$SHOT is an ERC-20 utility token on Base (Coinbase L2) that serves as the native currency of the Slingshot ecosystem, a protocol layer for AI products and services. "Powered by Slingshot" products accept $SHOT alongside fiat, offering users 20-30% discounts when paying with $SHOT. Token holders can stake to earn staking rewards, receive a share of protocol fees, and access exclusive partner perks. The protocol collects a 5% fee on all $SHOT transactions, split between token burns (35%), staker rewards (35%), and the ecosystem treasury (30%). With a fixed supply of 1 billion tokens, no minting capability, and continuous burn pressure from every transaction, $SHOT is designed to become scarcer over the long term while providing real utility across a growing network of AI products.
The AI tool market is exploding. Thousands of products launch every week — but most fail not because of bad technology, but because of three unsolved problems: distribution, monetization, and user commitment.
Slingshot is a protocol that solves all three. By creating a shared economic layer ($SHOT) across independent AI products, Slingshot gives builders access to committed users, gives users discounts across the ecosystem, and gives stakers passive income from ecosystem growth.
This whitepaper describes the $SHOT token: its utility, its economics, and how it connects builders, users, and the growing AI agent economy into a single, aligned system.
Building an AI tool is easier than ever. Getting users is harder than ever. Customer acquisition costs in SaaS average $200-500 per user. Most indie AI tools can't afford traditional marketing. They build great products that nobody finds.
The average knowledge worker uses 5-10 AI tools. Each has its own subscription, payment flow, and pricing. There's no unified way to discover, pay for, and manage AI tool spending.
AI tools exist in silos. There's no shared infrastructure for payments, identity, or value exchange. When AI agents begin transacting autonomously, they'll need a common economic layer — one that doesn't exist today.
Slingshot is a shared economic layer for AI products. It provides:
The Slingshot Foundation maintains the protocol infrastructure and promotes ecosystem growth. It does not own or control the products built on the protocol. Each "Powered by Slingshot" product is independent — they integrate $SHOT because the ecosystem provides distribution, committed users, and economic alignment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | SHOT |
| Standard | ERC-20 |
| Chain | Base (Coinbase L2) |
| Total Supply | 1,000,000,000 (fixed) |
| Minting | Disabled |
| Burning | Enabled |
| Decimals | 18 |
This is the core economic mechanism of $SHOT.
Powered by Slingshot products accept both fiat (USD, USDC) and $SHOT for services. Users who pay in $SHOT receive a discount negotiated per product (currently 20-30%). The discount is the product's customer acquisition cost — cheaper and more effective than paid advertising.
Fiat Payment: User pays fiat → Product keeps 100% → Protocol earns nothing.
$SHOT Payment:
The protocol only earns revenue when users pay in $SHOT. This creates direct alignment: the more people choose $SHOT, the more fees flow to stakers and burn.
| Product | $SHOT Discount |
|---|---|
| Slingly (marketplace) | 30% off vs fiat |
| SlingerBoost (marketing) | 20% off vs fiat |
| Cockpit (dashboard) | Native $SHOT only |
| Agent Compute | Native $SHOT only |
$SHOT holders can stake tokens to earn yield and unlock ecosystem benefits. Staking is structured around five tiers with increasing rewards, and a time-weighted multiplier that rewards long-term commitment.
| Tier | Stake Required | Fee Share Weight | Perks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pebble | 0 | 0x | None |
| Stone | 10,000 (~$100) | 1x | Basic |
| Boulder | 50,000 (~$500) | 1.5x | Full |
| Meteor | 250,000 (~$2,500) | 2.5x | Full + Priority |
| Comet | 1,000,000 (~$10,000) | 4x | Full + Exclusive |
USD estimates at listing price ($0.01/SHOT).
Stakers earn from two independent sources:
A time-weighted multiplier (1.0x to 2.0x over 12 months) increases both streams for long-term stakers. Unstaking triggers a 7-day cooldown and resets the multiplier.
Private sale participants receive a staking time credit — their cliff period counts toward the time-weighted multiplier, starting at 1.5x instead of 1.0x. This advantage narrows naturally and equalizes at 12 months.
A 5% protocol fee is applied to all $SHOT transactions within the ecosystem. The fee is added on top of product pricing — products keep their full revenue. Fiat payments bypass the protocol entirely and generate no fees.
| Destination | Share | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Burn | 35% | Permanent supply reduction |
| Stakers | 35% | Passive yield for stakers |
| Treasury | 30% | Ecosystem development |
With no minting capability and continuous burns from every $SHOT transaction, the circulating supply can only decrease over time. Burn rate scales directly with ecosystem adoption — more products, more transactions, more burn.
The staking rewards pool bootstraps early yield. As the ecosystem matures, protocol fee revenue is expected to become the primary source of staker earnings. Reward rates are dynamically adjusted to ensure sustainability.
All products are independent, built by teams aligned with $SHOT success. "Powered by Slingshot" means the product integrates $SHOT as a payment method.
