The $KERNE Token

$KERNE is Kerne Protocol's token: a fixed 1,000,000,000 supply on Base with no mint function. It is designed to carry governance rights and a revenue share once those contracts ship; none is deployed today.

Supply

The canonical KERNE token (v2, 0x230f3a63E8413D42bEe9103b98a204030206186c) has a fixed total supply of 1,000,000,000 KERNE, minted once at genesis to the 2 of 3 Kerne Safe on 7 June 2026. It has no MINTER_ROLE and no mint() function, so the 1,000,000,000 cap is cryptographically enforced: no party, including the Safe, can ever mint more. The retired v1 contract (0xfEA3D217F5f2304C8551dc9F5B5169F2c2d87340) held only 100,000,000 KERNE and is non canonical, its supply trapped under EIP 7702; a procedural claim adapter with zero claimable supply honors the migration commitment.

After TGE the only supply changes will be permanent burns from the buyback program and scheduled vesting unlocks from existing allocations. Because there is no mint function, total supply can only fall over time and can never rise above the fixed 1,000,000,000 cap.

Read the full disclosure of the deployed source against earlier copy at kerne.fi/security/kerne-token-disclosure.

Team and investor allocations are intended to carry multiyear vesting with cliffs. That intent is not yet implemented: no vesting contract has been deployed, no allocation is segregated, and the 2 of 3 Safe holds 100% of supply as one undivided balance. Read every allocation as a published policy commitment over a treasury balance rather than an on chain earmark, and verify it by calling balanceOf on the token for the Safe address and comparing it to totalSupply. A meaningful portion is reserved for the community through the Opal Rewards program, on that same basis.

How $KERNE Captures Value

$KERNE accrues value through multiple mechanisms on a fixed, shrinking supply:

• Buyback and Burn (designed, not yet operating): The intended mechanism is that a portion of protocol revenue buys $KERNE on the open market and permanently burns it, creating buying pressure while reducing total supply. No buyback has executed yet and there is no market for KERNE today, so supply has been flat at 1,000,000,000 since genesis.
• Governance (planned): $KERNE is designed to give holders a say in protocol governance, including collateral types, risk parameters, and protocol upgrades. No governance contract is deployed yet; see Governance.
• Revenue Share (veKERNE, Planned): In a future phase, users will be able to lock $KERNE for one to four years to receive veKERNE. In return, they will earn a direct share of protocol revenue, with longer lock durations earning a greater share. This structure will prioritize long term protocol health over temporary inflationary rewards. veKERNE holders will also direct yield emissions across protocol vaults through gauge voting.
• Supply Lock: Tokens locked as veKERNE will be removed from circulating supply for the lock duration, creating structural scarcity.

TGE Timing

TGE is targeted after the protocol has sustained meaningful TVL and paid out yield for multiple months without adverse events. It is not a fixed calendar date.