Maple Finance Proposes Token Buybacks Using 20% of Revenue to Reward Stakers

The decentralized autonomous organization aims to reward faithful contributors to Maple's growth and ensure their interests align closely with the protocol's success.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Maple Finance has proposed using 20% of its revenues for monthly token buybacks to enhance benefits for its stakers.

This proposal, disclosed on January 13, is pending a tokenholder vote set to commence on January 20. The company plans to purchase native SYRUP tokens from decentralized exchanges and over-the-counter trading desks, redistributing them to participants who have invested in the protocol.

As of January 13, Maple Finance reported approximately $5 million in annualized revenue from its on-chain lending operations. By executing these buybacks, the decentralized autonomous organization aims to reward faithful contributors to Maple’s growth and ensure their interests align closely with the protocol’s success.

Maple’s proposal suggests these buybacks will be in addition to existing staker incentives financed through inflationary SYRUP emissions. Specifically, stakers are slated to receive 20% of new SYRUP emissions annually, estimated at about 1% of the token’s total supply. This will result in an approximate annual percentage yield of 5% for staked SYRUP, according to the current numbers.

The protocol intends to retain 80% of annual emissions within its treasury, corresponding to 4% of the total supply yearly, Maple stated. The SYRUP token is presently valued at a market capitalization of around $88 million. However, it has experienced a 60% decrease in market value since its launch in November.

The initiative by Maple Finance comes amid wider pressures on DeFi protocols to offer tokenholders a slice of protocol revenues. Similar moves have been observed with entities like Aave, Ethena, and Ether.fi, as they experiment with ways to enhance the value of their native tokens for investors.