SALT Overview
SALT is the native token of the Citrate blockchain. It serves three fundamental roles in the ecosystem: gas for transaction execution, collateral for staking and security, and voting weight for governance decisions. Every operation on Citrate -- from deploying a smart contract to requesting AI inference to participating in DAO governance -- requires SALT.
Token Utility
SALT is deeply integrated into every layer of the Citrate protocol. Unlike tokens that bolt on utility after the fact, SALT was designed from the protocol's inception to be the economic backbone of an AI-native blockchain.
Gas: Every transaction on Citrate requires SALT to pay for execution gas, just as Ethereum requires ETH. This includes standard EVM operations and the extended gas costs for AI precompile calls. The base fee adjusts dynamically based on network demand, and users can add a priority tip to incentivize faster inclusion.
Staking: Validators must stake a minimum of 32,000 SALT to participate in the Paraconsistent BFT consensus. Model hosts stake SALT as quality collateral when registering models. Oracle nodes stake SALT alongside their $SNAP NFTs. In all cases, staked SALT can be slashed for misbehavior, creating strong economic alignment between node operators and network health.
Governance: SALT holders can vote on protocol upgrades, parameter changes, treasury allocations, and constitutional amendments through the BR1J governance framework. Voting weight is proportional to staked SALT, with quadratic voting available for specific proposal categories.
Total Supply
SALT has a fixed maximum supply of 1,000,000,000 (1 billion) tokens. The initial circulating supply at genesis is approximately 200 million SALT, with the remainder emitted over time through mining rewards and ecosystem incentives.
| Allocation | Amount | Percentage | Vesting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mining rewards | 400,000,000 | 40% | Emitted over ~20 years |
| Ecosystem fund | 200,000,000 | 20% | 4-year linear vesting |
| Team & contributors | 150,000,000 | 15% | 1-year cliff, 3-year linear |
| Community launch | 100,000,000 | 10% | Immediate at genesis |
| Treasury | 100,000,000 | 10% | DAO-controlled |
| Strategic partners | 50,000,000 | 5% | 6-month cliff, 2-year linear |
The emission schedule is designed to provide strong early incentives for network bootstrapping while converging toward a deflationary state as fee burns offset the decreasing emission rate.
Comparison to ETH
Developers familiar with Ethereum will find SALT's role analogous to ETH, with additional responsibilities:
| Function | ETH on Ethereum | SALT on Citrate |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction gas | Yes | Yes |
| Validator staking | Yes (32 ETH) | Yes (32,000 SALT) |
| Governance voting | No (separate tokens) | Yes (native) |
| AI inference payment | No | Yes |
| Model registration bond | No | Yes |
| Bridge oracle collateral | No | Yes |
| Fee burning | EIP-1559 burn | Similar mechanism + inference fee burn |
The key difference is that SALT consolidates multiple token functions into a single asset. There is no separate governance token, no separate inference payment token, and no separate staking derivative. We made this decision deliberately -- one token, one economy, less friction for everyone.
Acquiring SALT
SALT can be acquired through several channels:
- Mining: Produce GhostDAG blocks and earn block rewards
- Staking rewards: Stake SALT as a validator and earn consensus rewards
- Inference serving: Host models and earn fees per inference request (plus a 0.01 SALT inference bonus per successful inference)
- Model deployment: Register models on-chain and receive a 1 SALT deployment bonus
- Oracle duties: Attest to bridge state and earn attestation fees
- Testnet faucet: Request free testnet SALT for development
# Request testnet SALT
curl -X POST https://faucet.cnidarian.cloud/api/request -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"address": "0xYOUR_ADDRESS"}'Token Mechanics
SALT implements a fee burn mechanism inspired by Ethereum's EIP-1559. A portion of every transaction's base fee is burned (permanently removed from supply), creating deflationary pressure as network usage grows.
Additionally, a percentage of AI inference fees is burned, meaning that increased AI usage on the network directly reduces SALT supply. This creates a unique economic dynamic where the AI-native functionality of the chain drives token value.
The burn rate is governed by two parameters:
- Base fee burn: 50% of the base fee is burned per transaction
- Inference fee burn: 15% of inference fees are burned
Both parameters are adjustable through governance proposals.
Further Reading
- Supply Schedule -- detailed emission curve and decay schedule
- Fee Structure -- how transaction and inference fees work
- Staking -- staking mechanics, delegation, and slashing
- Rewards -- all reward mechanisms in the Citrate ecosystem