Alpha Vault: New anti-bot mechanism to level the playing field for genuine supporters at token launch

8 min readMay 28, 2024

Meteora has developed a new type of anti-bot vault for DLMM bootstrapping pools and Dynamic AMM pools that allows projects and their community to guard against mercenary sniper bots and secure a token allocation at the earliest (and likely lowest) price at launch! The aim is to help projects and users mitigate against the effects of mercenary capital from sniper bots and ensure a fairer token launch for all.

We believe the Alpha Vault could be a promising tool for all token launches using Meteora moving forward, including DLMM, Jupiter LFG, and memecoin launches via Dynamic AMM pools. The Alpha Vault has been audited by Offside Labs.

Below we explain why you should use this vault and provide a step-by-step guide on how to use it!

Mercenary sniper bots — the bane of token launches

For any token launch, sniper bots have an incredibly unfair advantage as they can buy up a substantial portion of the initial token supply right at activation slot / launch, often at very low prices.

Such scenarios prevent tokens from being widely distributed and they are instead held by a few mercenary sniper bots looking for a quick profit. This severely disadvantages genuine users and supporters of the project.

Tokens are also quickly sold to the majority of users at highly inflated prices on launch day, resulting in many disgruntled users and a deceptively bleak-looking chart that does not accurately reflect the true market value for the token. This is detrimental to community building and may negatively affect the reputation and prospects of the project.

Anti-bot solution for genuine supporters

Meteora’s new anti-bot vault is specially designed to tackle this token launch problem by enabling any user to be the first buyers of the token. Projects can configure the vault parameters so that tokens are locked up for a day or more and later vested for a short period e.g. 7–30 days.

This solution has the dual benefit of mitigating against sniper bots as well as encouraging purchase from the strongest and most genuine supporters of the project, since they would be more willing to hold their tokens for a day or so longer. This helps ensure greater alignment between projects and token holders.

First-to-purchase ability: The vault is whitelisted to buy tokens from the pool before the activation slot, so vault users can buy the token at the earliest (and likely lowest) price before the activation slot and thus before sniper bots.
Fairer distribution: All vault users get their tokens at the same average price and the amount of tokens received is proportional to their share of the total amount of USDC deposited.
Configurable token lock-up period: Projects can configure vault parameters such that tokens bought by the vault are locked and subsequently vested for a few days, encouraging purchase by genuine supporters of the project.

Vault customization options for Projects

Projects like UpRock who use the Alpha Vault for token launches have the flexibility to tailor vault parameters to suit their specific launch requirements, such as setting maximum purchase limits and defining the lock-up and vesting periods for users.

How to use the Alpha Vault

1. Pro Rata mode

Step 1: Deposit USDC into the vault

Note: For meme pool launches, the deposit token could be using SOL instead of USDC, but the overall process is the same.

Deposit during the deposit period

Prior to the launch of the pool, navigate to the Alpha Vault section of the page. Click the “Deposit USDC” (or “Deposit SOL” for meme pools) button to begin.

You can either use the slider tool or type in the exact USDC amount you wish to deposit into the vault.

Depending on your USDC deposit amount and the current deposit TVL in the vault, you’d be able to see the estimated amount of tokens and discount you’ll receive. All vault users get their tokens at the same average price and the amount of tokens received is proportional to your share of the total amount of USDC deposited.

You can only deposit USDC during the deposit period and a timer at the bottom shows a countdown to the end of the deposit period.

You can withdraw during the deposit period

After depositing USDC, you can choose to withdraw anytime before the end of the deposit period.

Note:

Average vault price changes based on total USDC deposited in the vault and total token amount that would be acquired.
Estimated discount % from launch price assumes the vault acquires its max token allocation. This discount % changes depending on how close TVL is to the Vault Max Cap.
Start date and time of the token claim and vesting period are estimated based on the actual predetermined blockchain slots.

Vault information

Click the “Vault information” drop-down to see more details such as how much USDC has been deposited (TVL), the estimated total amount of tokens the vault would buy, and the average price vault users are expected to get for the token. The closer the TVL to the vault max cap, the less discount vault users can get.

Step 2: Withdrawing Unused USDC

Once the deposit period ends, you can no longer deposit more USDC or withdraw your earlier deposit. The vault becomes active and after a short buffer period, will begin using the USDC collected to buy tokens from the pool. Initial liquidity in the pool is seeded by the token project team.

