Exponential Ceiling, Rising Floor
How the price of ART doubles each cycle—building a new engine for creative capital.
Every enduring system needs rhythm — a heartbeat that governs how it grows.
In nature, we find rhythm in the seasons and in the tides. In economics, the markets move in cycles of boom and bust. For the Artizen Endowment, our rhythm is the minting price of ART tokens.
Money flows in. ART flows out. Each mint happens at a price that doubles on a fixed schedule. One dollar today buys twice as much ART as it will in the next cycle. The pattern repeats—steady, simple, unstoppable.
Like Bitcoin, the minting schedule is locked in code:
Genesis: three short cycles, each doubling every 35 days
Growth: seven cycles, each doubling every 120 days
Scale: annual cycles, doubling every 365 days — forever
Our issuance schedule allows the supply of ART to grow quickly at first—fueling the Endowment’s expansion—then slow as it matures. This mirrors how growth unfolds in nature and in markets: rapid acceleration that gradually tapers at scale. It’s a rhythm that rewards early believers while welcoming new participants along the way.
But how do we keep ART from endlessly inflating?
Every time someone buys ART, our smart contract checks two prices: the current minting price and the open market price. If the market price is lower, it buys ART from the market. If minting is cheaper, it creates new tokens. This happens automatically with all purchases—no humans in the loop, no switches to flip.
Early on, the minting price will often be cheaper, so more ART will be created. But as the price doubles cycle after cycle, minting becomes rarer. Over time, most new capital will flow into buying ART from the open market instead of minting new tokens. There’s no single turning point—just a smooth, continuous transition from expansion to equilibrium.
Redemptions close the loop. Holders can burn ART at any time to redeem USDC from the Endowment. Each burn reduces supply, tightening scarcity across the system. A 10% fee applies to every redemption—rewarding patience, feeding value back into the Endowment, and gradually lifting the floor for everyone who remains.
Together, these mechanics—minting, buying, and burning—keep the system in balance. When capital flows in, new ART can be created. When demand shifts to the market, supply tightens. When holders redeem, supply contracts further. What begins as inflationary growth gradually becomes fixed, and eventually deflationary, as scarcity takes hold.
The result is a market that rewards conviction. The earlier and longer you hold, the more the system works in your favor. A rising floor protects the downside. A doubling ceiling pulls value upward. Between them, the market breathes—expanding and contracting with trust, participation, and time.
A new engine for creative capital—designed to scale, built to last.
Love,
René Pinnell
Founder of Artizen