Types of Streams

Lockup

"Lockup" is a higher-level category that refers to the requirement that the creator of a stream must lock up a certain amount of assets in a smart contract. All streams currently supported by Sablier are Lockup streams.

Let's take an example. Imagine Alice wants to stream 3,000 DAI to Bob during the whole month of January.

1. Alice deposits the 3,000 DAI in Sablier before Jan 1, setting the end time to Feb 1.
2. Bob's allocation of the DAI deposit increases every second beginning Jan 1.
3. On Jan 10, Bob will have earned approximately 1,000 DAI. He can send a transaction to Sablier to withdraw the tokens.
4. If at any point during January Alice wishes to get back her tokens, she can cancel the stream and recover what has not been streamed yet.

Lockup Linear

Lockup Linear streams are the simplest type of stream in Sablier. The streamed amount over time follows a straight line that goes up and to the right on a graph, which corresponds to the identity function $f(x) = x$:

With this type of stream, the payment rate remains constant, meaning that the same fraction of the deposit amount is streamed to the recipient every second. This provides greater predictability and is easy to understand because of how intuitive it is. Imagine a diagonal line going up and to the right – that's how simple it is.

Cliffs

It is possible to attach a "cliff" to a Lockup Linear stream, which sets a cut-off point for releasing assets. Prior to the cliff, the recipient cannot withdraw any assets, but the stream continues to accrue them. After the cliff, the constant payment rate per second kicks in.

This feature is especially useful for vesting ERC-20 assets as it allows you to have, for example, a 1-year cliff, and then 3 additional years of linear streaming. If the stream is for an employee, you can make it cancellable so that if the employee leaves your company during the stream, you can cancel it and recover the assets that have not yet been streamed.

Lockup Dynamic

Lockup Dynamic streams are what makes Sablier so unique, since they enable the creation of any type of streaming curve, including non-linear ones.

On the Sablier Interface, we support only a few streaming models (the ones enumerated below), but the potential for innovation is limitless when you interact programmatically with the contracts. For example, one could design a logarithmic stream that emulates the $f(x) = log(x)$ function.

These streams are powered by a number of user-provided "segments", which we will cover in the next article. What is important to note here is that with Lockup Dynamic, Sablier has evolved into a universal streaming engine, capable of supporting any custom streaming curve.

Exponential

A fantastic use case for Lockup Dynamic is Exponential streams, a streaming model under which the recipient receives increasingly more tokens as time moves forward.

Exponentials are a great fit if you are looking to airdrop tokens, because your community members will receive the majority of the tokens towards the end of the stream instead of receiving the tokens all at once (no streaming) or in a linear fashion (Lockup Linear). This incentivizes long-term behavior and a constructive attitude.

Exponential Cliff

Another use case for Lockup Dynamic is a variation of the previous design: an Exponential Cliff.

The stream starts with a cliff (which can be how long you want), a specific amount instantly unlocked when the cliff ends, and then the rest of the stream is exponentially streamed.

This is an excellent model if you are a company looking to set up a token vesting plan for your employees. Your employees will have an incentive to remain with your company in the long run, as they will receive an increasingly larger number of tokens.

Unlock in Steps

Because Lockup Dynamic is so flexible, it can even be used to create a traditional vesting contract with periodic unlocks. In this case, the "streaming" rate would not be by the second, but by the week, month, or year.

After each period, a specific amount becomes unlocked and available for the recipient to withdraw. Past unlocks accumulate, so if the recipient doesn't withdraw them, they will be able to withdraw them later.

The advantage of using Unlock in Steps instead of a normal vesting contract is that Sablier automates the entire process. No more worries about setting up vesting contracts or creating a user interface for your employees to claim their tokens.