What happens if TVL exceeds Vault Max Cap?

If the TVL in the vault exceeds the max cap the vault can buy from the pool, unused USDC will be returned to you and you can withdraw them anytime once the vault token acquisition period is over, or even earlier if the vault finishes buying the tokens from the pool. Unused USDC will be returned for withdrawals before the pool starts trading.

For example, you deposited 100 USDC and TVL in the vault (total deposited) is 10M USDC, but the vault max cap is 1M USDC. Only 1/10th of your USDC deposit will be used to purchase tokens. 90 USDC from your 100 USDC deposit will be unused and returned to you.

How to calculate Average Vault Price?

Average vault price = USDC used by vault to buy tokens / Tokens bought by the vault

For example:

USDC used by vault to buy tokens = 2.424685m
Tokens bought by the vault = 39.49m
Average vault price = 2.424685m / 39.49m = ~0.06139 USDC per token

Step 3: Claim Tokens After the Lock Period

Some time after the launch of the pool, locked tokens in the vault start vesting over a few days. The exact slot where tokens get unlocked and vested depends on the token project, who can configure the parameters based on their needs.

All vault users get their tokens at the same average price and the amount of tokens received is proportional to your share of the total amount of USDC deposited. You can claim unlocked tokens anytime!

How to calculate the amount of tokens you’ll receive?

Amount of tokens you’ll receive = Your USDC used by vault to buy tokens / Average Vault Price

For example:

Your USDC used by vault to buy tokens = 100
Average Vault Price = 0.061396 USDC per token
Amount of tokens you’ll receive = 100 / 0.061396 = 1,628.77 tokens

Note: We cannot guarantee that market price after the launch will remain above the average vault price over time before all tokens are vested/unlocked. This is a risk that users have to consider.

2. First Come First Serve (FCFS) mode

Alpha Vault has another mode called First Come First Serve (FCFS), which follows a similar process to Pro Rata mode, but with the following differences:

Unlike Pro Rata mode, in FCFS mode, during the deposit period, Alpha Vault max buying cap = max amount of deposits the Alpha Vault accepts. Users can deposit as much as they want initially, but as soon as the vault’s reserve reaches the deposit/buy cap, then no one can deposit more (TVL cannot exceed Vault Max Cap). In other words, deposits are first come first served, up to the Alpha Vault max deposit/buy cap.
For example: If Vault Max Cap is 1M USDC, and a single user is the first to deposit 1M USDC right when deposits open, the vault gets fully filled and no longer accepts further deposits.
By default, each user has no individual deposit cap, which means a single user can technically fill up the entire Alpha Vault deposit/buy cap. However, if required, the project can specify an individual user cap and/or submit a whitelist to allow only certain wallets to deposit.
Once a user deposits funds, the user cannot withdraw them, even during the deposit period.
In FCFS mode, there won’t be any unused USDC or SOL. All deposits would be used to buy the token.
After the Alpha Vault buys the tokens, all depositors will also get tokens at the same average price.

Whitelist and Individual Deposit Cap

Whitelist and Individual Deposit Cap are optional features for your Alpha Vault.

Whitelist

For both Pro Rata and FCFS mode, projects can submit a whitelist to specify which wallets are allowed to deposit into the Alpha Vault.

Individual Deposit Cap

Projects can specify a global individual deposit cap, where all depositors have the same individual deposit cap.
Projects can also specify unique individual deposit caps for each wallet e.g. Wallet A = max 500 USDC, Wallet B = max 1,000 USDC, Wallet C = max 1,500 USDC. But this requires the submission of a whitelist.

Let’s go, Met!

We believe Alpha Vault can be a great tool for all token launches, so we’re excited to see how it works for DLMM launches and memecoin launches via Dynamic AMM pools. Please note that the vault is a new feature in Beta, so DYOR.

Alpha Vault (Pro rata mode) was first used for the UpRock launch on 30 May, ~4pm UTC. Check out the DLMM pool here.

Another example use case for Alpha Vault (Pro rata mode) was for SendCoin’s Dynamic AMM pool on 13 July .

If you require more information on the Alpha Vault or you have suggestions on how to improve it, join us in discord!