OBOL
The Greeks buried their dead with an obol to pay Charon's fare. On CHARON, the fare goes to the obol.
OBOL is an ERC-20 on HyperEVM. Each OBOL is a share of the exit pool.
Supply
- Minted when HYPE is staked into the exit pool.
- Burned when OBOL is unstaked for HYPE.
- No fixed supply, no premine, no team allocation, no emissions. Every OBOL in circulation was minted against HYPE staked in the pool.
Only the exit pool contract can mint or burn OBOL.
Value comes from tolls
OBOL's exchange rate has one source of growth: the 1% toll on every crossing. The whole toll stays in the exit pool, so pool assets grow with each crossing. OBOL supply changes only when HYPE enters or leaves the pool, so toll growth shows up as a rising exchange rate.
Losses work the same way in reverse. A pool loss lowers pool assets, and the exchange rate falls with them. See Risks.
Toll accrual
A toll doesn't land all at once. It vests into the pool in a straight line across the toll vesting period, which the exit pool contract sets to match the settlement window. Two things follow:
- The exchange rate rises smoothly instead of jumping each time a settlement lands.
- Late stakers can't skim. HYPE staked after a crossing shares only in the part of that toll that vests after it arrives.
Walkthrough
A pool holds 100,000 HYPE against 100,000 OBOL. A traveler crosses 10,000 HYPE. To keep the numbers simple, the settlement lands just as the toll finishes vesting.
| Moment | Idle HYPE | On the river | Unvested tolls | Pool assets | Exchange rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before the crossing | 100,000 | 0 | 0 | 100,000 | 1.0000 |
| Crossing fronted (traveler receives 9,900) | 90,100 | 10,000 | 100 | 100,000 | 1.0000 |
| Halfway through the vesting period | 90,100 | 10,000 | 50 | 100,050 | 1.0005 |
| Settlement lands | 100,100 | 0 | 0 | 100,100 | 1.0010 |
All 100 HYPE of the toll ends up with OBOL holders.
The toll ledger
How each event moves the pool's books:
| Event | Idle HYPE | On the river | Unvested tolls | OBOL supply |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stake | + HYPE staked | + minted | ||
| Crossing fronted | − payout | + crossing amount | + toll | |
| Toll vests | − vested amount | |||
| Settlement lands | + crossing amount | − crossing amount | ||
| Unstake (paid now) | − HYPE paid | − burned | ||
| Unstake (queued) | − burned |
A queued unstake leaves the pool's books the moment its OBOL burns: the HYPE it's owed sits in "queued unstakes" and is subtracted from pool assets, so the exchange rate doesn't move. Settlements fill the queue before they return to idle.
One OBOL, one address
Other tokens share the OBOL ticker. CHARON's OBOL is only the contract listed on the pool status page, and the exit pool is the only way to mint it. Check the address before you trade anything called OBOL.
Parameters
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Token | OBOL ("CHARON Obol"), ERC-20 on HyperEVM, 18 decimals |
| Backing | Exit pool assets, in HYPE |
| Genesis rate | 1 HYPE per OBOL |
| Toll | 1% of each crossing |
| Toll share to OBOL holders | 100% |
| Toll vesting period | Set in the exit pool contract to match the settlement window, and shown on the stake page |