> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.usegimbal.app/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.usegimbal.app/resources/revenue.md). # How Gimbal earns Where Gimbal's revenue comes from, fee by fee, with the arithmetic at scale and the charges the protocol chooses not to make. ## Three things nobody pays for Start with what is free, because it explains the rest. * **A spread.** Lenders quote a rate, borrowers accept one, and the contract settles at that number. Nothing sits between the two sides. Peer-to-peer matching leaves no margin for the protocol to keep. * **Order flow.** The book of signed offers is public. Anyone can read it or export the whole thing. * **Data.** The indexer is open source, and so is the Explorer, Gimbal's public loan explorer. Both cost nothing to use. Revenue instead arrives at four moments when the protocol has done real work: a loan is originated, interest is settled, collateral is auctioned, or a loan rolls over at maturity. ## The fee schedule | Stream | Paid by | Starting rate | | ------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Origination | Borrower | 0.25% of principal | | Interest share | Lender, deducted from the payout | 10% of the interest paid | | Liquidation penalty share | The defaulting borrower, through the penalty | Two points of the three-point penalty, divided between the protocol and the lenders; the third point pays the keeper | | Rollover | Borrower | 0.10% of principal | | Parked capital yield share (on the roadmap) | Lender | 5% of the yield | The contract parameters behind these rates and the exact settlement order are documented on [Fees the protocol charges](/mechanics/fees.md). ## Who pays, and the reasoning Each line sits with the party that benefits from the work it funds. * The **borrower** pays origination, since opening the loan and drawing the liquidity is the borrower's request. * The **lender** pays the interest share. It grows with the return the market delivered, and it is taken only at the moment the lender is actually paid. Principal is never touched. * The **borrower** pays the rollover fee. The rollover auction exists to remove the maturity cliff, and the borrower is the one it protects. * A **borrower in default** pays the liquidation penalty. Dividing it three ways gives the keeper a reason to act promptly and gives lenders something for the disruption. ## The numbers at scale Assume 50M USDG of loans outstanding on average, a 30-day average term and an 8% average APR. A 30-day term turns the book over twelve times a year. | Line | Arithmetic | Annual result (USDG) | | --------------------------------------- | ------------------------------ | -------------------- | | Origination | 50M, turned 12 times, at 0.25% | roughly 1.5M | | Interest share | 50M at 8%, of which 10% | roughly 0.4M | | **Combined, before liquidation income** | | **roughly 1.9M** | Penalty income from liquidations sits on top and is not counted here. Fixed costs, meaning daily operations plus audits plus the bug bounty, are met once the outstanding book reaches a level between 30M and 40M USDG. ## $GIMBAL The protocol token, $GIMBAL, is deployed on Robinhood Chain at `0xe33ab021662e23f745be8e5b237babe8c7ad626c`. Supply is fixed at 1 billion and the contract has no mint function. It stands next to the fee model, not in place of it: none of the revenue above is paid out as token emissions, and none of it is propped up by emissions either. Gimbal would run on the same fees with or without the token. ## What the income funds Fee revenue pays for the audits, for the bug bounty, and for running the service day to day. Once parameter control passes to the governance module, how that income is allocated becomes a governance decision. The entities involved are described on [Foundation and operating company](/compliance/entities.md), and the process for changing parameters is on [How parameters change](/transparency/parameter-changes.md). --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter, and the optional `goal` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.usegimbal.app/resources/revenue.md?ask=&goal= ``` `ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. `goal` is optional and describes the broader end goal you are ultimately trying to accomplish on behalf of the user. GitBook uses it to tailor the answer towards what is most useful for that goal. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.