Arweave officially released the AO token economics on the evening of June 13. AO is a fair launch token that follows the Bitcoin economic model. The total supply is 21 million, which is halved every 4 years, but the halving process is smooth, and the monthly distribution is 1.425% of the remaining supply. AO tokens can only be obtained by holding specific assets (currently $AR, $AOCRED, $stETH), and there is no share reserved for teams, investment institutions, ecological community projects, etc.

AO token acquisition is divided into two phases. The first phase ended on June 18 and the second phase is about to begin. In the first phase, 100% of AO tokens are issued to $AR token holders, based on the respective balances held every 5 minutes, and about 1 million are issued. In the second phase, 33.3% of AO tokens will be distributed to AR token holders, and 66.6% of AO will be used to stake other assets in AO (currently only stETH). For AOCRED, AO will be exchanged at a ratio of 1000:1.

After the launch of the second phase, each AR can obtain 0.016AO in the first year, and the number of AO tokens obtained by depositing other qualified cross-chain assets (non-AR assets) into the AO network is determined by the transaction volume of the cross-chain assets multiplied by the ratio of its annual staking yield to the total cross-chain asset volume. The AO tokens minted after the launch of the second phase will not be unlocked until February 8, 2025, when the circulation rate will be 15% and the total circulation will be about 3 million.

For short-term investors, both staking stETH and holding AR will bear the risk of falling coin prices. For long-term investors, using time to eliminate the risk of market fluctuations can not only obtain dividends on the increase in principal, but also continue to eat AO interest (including AO growth dividends).