Every Clank launch token starts with its full supply in a dedicated bonding curve. Trading moves through a fixed sequence of states before liquidity is created and permanently locked in Uniswap V4.
Bonding curve
The curve sells the launch allocation using virtual-reserve XYK pricing and accepts either native ETH or an approved ERC-20 pair token.
Locked V4 liquidity
Graduation seeds a full-range Uniswap V4 position whose NFT remains in the protocol locker permanently.
Launch
One factory transaction creates two contracts with deterministic addresses:
- the ERC-20
launchToken, with its metadata and fixed supply - a dedicated bonding curve that initially holds the complete launch-token supply
The creator selects a factory launch configuration and a pairToken. The zero
address represents native ETH; an ERC-20 must be approved by the factory before
it can be used as a pair token.
A launch configuration defines the supply, bonding-curve fee, virtual pair-token reserve, graduation threshold, Uniswap V4 fee, and tick spacing. The factory also resolves pair-token-specific economics for approved ERC-20s. These values are hashed into an economics commitment and snapshotted by the new curve, so a later factory configuration change does not alter an existing launch.
Bonding curve
The curve begins in Trading. It uses constant-product pricing over effective
reserves: tracked real reserves plus virtual reserves that shape the initial
price. Virtual reserves affect price but are not assets that can be withdrawn.
Buyers provide the pair token and receive launch tokens. Sellers return launch tokens and receive the pair token. Direct donations do not change the tracked reserves used for pricing, and fees are kept outside those pricing reserves.
The last buy is allowed to fill only the remaining launch allocation. If the buyer offers more pair tokens than the curve needs, it consumes the required amount and immediately refunds the remainder.
See Trade on the bonding curve for quote, approval, slippage, buy, and sell examples.
Graduation
Graduation is split into retryable steps. The normal path is permissionless; the caller does not need to be the launch creator or protocol owner.
Trading
Buys and sells are enabled while launch tokens remain in the sale allocation.
Ready
The terminal buy sells the last available launch tokens and permanently closes curve trading. It also attempts the first graduation step, but a failed attempt does not revert the completed buy.
Swept
Anyone can call graduate(launchToken) on the factory. After validating
that the reserves can seed V4, the factory collects the curve’s tracked pair
tokens and reserved launch tokens.
PoolCreated
Anyone can call createGraduatedPool(launchToken). The factory initializes
the V4 pool, supplies full-range liquidity, locks the position, and records
the pool result.
| Curve state | Value | Can trade? | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
Trading |
0 | Yes | Bonding-curve buys and sells are enabled. |
Ready |
1 | No | Sale allocation is exhausted and awaits reserve sweeping. |
Swept |
2 | No | Reserves are held by the factory for V4 pool creation. |
PoolCreated |
3 | In V4 | The graduated pool and locked position exist. |
Rescued |
4 | No | Delayed recovery completed after migration could not finish. |
If the ordinary path remains blocked, delayed owner-only recovery becomes
available after seven days. A curve stuck in Ready can be force-swept after a
bounded retry. A launch stuck in Swept gets another bounded pool-creation
attempt before reserves can move to the recovery owner and the curve enters
Rescued. These are exceptional recovery paths, not normal routing targets.
Uniswap V4 pool
Pool creation uses the pair token, launch token, static fee, and tick spacing snapshotted at launch. The migration executor initializes the pool at the curve’s terminal price and mints a full-range liquidity position directly to the protocol locker.
The locker exposes no withdrawal, approval, transfer, or arbitrary-call path for the position NFT. It can collect earned LP fees without removing principal. Any launch-token rounding dust is also transferred to the locker; pair-token rounding dust is routed through the protocol fee escrow.
Once the curve reaches PoolCreated, integrations should stop calling the
bonding curve and route swaps through the graduated V4 pool. See
Trade after graduation.