WHITEPAPER · PUBLIC EDITION
$BACKSTOP
Buying creates supply and adds to the reserve. Selling burns supply and settles from the reserve.
An onchain trading protocol where reserve and supply move together.
Deployed for the Robinhood Crypto ecosystem on Robinhood Chain · gas in ETH · Uniswap V4-style curve.
Why Backstop is needed
Most onchain trades take place between a buyer and a seller: the buyer pays an asset, the seller gives up a token, and liquidity comes from traders, market makers, or liquidity pools.
That structure completes an exchange, but it does not require token supply and settlement assets to move together. A trade can change ownership and market price without changing total supply, and the buyer’s payment does not automatically become a protocol reserve.
Backstop uses a different rule. While calculating price, the protocol also adjusts supply and reserve with every trade. A buy or sell is not merely a transfer between wallets; it changes protocol state.
What Backstop changes
Backstop ties trading and protocol state to the same curve.
Buying creates supply and adds to the reserve. Selling burns supply and settles from the reserve.
How a buy works
A buy does not take existing tokens from another holder. It creates new supply on the current curve.
The user submits ETH to the protocol. A 1% Protocol Fee and the Dynamic Buy Fee for the current phase are deducted first. The remaining ETH enters the reserve and is used in the curve calculation.
Starting from the current position within the phase, the curve calculates how much BACKSTOP the net ETH can purchase. The protocol then mints that amount and sends it to the user’s wallet.
If the amount is large enough to complete the current phase, the order does not stop at the boundary. The protocol settles the current phase first, then carries the remaining amount into the next phase.
How a sell works
A sell settles backward along the current curve. The protocol calculates the sell quote, then burns the BACKSTOP it receives.
After the user submits a sell quantity, the protocol calculates a Gross Quote from the current position within the phase. A 1% Protocol Fee and a 3% Dynamic Sell Fee are deducted, and the remaining ETH is sent to the user.
Actual exit value cannot be calculated as “BACKSTOP balance × current displayed price.” The displayed price is the marginal price; selling moves down the curve.
Genesis: a shared starting point
The initial price is set by Genesis effective raise G and a fixed allocation of 72,000,000 BACKSTOP:
P₀ = G / 72,000,000 ETH per BACKSTOP.
Genesis lasts up to 24 hours with a 20 ETH raise cap. All participants receive the same final P₀; allocation is proportional to each user’s effective deposit.
Ten-phase price curve
After Genesis, trading enters ten continuous phases. Within each phase, price rises linearly from the phase start price to 2× that price. Capacity halves each phase; buy dynamic fees step down from 3.00% to 0.25%. Sell dynamic fee stays 3.00%.
| Phase | Capacity | Price range | Buy fee | Sell fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 36,000,000 | 1P₀ → 2P₀ | 3.00% | 3.00% |
| 2 | 18,000,000 | 2P₀ → 4P₀ | 2.69% | 3.00% |
| 3 | 9,000,000 | 4P₀ → 8P₀ | 2.39% | 3.00% |
| 4 | 4,500,000 | 8P₀ → 16P₀ | 2.08% | 3.00% |
| 5 | 2,250,000 | 16P₀ → 32P₀ | 1.78% | 3.00% |
| 6 | 1,125,000 | 32P₀ → 64P₀ | 1.47% | 3.00% |
| 7 | 562,500 | 64P₀ → 128P₀ | 1.17% | 3.00% |
| 8 | 281,250 | 128P₀ → 256P₀ | 0.86% | 3.00% |
| 9 | 140,625 | 256P₀ → 512P₀ | 0.56% | 3.00% |
| 10 | 70,312.5 | 512P₀ → 1024P₀ | 0.25% | 3.00% |
Reserve and supply move together
A trade changes both supply and reserve. Buys mint BACKSTOP and add net ETH; sells settle ETH from the reserve and burn BACKSTOP.
Current reserve size is not a fixed exit amount for any user. Exit value still depends on curve position and the full path of the order.
After phase ten
Phase ten ends the parameter transition, not trading. The protocol continues with 70,312.5 BACKSTOP base capacity, 0.25% Dynamic Buy Fee, 3.00% Dynamic Sell Fee, and 1.00% Protocol Fee. There is no fixed max supply.
Protocol parameters
| Genesis max duration | 24 hours |
| Genesis raise cap | 20 ETH |
| Genesis fixed supply | 72,000,000 BACKSTOP |
| Protocol fee | 1% buy & sell |
| Dynamic buy fee | 3.00% → 0.25% |
| Dynamic sell fee | 3.00% |
| Max supply | Unbounded |
Closing
Backstop turns every trade into a synchronized change of supply and reserve. Genesis sets a shared start; the ten-phase curve defines how price moves forward or back; after phase ten the continuous curve keeps running.
This document explains mechanism, pricing, and fees only. It is not investment advice and makes no promise of returns, price performance, or principal protection.