# Introduction
Notice
Octant v1 is being sunset. All future Golem Foundation funding rounds will run on Octant v2 (opens new window). Migrate your locked GLM to v2 to continue earning rewards and participating in funding rounds.
Octant is a novel platform for experiments in participatory public goods funding, centered on Golem's (opens new window) native ERC-20 token, GLM (opens new window).
Developed by the Golem Foundation (opens new window) to explore motivations and behaviors that drive engagement in funding public goods, Octant uses recurring funding rounds and rewards active user participation with ETH.
# Key points:
- Golem Foundation stakes 100,000 ETH to help the Ethereum network reach consensus. Every 90 days, a fraction of the staking rewards is used to fund the Octant reward pool.
- The Octant reward pool is split into two streams: User Rewards and Matched Rewards.
- To earn User Rewards and participate in the distribution of Octant funds, users must lock enough GLM (opens new window) into the Octant contract to reach an effective locked balance of at least 100 GLM.
- Rewards for users are calculated using a time-weighted average. The greater the volume of GLM locked and the longer its duration, the higher the reward. For optimal rewards, users should lock as much GLM as they are comfortable with and maintain that lock in Octant throughout the entire 90-day epoch.
- The GLM time-locking mechanism is non-custodial. Octant users retain full control of their tokens and can withdraw their GLM at any time. Lowering the lock-in amount during an epoch will recalibrate the user's time-weighted average to reflect the smallest locked amount. If the effective locked balance falls below 100 GLM, no rewards will be calculated.
- At the beginning of a new epoch, users with valid lock-ins will have a two-week-long decision window during which they can claim their User Rewards for themselves or donate their share of Octant rewards, in part or in full, to one or more eligible public goods projects. The impact of each individual donation will be magnified through Matched Rewards.
- The list of projects eligible for Octant funding is curated by Golem Foundation, based on inputs from the Octant community. Every community member can suggest new additions to the list, a change in eligibility criteria, or a theme for an epoch.
# The flow of funds in Octant
# Current status
Octant officially launched on the Ethereum mainnet on August 8th, 2023 (opens new window).
Since launch, we've completed 11 successful allocation windows. The Octant community has shown incredible generosity, donating over 2866 ETH to over 120 high-impact public goods causes while claiming 1780 ETH in rewards.
In Epoch Three, Octant got a major algorithm makeover (opens new window), and in Epoch Four we switched to quadratic funding. Epoch Seven marked the first Octant-themed round (opens new window).
The Epoch 11 allocation window, which ran from February 18 to March 4, 2026, was the final allocation window on Octant v1 and marked the beginning of the migration period to Octant v2. (opens new window) All future Golem Foundation funding rounds will take place on v2. If you still have GLM locked in v1, please migrate it to v2, as tokens locked in v1 no longer accrue Individual Rewards.