> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.charms.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.charms.ai/markets/dollar-charms.md). # $CHARMS
\ $CHARMS is planned as the network asset for the Charms protocol. It is not live yet. This page describes early design directions, not final launch details. The design is still being developed carefully with the community. Charms is building the character economy: a world where AI characters are created, used, loved, owned, funded, and grown by the communities around them. $CHARMS is meant to become a core part of that economy when the protocol is ready. The priority today is simple: prove the product, prove the revenue model, and make sure every piece of the system is strong enough to scale. ### Why $CHARMS Every public character on Charms can have its own market. A character market lets people participate in the future of a character. If they believe a character will grow, they can hold that character's market position and share in the economy around it. $CHARMS is planned as the shared layer that connects those character markets together. Over time, $CHARMS is expected to represent: * the base asset of the Charms protocol; * the economic layer connecting public character markets; * a staking asset for deeper protocol participation; * a way to align Charms, creators, character holders, and the broader community; * a reward layer for meaningful early participation. The goal is not to make Charms feel financial first. The goal is to make the economy behind characters stronger, more connected, and more aligned. ### Leaderboard and Early Participation Charms has a [leaderboard](https://charms.ai/leaderboard) inside the app to make early participation more visible. The leaderboard is not a final airdrop rulebook. It does not guarantee eligibility, allocation, timing, or claim rights for $CHARMS. It is a product surface that helps show who and what is shaping the early Charms economy. The app currently shows three views of participation: * **Characters** — character markets with meaningful trading activity. * **Traders** — people and wallets discovering, buying, and selling character markets. * **Holders** — people and wallets keeping positions across character markets. The trading views use adjusted volume rather than raw volume alone. In simple terms, buys count fully and sells count less. This helps the leaderboard highlight real participation more than repeated trading loops. The holders view focuses on current market positions across Charms character markets. It helps show who is maintaining exposure to characters they believe in, not only who traded recently. As Charms grows, leaderboard activity may inform future snapshots, seasons, rewards, or other participation programs. Those programs may also consider other signals across the platform, including Charms Originals, creator-launched characters, community growth, referrals, product usage, and long-term holding. Charms may adjust leaderboard categories, calculations, thresholds, exclusions, or snapshot logic over time. Final rules for any $CHARMS-related program will be announced separately when they are ready. ### Future Airdrop There will be a future $CHARMS airdrop. Trading and holding character markets will be a very important part of that conversation. The people who discover, support, and participate in character economies early are helping prove the model, and that should matter. The leaderboard is one way Charms is beginning to make that activity visible. It should be understood as a live participation signal, not a complete eligibility framework. $CODY, $ZOE, and holders of Charms Originals will also be important parts of the conversation. Charms Originals are characters created by Charms itself. They are part of the early identity of the network, but they are not the only characters that matter.\ \ The broader goal is to reward meaningful participation across the whole platform: Charms Originals, creator-launched characters, and the communities around them. Final eligibility, timing, allocation, and claim mechanics have not been announced yet. When the time comes, Charms will announce the details with enough notice for the community to understand the rules clearly. For now, the best way to participate is to use Charms, discover characters early, support the characters you believe in, and help grow the network. ### Character Markets and $CHARMS Today, Charms character markets are paired with USDC. One of the main protocol designs being explored is moving character markets from USDC pairing to $CHARMS pairing. That would make $CHARMS the shared liquidity and value layer across the character economy. Instead of every character market living separately against USDC, public characters would become directly connected through $CHARMS. If implemented, this would make character growth and protocol growth reinforce each other more directly. As more characters launch, trade, earn fees, and build communities, $CHARMS would sit closer to the center of that activity. This design is still being refined, but the direction is clear: $CHARMS should not be something separate from the product. It should be integrated into how the protocol grows. ### Staking Charms is also exploring different staking models for $CHARMS. The goal is to reward long-term participation, not short-term activity alone. Staking should help align users with the growth of the network and give deeper participation to people who actively support characters. One design being explored is making character market holdings relevant to staking. For example, holding downstream character positions could improve staking access, staking weight, or reward eligibility within the Charms ecosystem. This would connect the success of individual characters back to the broader protocol and make early character discovery more meaningful over time. Nothing here is final yet. The important idea is that Charms should be a network where the protocol, the characters, and the communities around them reinforce each other. The same principle behind the leaderboard applies here: durable participation should matter more than short-term noise. ### Why Wait Charms is not rushing $CHARMS. The protocol asset should launch only when the product, market design, revenue model, and growth engine are ready. The current focus is to test the core model: can characters attract real users, generate real revenue, and become economically meaningful assets? The leaderboard is part of that learning process. It helps the community see early activity while Charms studies which kinds of participation are actually helping the network grow. Once those pieces are working, $CHARMS can help scale the system faster. The vision is bigger than crypto-native speculation. Charms is building toward ownership for the masses through AI characters: users who may never think of themselves as on-chain, but who understand what it means to own a piece of a character they care about. $CHARMS will launch when the design is clear enough to support that vision properly.