# BAL Governance Token

## Overview

As Balancer Protocol moves to decentralize and diversify its governance, it will use the Balancer Governance Token (BAL) to grant voting power. Alignment between governance token holders and protocol stakeholders is crucial for successful decentralized governance, and BAL tokens are the vehicle to drive this alignment. BAL tokens are not an investment; BAL token holders should be people who interact with the protocol in some way, are committed to its future development, and want a seat at the governance table.

## Contract Address

| BAL contract Address | Network                                                                                                                      |
| -------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Ethereum             | [0xba100000625a3754423978a60c9317c58a424e3d](https://etherscan.io/address/0xba100000625a3754423978a60c9317c58a424e3d)        |
| Goerli               | [0xfa8449189744799ad2ace7e0ebac8bb7575eff47](https://goerli.etherscan.io/address/0xfa8449189744799ad2ace7e0ebac8bb7575eff47) |
| Kovan                | [0x41286Bb1D3E870f3F750eB7E1C25d7E48c8A1Ac7](https://kovan.etherscan.io/address/0x41286Bb1D3E870f3F750eB7E1C25d7E48c8A1Ac7)  |
| Polygon              | [0x9a71012b13ca4d3d0cdc72a177df3ef03b0e76a3](https://polygonscan.com/address/0x9a71012b13ca4d3d0cdc72a177df3ef03b0e76a3)     |
| Arbitrum             | [0x040d1EdC9569d4Bab2D15287Dc5A4F10F56a56B8](https://arbiscan.io/address/0x040d1EdC9569d4Bab2D15287Dc5A4F10F56a56B8)         |

## Supply and Distribution

### Supply

When BAL was launched, the inflation started as a constant 145,000 BAL per week. At the launch of the veBAL system, however, a halving schedule was introduced: every 4 years, the inflation should be halved, with gradual steps every year starting one year after the launch of the new tokenomics system. This means the final BAL supply will be about **94,000,000 BAL.** Detailed calculations can be seen on [this public spreadsheet](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FY0gi596YWBOTeu_mrxhWcdF74SwKMNhmu0qJVgs0KI/).

This new inflation schedule is immutable and follow the below chart:

![](/files/FewS8X6yjJq5juxVKwBW)

### Distribution

This chart outlines the allocation amounts. More details below.

| BAL Recipient/Fund                     | BAL Amounts |
| -------------------------------------- | ----------- |
| Liquidity Providers                    | (Up to) 65M |
| Founders, Options, Advisors, Investors | 25M         |
| Ecosystem Fund                         | 5M          |
| Fundraising Fund                       | 5M          |

![](/files/-MYgyt7OBCnX7JTrH2Vc)

#### Community

Currently, 145,000 BAL tokens, or approximately 7.5M per year, are distributed every week through the Liquidity Mining program. At this rate, it would take a total of 8.666 years to distribute the remaining 65M BAL before reaching the 100M cap. BAL Governance has power over Liquidity Mining, and can choose to keep or change this system.

#### Founders, Options, Advisors, Investors

25M tokens were allocated to founders, options, advisors, and investors, all subject to vesting periods.

#### Ecosystem Fund

5M were allocated for the Ecosystem Fund. This fund will be deployed to attract and incentivize strategic partners who will help the Balancer ecosystem grow and thrive. BAL holders will ultimately decide how this fund is used over the coming years.

Address: [0xb618F903ad1d00d6F7b92f5b0954DcdC056fC533](https://etherscan.io/address/0xb618F903ad1d00d6F7b92f5b0954DcdC056fC533)

#### Fundraising Fund

5M were allocated for the Fundraising Fund. Balancer Labs raised a pre-seed and seed round. This fund will be used for future fundraising rounds to support Balancer Labs' operations and growth. BAL tokens will never be sold to retail investors.

For full transparency, the [seed series](https://medium.com/balancer-protocol/balancer-labs-raises-3m-to-supercharge-programmable-liquidity-8f1a42323c78) price of one BAL token was $0.60.

Address: [0xB129F73f1AFd3A49C701241F374dB17AE63B20Eb](https://etherscan.io/address/0xB129F73f1AFd3A49C701241F374dB17AE63B20Eb)


---

# Agent Instructions: 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:

```
GET https://balancer.gitbook.io/balancer-v2/ecosystem/governance/bal-governance-token.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
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.