# How veBAL Works

## How is veBAL different from veCRV?

There are a few modifications that set veBAL apart:

* Instead of locking pure BAL, **users obtain veBAL by locking** [**80/20 BAL/WETH**](https://app.balancer.fi/#/pool/0x5c6ee304399dbdb9c8ef030ab642b10820db8f56000200000000000000000014) **Balancer Pool Tokens** (BPTs). This ensures that even if a large portion of BAL tokens are locked, there is deep trading liquidity.
* **veBAL's maximum locking period is 1 year**, a decrease from veCRV's 4 year period. The minimum locking period is 1 week. DeFi moves quickly, and in the event governance decides to use a new voting system, this allows for a shorter, but still sufficiently long, waiting period to transition.

## Voting Power

All votes, whether on-chain or on [Snapshot](https://vote.balancer.fi/#/), consider veBAL voting power. In addition to typical DAO votes, veBAL is used to vote on Liquidity Mining Distribution with [Gauges](https://balancer.gitbook.io/balancer-v2/ecosystem/vebal-and-gauges/gauges).

Voting power scales linearly with amount of BPT locked and with amount of remaining lock time. 

#### Example

If a user locks 1 BPT of 80/20 BAL/WETH for the maximum time of one year, they will receive 1 veBAL; however, this veBAL quantity starts immediately decaying with time. If the user does not extend the lock period, this will decay to 0 after the year is complete, at which point the user can redeem their 1 BPT of 80/20 BAL/WETH.

## Protocol Revenue Distribution

veBAL holders are entitled to a share of 75% of collected protocol fees. Users can collect their proportional share ($$\frac{veBAL\_{user}}{veBAL\_{total}}$$) after the fees are consolidated. Consolidation is a necessary step since protocol fees are collected as a wide array of tokens, and dividing up long tail assets for everyone could result in higher gas fees than token value in some cases.