Docs / The mechanism / The curve is the pool
The curve is the pool.
The bonding curve is a Uniswap v4 pool. Not a curve that later becomes a pool. The same pool, priced by a hook.
Graduate-in-place, keep-and-compound, and the always-on split all derive from this one architecture.
How it is built
The bonding curve is implemented as a custom-curve hook on a Uniswap v4 pool. The proposed architecture uses OpenZeppelin's BaseCustomCurve pattern with beforeSwapReturnDelta, so the hook prices each swap along the bonding curve instead of the vanilla constant-product math. Every swap routes through the hook.
- Zero LP to launch. No liquidity provider is required to open a market. Buyers fund the curve, and the hook is the sole minter.
- One contract to trust, not two. There is no separate venue and no second pool. The market a token launches on is the market it graduates into.
- The fee is captured at the pool. Because the hook sits on the swap, the split does not depend on which UI, router, or terminal sent the trade.
Proposed architecture BaseCustomCurve and beforeSwapReturnDelta are the intended building blocks. The custom, security-critical core (the curve pricing, the graduation flip, the always-on split) is designed and awaiting external security review. Roughly 70 to 80% of the rest is intended to assemble from reviewed OpenZeppelin and MIT-licensed periphery.
What routes through the hook
| Phase | Pricing | Who trades |
|---|---|---|
| Bonding | Custom curve via the hook | Anyone. Buyers fund the curve. |
| Graduated | Open AMM on the same PoolId | Anyone. The hook still splits the fee. |
Next: what happens at the threshold between those two rows.