# veBAL and Gauges

The veBAL and Gauge system is designed to promote long-term token-holder alignment, decentralize Liquidity Mining allocation, and facilitate fair protocol revenue distribution. This system is based heavily on Curve's veCRV system.

{% hint style="info" %}
Looking for data from Gauges? Gauge Data lives in the [Balancer-Gauges Subgraph](https://thegraph.com/hosted-service/subgraph/balancer-labs/balancer-gauges). 
{% endhint %}

## veBAL Overview

veBAL (vote-escrow BAL) is a vesting and yield system based on [Curve’s veCRV mechanism](https://curve.readthedocs.io/dao-vecrv.html) which locks 80/20 BAL/WETH Balancer Pool Tokens for a maximum of 1 year.

{% content-ref url="vebal-and-gauges/vebal" %}
[vebal](https://balancer.gitbook.io/balancer-v2/ecosystem/vebal-and-gauges/vebal)
{% endcontent-ref %}

## Gauges Overview

Gauges are a class of contracts that determine how Liquidity Mining (LM) is allocated. 

There are a few Gauge Types to handle a few scenarios; some Gauge Types require voting with veBAL to give specific Gauges a higher weighting, while others are fixed-amount distribution channels. These per-Gauge-Type amounts can be changed by Governance vote.

**Examples**

* Voting with veBAL: Allocating LM to specific Ethereum mainnet pools
* Fixed-Amount: Amounts designated for the LM Committee to allocate as they see fit

{% content-ref url="vebal-and-gauges/gauges" %}
[gauges](https://balancer.gitbook.io/balancer-v2/ecosystem/vebal-and-gauges/gauges)
{% endcontent-ref %}


---

# 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/vebal-and-gauges.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.