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Every new DeFi mainnet follows the same playbook: massive incentive programs. Typically, the story is the same - huge short-term rewards lure in a flood of "mercenary capital," inflating Total Value Locked (TVL) to astronomical heights. But when the rewards dry up, so does the liquidity, leaving behind an empty ecosystem.
The TAC team is taking a different approach.
With the launch of TAC Mainnet, TAC is implementing a 24-week incentives program, outlined in a June 2025 strategy document. This isn't a reckless spray of tokens. It's a calculated, 24-week plan to build a resilient and self-sustaining DeFi ecosystem. The philosophy is clear. Incentives must be a launch tool, not a crutch.
The ultimate goal is to catalyze DeFi strategies that generate real, sustainable yield and create lasting value for both users and protocols.
What Actually Works: The Data Behind the Design
Instead of guessing what works, TAC’s strategy begins with a deep analysis of the entire DeFi landscape. By examining the composition of established ecosystems like Ethereum, Solana, and others, a clear pattern emerges. Consistently, the lion's share of capital—often over 60% of TVL—is concentrated in three foundational pillars: Lending markets, Liquid Staking, and Decentralized Exchange protocols (DEXs).
These are the bedrock of any healthy DeFi ecosystem. DEXs provide the financial backbone, bootstrapping essential liquidity for assets to be traded. Liquid Staking allows users to earn yield on their assets while keeping them liquid and usable, and Lending markets put that liquid capital to work.
Recognizing this, the TAC program allocates over 80% of its initial incentives to these three categories. The message is simple: before pursuing exotic financial products, you must first build a rock-solid foundation.
A 24-Week Lifecycle
The TAC incentive strategy is not a static, "set it and forget it" plan. It's a living blueprint that adapts as the ecosystem matures over the initial 24-week period, with 6% of the $TAC supply allocated towards this program.
- Weeks 1-8: Seeding Liquidity. In the crucial early weeks, incentives are weighted more heavily towards DEXs (starting at 38%) and Liquid Staking (starting at 11%). The logic is clear: you must first establish deep, stable liquidity pools for core assets and their yield-bearing liquid staking tokens (LSTs). Without this, assets cannot be effectively used as collateral.
- Weeks 9-24: Activating Capital. As the program progresses, the incentive pendulum swings decisively towards Lending, which grows from a 34% share to a dominant 48% share by week 24. With a liquid and stable foundation in place, the focus shifts to encouraging users to supply and borrow against their assets, driving capital efficiency and enabling more complex yield strategies.
This dynamic shift is designed to methodically build one layer upon the next, ensuring each component of the ecosystem is robust before the next is incentivized.
Not All Liquidity Is Equal
TAC doesn't treat all liquidity equally. It uses a system of weights and multipliers to strategically attract the most valuable forms of liquidity.
For instance, in lending markets, the stablecoin USDT receives a higher incentive multiplier. This is a deliberate move to attract a deep pool of stable assets, which are critical for safe borrowing and lending. Conversely, the native TAC token has a more modest multiplier, a measure designed to foster genuine utility over speculative farming.
This targeted approach extends to lending market activity itself. Initially, 80% of lending rewards go to suppliers to build up the available capital. Over 24 weeks, this ratio shifts, with borrowers eventually receiving 30% of the incentives. This encourages both sides of the market, fostering a vibrant and active lending environment, not just a passive pool of capital.
Quality Over Quantity
Perhaps the most crucial element for long-term health is the program’s rigorous gatekeeping. TAC’s approach isn’t just about where incentives go, but who receives them. By focusing rewards on high-quality protocols that align with long-term growth, the strategy avoids the usual pitfalls of diluted incentives and mercenary capital. To be eligible for incentives, a protocol must pass a formal whitelisting process. This isn't a rubber-stamp approval; projects are vetted across multiple dimensions:
- Security: A minimum of one public audit from a reputable firm is required, with no outstanding high-severity issues.
- Maturity: Projects must demonstrate real-world traction.
- Alignment: Protocols must have a clear roadmap and demonstrate a commitment to the TAC ecosystem.
This process acts as a quality filter, ensuring that incentive rewards are channeled to secure, legitimate, and valuable partners.
The program also includes co-incentivization. Protocols that contribute their own native tokens to the reward pool receive a larger share of TAC's incentives. This creates a powerful partnership where both the TAC Foundation and the partner protocol are mutually invested in each other's success, building a truly collaborative and committed ecosystem.
By combining a data-driven strategy, dynamic allocations, and sets a new standard to quality and alignment, the TAC Mainnet Incentives Program sets a new standard. It's designed for sustainable growth, not quick TVL spikes.
Beyond Short-Term Liquidity: A Long-Term Vision
The TAC Mainnet Incentives Program is designed to activate the right protocols, at the right time, in the right way, and to do it all while reinforcing TON as the native layer for user experience.
The goal is to position TAC as the backend infrastructure for the next generation of Telegram MiniApps, including games, consumer tools, and content platforms. By powering DEXs, lending markets, and liquid staking, these apps can engage users with real value under the hood.
That only works if the underlying liquidity is functional. And functional liquidity only grows when rewards drive sustainable behavior.
TAC’s program gets that. It’s not just incentives. It’s infrastructure-as-incentive. A system that rewards composability, capital efficiency, and trust, not just clicks and wallets.
Keen to dive deeper?
For more information about the TAC Public Mainnet long-term incentives program, please refer to this document.