Community marketing engine. 100+ marketers, 340K+ combined reach. Partners pay in fiat or $SHOT (20% discount).
Marketplace: List, discover, and pay for AI tools. Fiat or $SHOT (30% discount). Launchpad: Back AI projects with $SHOT. Funded projects deliver early access to backers.
Crypto intelligence dashboard with AI market insights, social signals, news. Pro features paid in $SHOT.
The ecosystem is open. Any team can build a product that integrates $SHOT.
Slingshot operates GPU infrastructure. Builders deploy AI agents paying $SHOT per API call.
| Tier | Use Case | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Light | Text, basic inference | ~10 SHOT / 1K calls |
| Standard | Analysis, generation | ~50 SHOT / 1K calls |
| Heavy | GPU-intensive, batch | ~200 SHOT / 1K calls |
Compute is the most reliable fee generator. If an agent is running, it's paying. Every compute transaction flows through FeeRouter — stakers earn, tokens burn. GPU infrastructure funded from token sale proceeds, online by Month 4-6.
| Category | % | Tokens |
|---|---|---|
| Community & Ecosystem | 23% | 230,000,000 |
| Token Sale | 15% | 150,000,000 |
| Staking Rewards | 15% | 150,000,000 |
| Treasury | 15% | 150,000,000 |
| Team & Contributors | 12% | 120,000,000 |
| Marketing & Growth | 8% | 80,000,000 |
| Liquidity | 5% | 50,000,000 |
| Strategic Partners | 3% | 30,000,000 |
| SLING Legacy | 2% | 20,000,000 |
| Launch Incentives | 2% | 20,000,000 |
| Total | 100% | 1,000,000,000 |
| Round | Price | Tokens | % | Max Raise | Wallet Cap | Multiple | Vesting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private | $0.005 | 50M | 5% | $250K | $1,000 | 2.0× | 1mo cliff, 5% + 5mo linear |
| Public | $0.008 | 100M | 10% | $800K | $2,500 | 1.25× | 1mo cliff, 10% + 3mo linear |
| Total | 150M | 15% | ~$1.05M |
Listing: $0.01/SHOT → FDV $10,000,000
| Category | Share | At Full Raise |
|---|---|---|
| LP Pairing | 20% | $210,000 |
| Runway | 25% | $262,500 |
| GPU Infrastructure | 10% | $105,000 |
| Marketing | 15% | $157,500 |
| Buffer | 30% | $315,000 |
| Total | 100% | ~$1,050,000 |
Amounts scale with actual raise. LP pairing receives 20% of total proceeds — initial liquidity depth is directly proportional to sale performance. The "At Full Raise" column assumes both rounds sell out.
Unsold Private round tokens roll into the Public round allocation automatically. This ensures all sale tokens reach the market regardless of Private round demand.
| Category | TGE | Cliff | Linear | Fully Unlocked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sale (Private) | 5% | 1 month | 5 months | Month 6 |
| Sale (Public) | 10% | 1 month | 3 months | Month 4 |
| Community | 5% | 2 months | 18 months | Month 20 |
| Staking Rewards | Continuous | — | 36 months | Month 36 |
| Treasury | 5% | 3 months | 12 months | Month 15 |
| Team | 0% | 6 months | 12 months | Month 18 |
| Marketing | 10% | 1 month | 9 months | Month 10 |
| Liquidity | 100% | — | Permanent | Never |
| Strategic | 0% | 3 months | 12 months | Month 15 |
| SLING Legacy | 0% | 3 months | — | Month 4 |
| Launch Incentives | 50% | 1 month | 1 month | Month 2 |
A dashboard of exclusive discounts, credits, and trials from partner AI tools — unlocked by staking $SHOT at Stone tier or above.
The Foundation negotiates perks on behalf of the community. Partners receive marketing and distribution. The Foundation earns nothing from perks — pure staker benefit.
| Contract | Function |
|---|---|
| SHOT Token | ERC-20 with burn. Fixed 1B supply, no mint. |
| Staking Contract | Five-tier staking, rewards, fee share, time-weighted multipliers. |
| FeeRouter | Single split (35/35/30). Routes fees to burn, stakers, treasury. |
| Perks Hub | Gated dashboard, on-chain staking verification. |
| Treasury | Community-governed multisig for ecosystem development. |
20,000,000 $SHOT (2%) allocated to verified SLING legacy holders based on a proportional snapshot taken pre-TGE. Claim window: Month 3 to Month 4 post-TGE (30-day window). Unclaimed tokens return to treasury. $SLING remains as a legacy layer. SLING and SHOT are separate, independent tokens.
Nothing in this document constitutes an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any token, security, or financial instrument. $SHOT has not been registered under any securities laws. Cryptocurrency involves substantial risk — never invest more than you can afford to lose. Projections are illustrative and not guarantees. Always verify contract addresses through official channels. Do your own research.