Convex Finance (CVX)

Convex Finance (CVX) is a decentralized finance protocol built on Ethereum that sits on top of Curve Finance, the large stablecoin and pegged-asset decentralized exchange. Convex was created to simplify and boost rewards for two groups: Curve liquidity providers, who deposit LP tokens to earn enhanced yields without locking anything themselves, and CRV token holders, who can lock CRV with Convex to receive cvxCRV in exchange for a share of trading fees and boosted CRV emissions. By pooling deposits from many users, Convex aggregates enough locked CRV to unlock the maximum reward boost that Curve offers, a multiplier that is normally very difficult for any single small holder to reach on their own.

The CVX token is an ERC-20 asset with a maximum supply of 100 million, distributed largely to Curve liquidity providers and through multi-year liquidity mining programs, with a smaller portion retained by the protocol treasury. Locking CVX grants governance rights not only over Convex itself but also, through its accumulated voting power, over Curve, Frax, and f(x) Protocol, letting holders help direct where token emissions flow every two weeks. This dynamic has made Convex a central participant in the so-called “Curve wars,” in which protocols compete for influence over Curve’s liquidity incentives, and it has since extended its boosted-staking model beyond Curve to other platforms with native lock-and-vote token systems.