This post goes into how the RSR unlocking decision moved from a single proposal into a two option vote, how the results came about, and what happens next.
TL,DR: RSR holders adopted the Burn Gauge. Both proposals passed quorum, the option with more FOR votes wins, so the Burn Gauge carried the day. The first vote to set the gauge opens September 18 (today) and runs for seven days.
1. How it started: unlocks on NARR targets
RSR was set to unlock following Bitcoin’s halving schedule, tied to time rather than results.
In May 2026, @Nevin opened an RFC to replace this with a milestone based system tied to = economic output, called NARR (net annual recurring revenue). Certain NARR milestones would unlock lump sums of $RSR to fund future growth. Like startups raising rounds.
The framework was finalized in August 2026 after community feedback. The Revised Framework proposal set these terms:
-
Milestone 1 is $2.5M in Net Annualized Recurring Revenue (NARR).
-
Reaching it makes up to 3B RSR eligible to unlock.
-
The price test uses the 30 day moving average, not spot.
-
Price floor of $0.005. Below the floor, no automatic unlock.
-
Price ceiling of $0.015. Above the ceiling, the automatic allocation is capped at $45M worth of RSR.
-
Any change outside these rules requires another holder vote.
-
Confusion Capital, ABC Labs and Best Friend Finance abstain with company owned RSR.
-
One milestone at a time. Milestone 2 would come back to holders later.
NARR is revenue across the ecosystem, minus partner share, minus ongoing incentive spend. It is annualized from trailing data to stop one off spikes from triggering a milestone.
The Snapshot vote to adopt the NARR unlocking mechanism was originally scheduled to open August 27.
2. How it’s going: The Burn Gauge emerged
On August 21, @Ranger opened a second RFC proposing that emissions be tied to protocol burns instead of milestones. The first version was a fixed ratio: every 2 RSR burned by the protocol unlocks 1 RSR. An elegant mechanism that squared the circle and looked to make $RSR holders who want a token burn happy, while allowing for growth capital.
On August 26, Nevin paused the NARR vote for one week, so that holders could compare both options back to back.
The ensuing discussion in that thread surfaced a lot of additional design work:
-
The fixed ratio turned into a variable gauge with five positions.
-
A Sustain setting was added to Nevin’s original four, so the final range runs from High Burn to High Growth.
-
@0xd15co argued against a plain plurality ballot, because a setting could win with a small first choice share and no real majority, and proposed ranked choice via Instant Runoff Voting on Snapshot.
-
Ranger argued against forcing the gauge to move one step at a time, so holders can move directly between settings in a single vote.
On September 7, Nevin posted a single proposal that presented both systems and confirmed that Confusion Capital would adopt whichever one holders chose, in line with the newly established Constitution for these decisions.
3. The Vote commences
The two proposals were posted as separate ballots, each with For, Against and Abstain options. Each needed its own 1B RSR quorum. Voting on one did not count toward the other.
Both proposals cleared quorum after a tight race and lots of voter rallying on X, Telegram and DMs.
Results
| Proposal | For | Against | Abstain | Total | Voters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burn Gauge | 1,100,538,735 (80.44%) | 136,200,070 (9.96%) | 131,382,406 (9.60%) | 1,368,121,211 | 68 |
| Milestone Plan | 833,278,316 (52.55%) | 711,423,924 (44.87%) | 40,931,004 (2.58%) | 1,585,633,245 | 59 |
Quorum for each ballot was 1 billion RSR.
4. Why the Burn Gauge won
The Milestone Plan drew more total voting power: 1,585,633,245 against 1,368,121,211. But higher turnout is not the deciding factor here, instead Confusion Capital set out three cases in advance:
-
If neither proposal got a majority in favor, work would continue to find an agreed way forward.
-
If one passed and the other did not, the one that passed would be adopted.
-
If both passed, the one with more total For votes would be adopted.
