Utility
Like with any other Layer 1 blockchain’s native asset, PEAQ’s primary utility is in enabling the most fundamental interactions on the network: paying transaction fees, producing blocks in a censorship-resistant way via a staking and slashing mechanism, and governing the network. Here is more information on these utilities:Transaction fees
PEAQ is used for transaction fee payment on the peaq blockchain. The amount of PEAQ needed for any particular transaction is calculated based on the weight, length, and other parameters of the transaction. As with other layer-1 blockchains, it is impossible to use the network without PEAQ, as no transactions can be carried out without paying the fee in PEAQ. Just like with dApps on Ethereum, all transactions from DePINs on peaq will require a fee in PEAQ. The millions of machines, vehicles, and sensors across these DePINs are expected to generate billions of transactions.Staking
peaq relies on the work of Validators and Delegators for block production. To ensure that blocks are produced in an honest, censorship-resistant, and reliable way, peaq has a staking mechanism, which incentivizes honest work from Validators and Delegators. Validators need to provide a staking deposit to run a Validator node to have “skin in the game”. Delegators can delegate their stake to Validators of their choice in order to back them. Only those Validators with enough backing (stake) are able to produce blocks. Thus Delegators actively govern which Validators are producing blocks and can thereby ensure that trusted and well-operating Validators are active. If the Validator misbehaves or goes offline, its Delegator stops earning. Thus Delegators need to continuously check Validators’ behavior and manage their stake allocation actively. In Economics 2.0 terms these are chain validators. Trust Validators are the staking role that verifies machine activity; public staking consolidates there over the transition described in the launch blog.Governance
Holding PEAQ will enable you to gradually guide the network by voting on key decisions via onchain governance concerning its development and future. Initial Post-Launch Period: Community suggestions are gathered via polls, AMAs, and calls. The foundation holds veto power to safeguard stability. Midterm: Governance shifts onchain. PEAQ holders, the Council and the Technical Committee can propose upgrades, parameter changes, or treasury spending. Council decisions can be overturned by the community; the Technical Committee can fast-track urgent or block risky proposals. Longterm: A fully open, advanced onchain governance model enables any PEAQ holder to propose changes and vote transparently onchain. Safeguards promote broad participation and approved proposals are implemented automatically. The community also manages funds via onchain governance.Inflation
The inflation rate is initially set at 3.5%, ensuring sufficient incentives for early adopters. However, the inflation rate will decrease annually by 10% and will stabilize once the network reaches 1% inflation, following a disinflationary model. The first disinflation will occur at target block 7,890,590. In the future, the community will be able to vote on adjustments to the inflation/deflation model via the network’s governance.Disinflation Schedule
The following table outlines the disinflation schedule, showing the inflation rate each year, newly minted tokens, and end-of-year supply:
The schedule above reaches 5,667,620,228.64 PEAQ at the end of year 17. That figure is the projected supply under the schedule, not a hard cap: the runtime enforces no maximum supply today, and the 1% floor keeps minting after year 17. A supply cap will be added in a later runtime upgrade.
Economics 2.0
The Economics 2.0 contracts went live on peaq mainnet on 2026-09-01 (paper; mechanics on the Economics 2.0 concept page). Machines activate on a subscription tier priced in USD and bond PEAQ at the oracle rate; the first PEAQ price was committed on 2026-09-03 and the SDKs and CLI gained activation support on 2026-09-04. Machine bonds are held in the MachineSubscription contract (0x9e37AD189c334C92e6B8a812Ca4c02f35Ac43895) and count as circulating supply until they are burned. The bonded total is live on the Machine Explorer economics page; activation steps are on the activate page. A lapsed bond decays over a 14-day runoff, half to burn and half to the treasury; today the burn address in InfoDesk is unset, so the burn half does not reduce total supply yet. The block reward split changed to 70% treasury / 30% validators and delegators with runtime spec 113, enacted on mainnet on 2026-09-06 at 11:36 UTC (block 11,512,213).Tokenomics Adjustments: System wallet simplification and transparency improvements
As peaq Economics 2.0 goes live and as announced July 1 in our market structure update, the broader wallet structure is also being updated. This includes both system wallets and other Foundation-controlled wallets, which have historically been spread across a larger number of addresses. These wallets are now being consolidated into a smaller and clearer structure, making balances and movements easier to track for the community, exchanges, and other stakeholders. It also allows legacy wallets created for earlier initiatives, such as launch-era community campaigns, Get Real, and completed capital contribution activities, to be retired. The five legacy system wallets (Security Treasury, General Treasury, DePIN Incentive Pool, DePIN Staking, Machine Subsidization Pool) were emptied into the Treasury Reserve in partial moves; the remaining tokens follow by the end of September 2026. Legacy campaign wallets (Get Real, Early Adopters, Initial Community Campaign, Capital Contributions) moved to the Dynamic Treasury. The Community Reserve and Security Reserve moved to the Treasury Reserve. Every transfer is listed with its transaction hash in the Economics 2.0 launch blog. The foundation-controlled treasury now consists of these wallets:
None of these moves change the circulating supply or the emission schedule. Tokens that were already classified as circulating moved to circulating wallets (the Dynamic Treasury). Non-circulating tokens moved to the Treasury Reserve and stay non-circulating. Live balances of all excluded accounts are on Subscan under Token Distribution.
