AquariusPrice

(AQUARIUS)

Aquarius (AQUA) is a liquidity management layer built on the Stellar network designed to improve market liquidity. It allows the community to vote on which market pairs receive rewards, facilitating larger trades with minimal price slippage. The project was co-created by Ultra Stellar, the team responsible for several major products within the Stellar ecosystem. It is important to distinguish this project from "Aquarius Loan" (ARS) on other blockchains; the primary AQUA project is exclusively native to the Stellar network.

Users can earn AQUA rewards through two main activities. First, by providing liquidity to Automated Market Maker (AMM) pools. Second, by participating in market making via limit orders on the decentralized exchange (SDEX) for incentivized pairs. Active rewarded markets can be found on the official Aquarius rewards page. To qualify, users must establish an AQUA trustline and ensure their liquidity or order size meets the minimum requirements for the protocol's hourly distribution.

ICE is a non-transferable token representing locked AQUA. Users obtain ICE by using a "Locker" tool to freeze their AQUA for a period of up to three years. The longer the tokens are locked, the more ICE is received, with a maximum ratio of 10 ICE per 1 AQUA. As the unlock date approaches, the ICE balance decreases linearly, a process known as "melting." This mechanism ensures that users with longer-term commitments maintain higher voting power and influence within the protocol.

Locking AQUA for ICE provides boosted rewards and governance power. Holding ICE can increase liquidity rewards by up to 10x. In terms of governance, ICE is required to vote on protocol proposals and determine which market pairs receive rewards. The system also includes "bribes," which are rewards offered by project owners to encourage ICE holders to vote for their pairs. Additionally, a "DownvoteICE" mechanism allows the community to remove rewards from low-utility or suspicious tokens.

The AQUA Locker uses Stellar’s native "claimable balance" feature, meaning the network protocol itself holds the tokens rather than a central company. Only the user’s secret key can reclaim the AQUA once the lock period expires. Regarding tokenomics, the maximum supply of AQUA is hard-capped at 100 billion tokens. While initial airdrops have concluded, the DAO fund can propose new distributions. This structure ensures that the project remains decentralized and security is managed at the protocol level.

The Aquarius team and DAO frequently update "Reward Zone" rules to combat wash trading, where users attempt to extract rewards through self-trading. Addressing concerns about the economy's circularity, proponents argue that AQUA provides essential utility by acting as the "steering wheel" for Stellar’s liquidity. By directing rewards to specific pairs, it facilitates efficient trading across the network. This utility transforms the token from a simple reward into a governance tool that manages the health of the entire decentralized exchange ecosystem.