The Burn Gauge had 1,100,538,735 For Votes. The Milestone Plan had 833,278,316 For Votes. And so, the winner is: BURN Gauge 
The two results also differ in how divided they were. The Burn Gauge passed with 80.44% support and 9.96% against. The Milestone Plan passed narrowly at 52.55% against 44.87%.
Price context might play a pivotal role here. RSR traded near $0.0014 in mid September, roughly 28% of the $0.005 floor in the Milestone Pla, so the automatic unlock seemed unreachable at that price.
5. What the Burn Gauge does
Adopting the gauge means RSR holders control the ratio of burn to unlock through quarterly votes.
Burn settings burn treasury RSR in tandem with RSR burns from protocol profits.
The five settings are:
| Setting | Burn to unlock / treasury burn | Additional treasury unlocking |
|---|---|---|
| High burn | Each 1 RSR burned also burns 4 treasury RSR | None |
| Low burn | Each 1 RSR burned also burns 2 treasury RSR | None |
| Sustain | Each 2 RSR burned unlocks 1 treasury RSR | Burn 2 treasury RSR per extra 1 unlocked |
| Low growth | Each 1 RSR burned unlocks 2 treasury RSR | Burn 1 treasury RSR per extra 2 unlocked |
| High growth | Each 1 RSR burned unlocks 4 treasury RSR | Burn 1 treasury RSR per extra 4 unlocked} |
To repeat: For burn settings, no tokens unlock and protocol burns also burn treasury RSR at a multiple. For the growth settings, protocol burns release treasury RSR to ABC/CC, and any unlock beyond that ratio costs treasury RSR in burns. Sustain sits in the middle with slow unlocking and a larger burn cost for anything extra.
Important to note: this is not a one off decision. Holders can move the gauge in either direction as conditions change. Burn votes will be proposed after every community earnings call, which happens every quarter.
6. How first gauge vote works
The first vote sets the initial position on the gauge.
-
Opens Friday, September 18.
-
Runs seven days.
-
Five positions on the ballot, from High burn to High growth.
-
Held on Snapshot as a ranked choice vote.
-
Nevin, Confusion Capital, ABC Labs, Best Friend Finance and future CC incubated companies do not participate with company owned RSR.
The voting mechanism is called ranked choice, implemented as Instant Runoff Voting. One of my favorite voting mechanics. It’s much closer to reliably selecting the Condorcet winner than others. You can read up on this here: https://medium.com/flipside-governance/voting-systems-simple-majority-ranked-choice-approval-voting-plus-a-guy-called-condorcet-c2d74017b3e
-
Voters rank the five settings in order of preference, in a single proposal and with one signature only.
-
If one setting has a majority of first choice votes, it wins immediately.
-
If no setting has a majority, the last place setting is eliminated and those votes transfer to each voter’s next ranked choice.
-
Elimination continues until one setting has a majority.
The reason for this design is that a plain single choice ballot could let a setting win on a small first choice share without real majority support. Ranked choice prevents that, and it makes a middle setting the natural landing point if the constituency is split.
8. Nevin recommends High burn
Nevin is not part of the voting process, so his influence is limited to his advocacy.
He advocated for High Burn, with three reasons:
-
The treasury does not need more RSR unlocked right now, or any time soon.
-
The community has an overall appetite for burning, and it is valuable to give holders what they want.
-
The revenue stream that causes burning is moderate at the moment, so going into High Burn will not sacrifice too much treasury RSR.
Reaching product market fit, indicated by growing revenue without incentives would change that. It would open opportunities to deploy RSR for growth, and it would increase the amount of RSR burned by the protocol itself.
Confusion Capital, ABC Labs and Best Friend Finance stated they will only deploy project resources where they see a good return, and will ask holders for Low or High Growth settings when a genuine opportunity exists, not because of low project capital. They describe the treasury as healthy in both RSR and cash terms, with the ability to operate for a long time without any RSR unlocking.
9. What happens next
-
The seven day gauge vote sets the first position, voting starts today, September 18.
-
The next vote comes after the next quarterly report and community call.
-
The BTC shaped unlock curve is no more.