# Introduction

The Balancer ecosystem is utilizing a modified version of Curve's vyper gauge infrastructure. Here, we outline how you can utilize our staking gauge system. We cover both how you can apply for a veBAL gauge to receive BAL rewards and how secondary reward programs can be set up.

# BAL Incentives through veBAL Gauges

BAL is emitted to staking gauges that have been added to our veBAL system. For a pool to be eligible for BAL rewards, it needs to be voted in by governance.

# Secondary Reward Token Incentives

The MAXYZ service provider has built a sophisticated infrastructure to create and manage secondary reward campaigns for Balancer staking gauges. To make full use of this system, tooling is provided to facilitate the setup.

For secondary reward distributions on Balancer, following limitations apply (given Balancer's staking gauges are based on Curve's Vyper implementation):

1. A staking gauge can have up to 6 reward tokens. It is recommended to use less than 3 to avoid issues if a gauge will receive BAL (and subsequently AURA) rewards.
2. A gauge distributes rewards in a 1 week schedule after receiving funds. Meaning if you deposit 100 Token A on Monday 00:00 UTC, then those 100 tokens will be distributed over 7 days at a rate of 14.285 tokens / day assuming there is BPT staked in the gauge.
3. Each reward token has its own 1 week distribution schedule based on the time of deposit

# Guide: Create a Secondary Reward Token Program on Balancer

These sections will provide a step-by-step guide on how to enable, program and distribute secondary rewards based on the rewards injector infrastructure.

# Step 1: Token Whitelisting

Prerequisite for the reward token to be properly picked up by the infrastructure is that it is whitelisted in the tokenlist. Whitelist the reward token by doing a pull-request hereopen in new window. Make sure you are providing a checksummed entry for the relevant network.

# Step 2: Gauge Creation

Before setting up secondary rewards, you need a gauge for your pool. Follow the Gauge Onboarding Guide to create your gauge. This guide covers:

• Creating gauges for Ethereum Mainnet pools
• Creating child chain and root gauges for L2 networks
• Understanding gauge caps

Once your gauge is created (governance approval is only required if you want BAL emissions), you can proceed with configuring secondary rewards.

# Step 3: Rewards Injector Creation

Depending on your use-case you want to create a rewards injector for your reward token. In that case, you need to follow a series of configuration steps outlined below. A rewards injector has the purpose of streamlining the distribution of rewards to gauges on Balancer. It takes care of correct token deposits and timely execution based on Chainlink automation. Furthermore, the rewards injector infrastructure is fully customizable and manageable through the operations UIopen in new window overall streamlining the process. Follow these steps if you want to utilize this infrastructure:

1. Create a new rewards injector from the factory using the Injector Creator interfaceopen in new window. Depending on your needs, choose different initial configuration parameters

2. If your new injector has been set up correctly, it will show up in the Injector v2 viewer drop-down listopen in new window
3. For the injector to properly work, set up Chainlink automation as outlined in the injector documentationopen in new window. If this is not configured, the injector will not automatically trigger reward distributions to gauges.

# Step 4: Gauge Configuration

# Whitelisting Reward Tokens on a Target Gauge

A gauge can only receive secondary token rewards from a registered distributor. On the gauge contract you can read the current configuration via the reward_data field by passing the reward token address as input argument. If your reward token is not registered, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Add Reward Token to Gaugeopen in new window payload builder on the operations UI
2. For the input arguments, do the following:
   • Target gauge: the gauge you want to whitelist
   • Reward token: your desired reward token
   • Distributor address: your injector or alternative reward distributor
3. Click "Add Reward"
4. Generate payload and review / simulate via tenderly
5. Do a pull request via the operations UI. The payload will be reviewed and loaded within 12h of receiving the request
6. Once the payload has been executed by the managed multi-sig, you should see the reward token configuration by using the reward_data method

# Step 5: Rewards Injector Configuration

Comprehensive infrastructure and tooling has been built to make this process as easy as possible. Before configuring an injector make sure the following criteria are met:

• Gauge created (see Gauge Onboarding Guide)
• Reward token and injector as distributor correctly set up
• Reward token is whitelisted on the Balancer tokenlistopen in new window
• Chainlink Automation: Injector Upkeep is correctly configured and there is enough LINK to fund the upkeep (more details on this topic hereopen in new window)

Now you can create your own schedule with the injector configuration toolopen in new window

1. Click on "Add Recipients"
2. Choose the parameter set for your incentive program:
   • Recipients: Enter your target gauge(s) you set up in the previous steps
   • Define the amount per one week period you want to emit
   • Define for how many periods (weeks) the program will run
   • If you want to define a specific start date, fill out a UNIX time stamp
3. Generate the payload
4. Review if the Tenderly simulation passes correctly
5. If the MAXYZ service provider is set as manager, do a pull request via the operations UI. If you have set your own multi-sig or other EOA as manager, execute the payload via your safe.

# Step 6: Funding of the Rewards Injector

Funding is straightforward: you can simply deposit funds into the injector contract. Rest assured that the configured owner can sweep any amounts left in the injector at any time.

# Secondary Reward Setup Checklist

Given the many steps involved in setting up a secondary rewards program, we made this checklist for you to go through based on the above step-by-step guide:

# Direct Incentives on Aura Finance

Aura Finance is a yield aggregator protocol built on top of Balancer. It allows to configure and stream rewards to their staking contracts (gauges) through their UI. Consult their docsopen in new window on how to set up direct incentives. Note that incentives placed on the AURA UI will only be streamed to AURA staking gauges and not Balancer gauges!