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Who this is for: Order book venues, automated market makers (AMMs), swap platforms, and lending platforms that want to make CBTC easier to trade or borrow. This playbook explains how to design and run a liquidity incentive program using your own fees, revenue, or reward allocation. Your team owns and funds the program. BitSafe can provide benchmarks, introductions, and design feedback, but does not fund or operate the incentive pool.
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Resting liquidity is capital that is available before a user arrives.
Good resting liquidity gives users confidence that they can trade or borrow at a fair price. Poor resting liquidity leads to wide spreads, high slippage, unreliable execution, or limited borrowing capacity.
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The guiding principle: Reward capital based on how useful it is to users, not simply how much is deposited.
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Useful liquidity has five qualities:
The models below are informed by programs used by Polymarket, dYdX, Hyperliquid, and traditional market makers, then adapted for CBTC partners on Canton.
| Your product | Primary behavior to reward | Long-term funding source |
|---|---|---|
| Order book or CLOB | Competitive, two-sided quotes that lead to trades | Trading fees and maker rebates |
| AMM or swap pool | In-range liquidity that supports real swaps | Swap fees |
| Lending platform | Healthy utilization and genuine borrowing | Borrow interest |
A central limit order book (CLOB) should reward market makers for maintaining competitive buy and sell orders, not simply for placing the largest orders.
A strong program rewards:
Orders within a defined distance of the market price
Useful depth at practical trade sizes
Balanced quotes on both sides of the book
Consistent uptime
Maker orders that are filled by real users
How to structure an order-book program
How order-book scoring works
Example starting allocation
When to introduce maker rebates
AMMs should reward liquidity that is available at useful prices and supports real swaps.
A strong program rewards:
Capital positioned near the current market price
Liquidity that reduces slippage at practical trade sizes
LP participation that remains after a launch incentive ends
Real swap activity that generates fees
How to structure an AMM program
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A useful AMM program rewards both availability and usage. In-range liquidity improves execution before a trade, while fee share rewards liquidity after a trade occurs.
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For a lending platform, the goal is to make CBTC available to qualified borrowers and convert that borrowing activity into sustainable yield for lenders.
A strong program balances:
Enough CBTC supply to support borrowers
Genuine borrow demand
Healthy utilization
Competitive lender returns from borrow interest
Sufficient available liquidity for withdrawals
What to measure
How to structure a lending program
Risk and ownership considerations
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How BitSafe can help lending platforms: We can introduce platforms to Canton market makers and venues that may need CBTC inventory. We can also review the incentive structure and share relevant market benchmarks.
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Build the program around a fixed budget that your business can support. Do not begin with a target yield or rebate and hope that future activity covers it.
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Maximum program budget = the lower of:
| Scenario | What to test | Decision it supports |
|---|---|---|
| Low activity | Whether the fixed budget remains affordable with limited trading or borrowing | Your downside protection and minimum viable launch |
| Expected activity | Program cost, participant rewards, and revenue available to support the program | Your working budget and initial parameters |
| High activity | Whether the cap, scoring rules, and operational process still work at scale | Your maximum exposure and step-down plan |
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Keep the model simple enough to publish. Participants should be able to understand what earns a reward, how their share is calculated, when payments are made, and when the program may change.
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BitSafe can review the proposed structure against applicable CBTC program requirements before launch. Each partner remains responsible for its own legal, compliance, and risk review.
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