Economics 1.0: Allocation at genesis
The table is horizontally scrollable →
Status on 2026-09-08: the table is the genesis record, several of its foundation-managed wallets have since been consolidated (see wallet consolidation). Get Real, Early Adopters and Capital Contributions moved to the Dynamic Treasury and are empty. Community Reserve and Security Reserve moved to the Treasury Reserve and are empty. Expansion Reserve holds 45,584 PEAQ, the rest moves to the Dynamic Treasury by the end of September 2026. Initial Community Campaign moved partially, the campaign wallet 0x9B921f6238900178b9bD1d90F0048B6f2Ed9C0e0 holds about 15M PEAQ pending the final move. Two wallets appear in both tables under different names: Ecosystem & Treasury (Reserve) 0x4b4c…D49 is the Treasury Reserve, and Ecosystem & Treasury (Grants) 0x46E9…83C0 is the Ecosystem & Treasury Wallet.
Unlocks
*From month 22 the inflation split follows runtime spec 113: 30% to staking, counted as unlocked, and 70% to the treasury, held in an excluded account. Months 1 to 21 use the 40/60 split in force at the time.
Inflation impact on circulating supply
The inflation has the following impact on the circulating supply:- 30% of yearly inflation is paid out as rewards to chain validators and their delegators, the Trust Validator staking share during the transition.
- 70% of yearly inflation goes to the general treasury (since runtime spec 113, enacted 2026-09-06; 40% / 60% before that).
Circulating supply
Circulating supply is the total transferable PEAQ balance across all accounts, minus the system and foundation accounts that Subscan lists as excluded under Token Distribution. CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko republish Subscan’s figure. Excluded accounts include the Treasury Reserve, the Ecosystem & Treasury Wallet, the retired system wallets and the legacy campaign wallets named above; Subscan shows the current list and each account’s balance. Locked and vesting balances are not transferable and therefore not circulating. PEAQ bonded by machines under Economics 2.0 sits in the MachineSubscription contract as a transferable balance and counts as circulating until it is burned. Earlier history: on December 6, 2024 the 6% CoinList sale allocation was added to the reported circulating supply, following the CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko rule that public-sale tokens count even while locked. That moved the reported figure from 376,976,863 to 624,514,387 PEAQ on that date.Important note: locked tokens can be staked
The vesting and lockup schedule applies only to the initial allocations of the total supply at genesis and does not apply to newly minted tokens generated by inflation. Tokens, regardless of their status (locked, unlocked, or under vesting), are eligible for staking. Users can participate as validators or delegators and stake their tokens. Staking rewards are immediately available and fully unlocked upon receipt.Important note: the unlock process may vary slightly
Certain allocations are not locked or vested immediately at genesis. Specifically, unlock schedules related to community and ecosystem growth campaigns are based on projections and cannot be precisely determined at the outset. These unlocks are calculated using estimates and may be subject to adjustments over time.Inflation and transaction fee distribution
The PEAQ token follows a disinflationary model, starting with an inflation rate of 3.5%, which decreases by 10% annually until it reaches 1%. Newly minted tokens and transaction fees are split two ways on chain since runtime spec 113 (enacted on mainnet on 2026-09-06 at 11:36 UTC, block 11,512,213). The Economics 2.0 PEAQ Flow distributes the same emissions to four destinations: 30% Trust Validator staking (which pays today’s validators and delegators during the transition), 30% Machine Pool, 20% Treasury, 20% Activation Token Provision Pool. The last three are funded from the treasury’s 70% share. On chain, the block reward pallet in runtime spec 113 has exactly two sinks, treasury 70% and staking 30%; the split of the 70% into Machine Pool, Treasury and Activation Token Provision Pool is applied off chain. 1. Trust Validator staking: 30%, modlpoolStake, paid to chain validators and their delegators during the transition This pool ensures efficient, reliable, and censorship-resistant block production. All funds are distributed directly to validators and delegators based on the validator’s total stake and those of the delegators. Validators can set custom delegator fees. 2. General Treasury: 70%, modlpy/trsry The funds of this pool finance the ongoing operations of the ecosystem, supporting further research and development around the network, its core function set, and other key features. The account keeps receiving new issuance while its legacy balance is moved to the Treasury Reserve as part of the wallet consolidation; both are true at the same time. Under Economics 2.0 the treasury also receives the burn-or-treasury half of lapsed machine bonds and half of the USDT activation proceeds (see the Economics 2.0 concept page). Verified on chain over the 10,000 blocks after enactment: the general treasury received about 183,000 PEAQ and the three pools below received nothing; over the 10,000 blocks before enactment they received about 27,000 (security), 40,000 (DePIN) and 13,000 (subsidization) PEAQ.Pools that no longer receive block rewards
Until spec 113 the split was 40% validators and delegators, 10% security treasury, 25% general treasury, 20% DePIN incentive pool, 5% machine subsidization pool. These accounts receive no new block rewards. Their balances were moved to the Treasury Reserve in partial transfers, with the remainder following by the end of September 2026 (see wallet consolidation): The General Treasury is the fifth of the five consolidated system wallets. It still receives the 70% share and is described above, so it is not listed here.- Security Treasury - modlpoolCoret: funded the purchase of Coretime.
- DePIN Incentive Pool - modlpoolDPInc & modlpoolDPStk: incentives for DePINs building on peaq and their liquidity across Machine DeFi protocols.
- Machine Subsidization Pool - modlpoolSubsi: subsidized the onboarding of revenue-generating machines as Machine RWAs.