rush!
  • Launching April 19th at 6:00 PM UTC

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