TLDR

• Up to 2M in OP incentives are available in Season 4 for veMODE holders to direct to ecosystem protocols.

• Stake Mode to earn OP and ecosystem bribes

• Voting power carries over from Season 3 to Season 4.

• Bribe Marketplace: Protocols can tap Hidden Hand to offer bribes, streamlining distribution and boosting user engagement.

• Greater Protocol Transparency: Protocols must provide more insight into their distribution of incentives to remain gauge-eligible.

• Onchain Activity: OP rewards aim to fuel tangible growth; liquidity, user adoption, and deeper DeFi integration.

• Agentic Staking and Voting: the infrastructure for Agents to both Stake and Vote in governance is now in place via the Great Onchain Agentic Toolkit (GOAT), allowing builders to deploy true Governance Agents on Mode.

Season 4 brings bribes to center stage, giving protocols and voters a powerful new way to align interests and accelerate Mode’s on-chain expansion.

Key Dates

January 9-15: Protocol documentation submissions, ensuring compliance and gauge eligibility prior to the first epoch’s voting.

January 15 (23:00 UTC): Staking deadline to be eligible to vote in S4 Epoch 1.

January 16 (00:00 UTC): Season 4 Epoch 1 Voting Window Begins

Two-Week Epochs: Voting and incentive distribution follow a bi-weekly cadence throughout Season 4

Key Benefits

1. A Unified Bribe Platform

In Season 3, bribes often took the form of isolated airdrops. Season 4 integrates with Hidden Hand, allowing protocols to deposit bribes in one place and voters to track and claim them without juggling multiple channels.

2. Stronger Alignment, Less Hassle

By offering bribes directly, protocols can reward those who support their vision, while voters gain a straightforward avenue to monetize their voting power. This dynamic fosters win-win collaboration.

3. Fostering On-Chain Growth

All OP incentives must be directed into tangible on-chain usage; such as liquidity incentives, yield opportunities, or trading volume - reinforcing Mode’s goal of building an active and scalable L2 DeFi ecosystem.

Introduction

Mode has always seen governance as an evolving experiment; releasing it in seasons ensures the system can adapt quickly. Building on Season 3’s introduction of veMODE and gauge voting, Season 4 shifts attention toward a robust bribe marketplace that makes it easier than ever for protocols to attract voters and for voters to unlock added rewards.

Bribes may sound controversial, but in decentralized finance, they serve as a transparent mechanism for protocols to compete for votes. Rather than distributing incentives arbitrarily, protocols reward voters who support them, encouraging genuine alignment with ecosystems that demonstrate real utility.

Background

From Curve’s veCRV to Convex Finance to Solidly, bribes have proven a mainstay in DeFi governance; a credible way for projects to build strategic relationships with active voters. Season 3 experimented with a mix of distribution approaches and discovered that a centralized bribe marketplace can significantly streamline interactions.

In Season 4, Hidden Hand plays that central role:

• Protocols deposit bribe tokens and set conditions for payout.

• Voters see an aggregated list of bribe offers, choose which protocols to support, and claim bribes when the voting window ends.

No more navigating multiple chats, communication channels and unofficial spreadsheets. Voters have a one-stop shop to compare bribe offers, thereby concentrating on the strategies that benefit them most.

New in Season 4

1. Easy Bribe Discovery and Claiming

Protocols can now rely on Hidden Hand’s established bribe infrastructure, removing confusion around eligibility or claim processes. This translates to frictionless user experiences.

2. Greater Protocol Transparency

Protocols must provide greater transparency in how they distribute OP incentives in order to remain gauge-eligible, helping the community stay informed and confident about the deployment of rewards.

Tokenomics and Sustainability

Season 4 continues to use OP as the primary incentive mechanism. Protocols that secure votes get a slice of OP each epoch. This model not only rewards active participants but also ensures the broader Mode ecosystem remains vibrant:

• Protocols can direct OP into liquidity mining, yield farming, or unique DeFi strategies to encourage ecosystem growth.

• Bribes let them refine that outreach further, offering direct payouts to the voters who shape governance outcomes.

Over the long term, Mode plans to transition to a more self-sustaining treasury approach, but Season 4’s primary focus is maximizing immediate on-chain engagement through transparent incentives.

Agentic Staking and Voting

Thanks to the work completed in Mode’s recent AI Agent Hackathon, agent applications can now stake and vote through the G.O.A.T framework.

This unlocks even more opportunities for interesting onchain games and simplified, abstracted user experiences.

Conclusion

Season 4 sets the stage for bribes as a central growth engine within the Mode ecosystem. By centralizing bribe offers through Hidden Hand, protocols can laser-focus on capturing voter support, while voters gain real financial upside from aligning with the best protocol initiatives. This renewed emphasis on bribes and transparent governance looks to make Season 4 Mode’s most dynamic governance phase yet.

Whether you’re a protocol aiming to sway votes or a veToken holder excited to capitalize on bribes, Season 4 invites you to embrace this new synergy. Join us in shaping the evolution of on-chain governance at Mode.

About Mode

Mode is building Full Stack DeFAI, the L2 scaling DeFi to billions of users through AI agents and AI-driven financial applications. Bolstered by a $6 million grant from Optimism, Mode continues to push for an open, efficient, and inclusive financial future on the Superchain.

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Website: mode.network

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