HiIQ is a staking system designed to encourage IQ token holders to become long-term holders who lock up their IQ tokens and get involved in the long-term governance of the IQ token and its ecosystem of dapps. The HiIQ system also allows IQ token holders to receive greater utility and access to IQ dapps. Stakers earn IQ tokens and have a say in governance with their voting power based on their HiIQ balance.^[1][4] As of August 2023, IQ holders have locked up a record 1.2 Billion IQ, resulting in a total of over 4 Billion HiIQ.^[5]

Overview

HiIQ launched on August 4, 2021. The HiIQ staking system allows IQ holders to choose how long they want to lock up their IQ and the number of IQ tokens they would like to stake. The greater the amount of IQ locked and the greater the length of time the tokens are locked the greater the HiIQ balance of the staker. A user's HiIQ balance determines their voting power on governance proposals involving the IQ token and IQ ecosystem. Users also receive IQ token rewards in proportion to their HiIQ balance. Following the first halvening on November 1, 2023, 1.5 million IQ are minted daily for HiIQ stakers.^[1]

HiIQ is a vesting and yield system based on the Curve veCRV mechanism. Users may lock up their IQ for up to 4 years for four times the amount of HiIQ (e.g. 100 IQ locked for 4 years returns 400 HiIQ). HiIQ is not a transferable token nor does it trade on liquid markets. It is more akin to an account-based point system that signifies the vesting duration of the wallet's locked IQ tokens within the protocol. The HiIQ balance linearly decreases as tokens approach their lock expiry, approaching 1 HiIQ per 1 IQ at zero lock time remaining.^[1]

To participate in IQ staking with HiIQ, it is necessary to have IQ on Ethereum (ETH) and have sufficient Ether for gas fees.^[2]

As of August 2023, IQ holders have locked up a record 1.2 Billion IQ, resulting in a total of over 4 Billion HiIQ.^[5]

Halvening Model

In October 2022, IQIP-14: New IQ Tokenomics for the New IQ.wiki Platform, a proposal of setting up new tokenomics for the IQ token, went through with the majority of votes. The community voted in favor of a halvening model like Bitcoin and FXS which provides higher initial emissions to incentivize early adopters and gradually lowers emissions to ensure long-term sustainability. With this new model, IQ emissions would sustainably decrease over time until they dipped below 1 IQ minted per month in August of 2050 ensuring that the maximum supply cap of 21 billion tokens is never reached. Previously, the IQ token used a constant inflation model which could lead the IQ token to hit its maximum supply cap in January of 2027, and then all IQ emissions would have to stop.^[4]

From November 1, 2022, to November 1, 2023, under the IQIP-14 IQ token emissions model, 3 million IQ were minted each day for HiIQ stakers. This tripled rewards for IQ stakers for the next 12 months starting from October 2022. 350,000 IQ were minted each day to provide rewards for editors and curators who contribute to IQ.wiki. 4,333,333 IQ were minted and used to acquire Ethereum, stablecoins, and other assets for the BrainDAO treasury. As part of these changes, it was also proposed to create a rule where up to 25% of incoming assets to BrainDAO from bonds and the TWAMM can be used by IQ.wiki to grow and develop the IQ ecosystem. 250,000 IQ were minted each day to incentivize liquidity for the IQ token. 1,000,000 IQ were minted each day and are allocated to the upcoming gauges system. 3 million IQ were minted each day and allocated to the IQ.wiki company which is responsible for growing IQ.wiki and the IQ ecosystem as a whole.^[4]

The first halvening took place on November 1, 2023, the same date that the BrainDAO team announced IQ v3. As a result of halvening, 1.5 million IQ are minted each day for HiIQ stakers starting from November 1, 2023. As part of IQ v3, the team also proposed further lowering inflation by reducing the amount of IQ allocated to the TWAMM to obtain stablecoins and blue-chip assets. With the BrainDAO treasury stablecoin holdings increasing along with higher than expected yields through sFRAX they were able to propose this reduction in IQ allocated to the TWAMM. The proposal involved reducing the allocation from 2,166,667 IQ to 2,000,000 IQ post-halvening.^[6][7]

IQ Gauges

BrainDAO is developing the IQ Gauges system to determine which projects will receive part of the token emissions. Inspired by Curve Wars’ impact on Frax, IQ Gauges aims to enhance the IQ token's value by encouraging projects to direct emissions to their respective token pairs. IQ Gauges will also integrate a vote market, allowing HiIQ stakers to participate in voting, with potential incentives from projects seeking favorable votes.^[6]

Since IQ gauge emissions are fixed and halve annually, governance can decide to allocate part of the protocol's cash flows or IQ tokens to gauge rewards in the future. Users who stake their tokens in a gauge contract can earn higher annual percentage rates (APR) based on their HiIQ holdings. Additionally, those who lock their deposited tokens for a specific duration receive an extra boost, allowing them to stack both boosts to maximize their APR.^[6][7]

IQ.wiki

As long as the IQ token is integral to IQ.wiki, IQ token holders who stake their tokens with the HiIQ staking system, vote on governance decisions involving both the platform and the IQ token itself. In 2024, IQ.wiki plans on introducing HiIQ BrainPass NFTs for IQ stakers which will provide several benefits including the ability to edit on IQ.wiki. Subscribers of BrainPass will gain access to enhanced functionalities in various services such as IQ GPT, IQ.social, and the upcoming IQ Code.^[6]

IQ GPT

IQ GPT is an AI-powered assistant for blockchain knowledge developed by IQ.wiki for researching and analyzing crypto news, real-time price data, trading volumes, market capitalization, and other key market data. IQ GPT is available to all IQ token holders who’ve staked over 100,000 HiIQ. IQ GPT is powered by the IQ token and integrates contents and data sets from platforms such as IQ.wiki's extensive database, DeFiLlama, Frax Docs, Binance Academy, DeFi Protocol Documentations, The Associated Press News, CoinGecko, Flywheel DeFi, BlockBeats, InvestHK and CoinNess.^[6]

In late 2023, the BrainDAO team introduced the AIQChatBot, designed to support Telegram and Discord communities involved in cryptocurrency, DeFi, NFTs, and related topics. According to IQ v3, released on November 1, 2023, the team's vision is to build a version of AIQChatBot for dapps and websites like decentralized exchanges, DeFi applications, cryptocurrency projects, NFT projects, data platforms, and more.^[3][6]

For early access to IQ GPT, a user needs to maintain a HiIQ balance of 100,000 HiIQ. The HiIQ balance is based on the amount of IQ staked in addition to the amount of time it's locked for which naturally decreases over time.^[3]

In addition to early access to IQ GPT, IQ stakers will also in the future have access to premium features.^[3]

IQ.social

IQ.social is an AI-powered social forum for crypto news and insights. IQ.social was launched by BrainDAO in November 2023 and is powered by the IQ token. The platform is a part of the IQ.wiki ecosystem, featuring IQ GPT, IQ Code, and IQ.wiki.^[6]

The platform is governed by HiIQ stakers who curate and rank all of the articles submitted to IQ.social. IQ.social was announced and launched as part of the IQ v3 update in November 2023.^[6]

IQ stakers can add articles and vote for the content of interest by liking an article. If a pending article receives two or more votes and has a HiIQ score of over 100k, it automatically gets published on the homepage of the platform. The HiIQ score of an article is determined by the total HiIQ balance of the users who favored the article.^[6]