#Gate广场征文活动第二期 #ERA

In the web3 industry, the value of most tokens often relies on market speculation, while ERA's economic model is anchored from the design source to the core logic of "value stems from ecological use." Through three dimensions of supply-side constraints, rigid demand, and balanced governance, a closed loop is constructed to ensure long-term value and ecological sustainability. This design not only allows ERA to break free from the stereotype of "governance token = speculative tool," but also makes it the engine for the expansion of the Caldera ecosystem.

The token supply design of ERA fundamentally avoids the common industry problem of disorderly inflation. First, we can understand that its total issuance is fixed at 1 billion tokens, and the distribution structure is strictly inclined towards long-term ecology: 30% is allocated for retroactive airdrops, directly binding early users with ecological interests; 20% is designated as an ecological incentive pool to attract developers to deploy Rollup and users to participate in cross-chain interactions. This portion of tokens will be gradually released according to the progress of project implementation to avoid concentrated selling pressure; the team and user tokens are set with a 3-year lock-up period, and the unlocking rhythm of the $25 million financing from top VCs such as Sequoia and Dragonfly is linked to the growth of ecological TVL—only when the total value on the Caldera chain reaches a preset threshold will the unlocking ratio increase. This performance-linked release mechanism deeply binds institutional interests with ecological development and reduces short-term arbitrage behavior from the source.
As of July 2025, the circulating supply of ERA is only 160 million coins (accounting for 16% of the total), while its cross-chain transaction frequency has exceeded an average of 1 million transactions per day with the popularity of Metalayer. The stark contrast between supply scarcity and growing demand provides a fundamental support for long-term value.

The core value of ERA does not come from speculation in the secondary market, but rather from the "irreplaceable use cases" within the Caldera ecosystem. As the native fuel of the Metalayer cross-chain protocol, ERA is the sole settlement medium for asset transfers and messaging between all Rollups launched based on Caldera. When a user purchases an NFT on Ap and wants to participate in game staking on the Rari chain, they must use ERA to pay for cross-chain gas fees; when developers deploy customized Rollups, the settlement of on-chain transaction fees is also primarily in ERA. This positioning as a "full-chain gas token" directly links its demand to ecosystem activity: the more Rollups within the ecosystem (currently over 100), and the more frequent cross-chain transactions (a total of 400 million), the more rigid the consumption demand for ERA.
More importantly, Caldera addresses the pain point of gas token fragmentation in a multi-chain environment through its unified fee layer design. Users no longer need to prepare corresponding tokens for each chain; they only need to hold ERA to complete interactions across the entire ecosystem. This optimization of experience further amplifies its use cases. Data shows that with projects like inEVM and Manta Pacific integrating into Metalayer, the daily destruction volume of ERA (from 40% of protocol revenue buyback) has increased from 100,000 tokens at the launch stage to 500,000 tokens, with the growth in demand directly translating into deflationary pressure.

The sustainable development of the ecosystem relies on dynamic adjustment capabilities, and the governance mechanism of ERA is the core carrier of this capability. Token holders vote to decide on three key issues: first, the distribution ratio of protocol income, ensuring that the value capture method matches the stage of the ecosystem.
Second, the integration of new features (such as whether to support SolanaVM as the execution layer and whether to add Avail as the data layer) should align with developers' needs; third, the release rhythm of the incentive pool should be managed to avoid excessive inflation that dilutes the value of the tokens.
This governance model effectively avoids the short-sighted behavior of centralized teams. For example, during the ecological expansion period in the second quarter of 2025, a proposal to temporarily increase the release ratio of ecological incentive pools was voted through, attracting over 20 new projects to deploy Rollup. Although this temporarily increased circulation, the growth in cross-chain transactions led to a simultaneous increase in ERA burn volume, ultimately achieving a positive cycle where "circulation growth rate < demand growth rate."

Any token economy faces the challenge of unlocking selling pressure, and ERA's response strategy is "to hedge stock selling pressure with ecological increment." As of July 2025, its circulation will only be 160 million tokens, with the remaining 840 million to be gradually released over 3-5 years. However, Caldera alleviates this pressure through two major actions: first, continuously expanding the cross-chain network of Metalayer, aiming to connect 200 Rollups by 2026, which will push ERA's daily consumption to exceed 1 million tokens; second, attracting content dissemination through a $100,000 creator initiative to lower the cognitive threshold for users, with an expected increase in on-chain users from 1.8 million to 3 million within the year, further amplifying demand. It is clear that ERA's current plans and future strategies are very straightforward and clear.
This rhythm of supply release and demand expansion synchronously ensures that the value of ERA will not be diluted due to unlocking. Data confirms this: although some VC tokens were unlocked in mid-July, their price quickly stabilized at the key support level of $1.27 after a brief pullback, which was supported by the continuous growth of cross-chain trading demand.

The economic model of ERA is essentially designed to be "demand-driven": strict constraints on the supply side ensure scarcity, while rigid scenarios on the demand side create continuous consumption, and dynamic adjustments on the governance side maintain balance. This design deeply binds the value of ERA to the prosperity of the Caldera ecosystem— the more Rollups there are, the more frequent cross-chain activities occur, and the more active the users are, the stronger the demand for using ERA becomes, thus providing solid support for its long-term value.
In the current intense competition of L2, the differentiation of ERA does not lie in the accumulation of technical parameters, but in transforming "technical advantages" into "ecological consensus" through economic models. While other projects are still completely relying on market speculation, ERA has paved a sustainable development path through the logic of "value creation through use"—this may be the core reason it can attract large funds and achieve a 3-fold increase in TVL.

Currently, Gate has launched the Caldera (ERA) Ecological Week event, with benefits so abundant that they will dazzle you!
If you want to win big prizes through trading, the VIP exclusive trading competition with a prize pool of 40,000 USDT + a generous ERA lottery pool is ready. Climb the leaderboard to claim glory.
If you prefer airdrops, BountyDrop is giving away 142,857 ERA, and CandyDrop's 50th edition will additionally distribute 571,429 ERA. Complete simple tasks to share in the rewards! There's also Yubi Treasure with a 7-day fixed investment plan, offering an annualized return of 500%, with a limited supply of 1.4 million ERA available for grabs! Spot and contract trading will launch simultaneously, providing a one-stop participation experience. Click the link below to unlock your ERA benefits package at Gate, with the event running from mid-July to the end of July.
Details of the Eco Week event: https://www.gate.com/announcements/article/46169