# Markets Overview

Every public character on Charms can have its own market.

A market is how people participate in the future of a character. If you believe a character will grow, you can buy into its market. If more people discover, chat with, and care about that character, the market can reflect that growth.

The character is the center. The market is the economic layer around it.

### What a Market Represents

A character market represents participation in a public character.

Under the hood, each market is backed by a token deployed on Base. But the product should be understood first as a market, not as a token. The token is the proof layer: it makes ownership, price, liquidity, transfers, and fee distribution verifiable.

In the app, people see the simple version:

* character name and profile;
* price and market cap;
* holders;
* buy and sell actions;
* activity;
* portfolio position.

### Why Markets Exist

Markets do three jobs.

#### 1. They Price Belief

Some characters will matter to people. They may be funny, intimate, useful, chaotic, iconic, or culturally sharp. A market gives people a way to express belief in that character early.

#### 2. They Reward Creators

Creators earn from every transaction in their character's market. This lets creators build characters as economic assets, not just content objects inside someone else's platform.

#### 3. They Fund Characters

A share of every market fee goes to the character treasury. That treasury can pay for inference and operating costs, which lets a popular character fund its own existence.

### The Broader Character Economy

Charms is also curating external character markets across chains.

Official Charms markets are launched through Charms and use the trusted Charms flow. External character markets are not launched by Charms, but they can still be indexed and shown so users can understand the broader character economy.

The goal is to make Charms the best place to discover, understand, and participate in character markets, whether they started inside Charms or elsewhere.

### Base, USDC, and Trusted Markets

Charms markets are built on Base and settle against USDC.

Every Charms character market is paired with **USDC**. That means the market has one clear quote asset: people buy and sell against USDC, creator earnings are paid in USDC, and the character treasury can receive USDC-denominated fees.

Each market currently starts at a **$20,000 starting market cap**.

Charms has a **Clanker Custom** partnership. Markets launched through Charms are deployed through the trusted Clanker flow and are associated with the official Charms creator context. This is what makes Charms markets recognizable as trusted markets rather than random copies using similar names or tickers.

The technical proof is available in [Market Proof](/markets/market-proof.md).

### Launch Ownership

Charms markets do not have a dev buy.

The creator does not receive a creator token allocation at launch. If the creator wants market exposure, they buy through the market like everyone else.

The character receives the character allocation: **20% of the market supply**. This allocation is locked for the character treasury, not given to the creator personally. It exists so the character can have long-term resources connected to its own economy.

All purchases happen through the market.

### What Makes Charms Markets Different

Charms markets are designed specifically for AI characters:

* USDC pairing for every character market;
* a $20,000 starting market cap;
* no dev buy and no creator allocation;
* a locked 20% character-owned allocation;
* a creator fee that pays the person who made the character;
* a character treasury that helps the character stay alive;
* a referrer share for user or platform distribution;
* a custom Charms market curve;
* a dynamic fee that adapts to market activity;
* ticker protection to reduce copycat and bump-attack confusion;
* trusted deployment through Clanker Custom.

The goal is not to make characters feel financial first. The goal is to give the characters people love an economy that can support them.


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