$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 uses a Plutus-style tiered staking model. Higher stakes unlock larger fee share weights and better perks.
| Tier | Stake | Fee Share | Perks Hub |
|---|---|---|---|
| Explorer | 0 | 0x | None |
| Base | 10,000 (~$100) | 1x | Basic |
| Pro | 50,000 (~$500) | 1.5x | Full |
| Elite | 250,000 (~$2,500) | 2.5x | Full + Priority |
| Titan | 1,000,000 (~$10,000) | 4x | Full + Exclusive |
USD estimates at listing price ($0.01/SHOT).
Stakers earn from the Staking Rewards pool (150M tokens distributed over 36 months). Rewards are proportional to stake amount, tier weight, and time multiplier. The exact distribution mechanic will be finalized before launch.
35% of all protocol fees are distributed to stakers proportionally to stake amount × tier weight × time multiplier.
| Duration | Multiplier |
|---|---|
| 0–29 days | 1.0x |
| 30–89 days | 1.25x |
| 90–179 days | 1.5x |
| 180–364 days | 1.75x |
| 365+ days | 2.0x |
7-day cooldown period. Unstaking resets the time-weighted multiplier to 1.0x.
A user who stakes benefits from: 20-30% discount (paying in $SHOT) + staking rewards (proportional to tier) + protocol fee share (passive yield) + Perks Hub access. Reward rates are dynamically adjusted based on pool utilization and protocol fee revenue to ensure long-term sustainability.
5% protocol fee on all $SHOT transactions. Applied on top of product pricing — the product keeps its full revenue. Fiat transactions generate zero protocol revenue.
| Destination | Share | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Burn | 35% | Permanent supply reduction |
| Stakers | 35% | Fee share yield |
| Treasury | 30% | Ecosystem development |
| Scenario | Annual Burn | Conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Conservative | ~2% | Low ecosystem activity |
| Moderate | ~5% | Medium volume |
| Aggressive | ~10%+ | High adoption |
Projections are illustrative. Actual burn depends on transaction volume.
The reward system was stress-tested across three scenarios:
The pool bootstraps early growth. Protocol fees sustain at scale. Reward rates are dynamically adjusted based on pool utilization and protocol fee revenue to ensure long-term 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. $100K in GPU servers 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early | $0.005 | 40M | 4% | $200K | $500 | 2.0x | 20% TGE, 3mo |
| Whitelist | $0.007 | 50M | 5% | $350K | $700 | 1.43x | 40% TGE, 2mo |
| Public | $0.008 | 60M | 6% | $480K | $400 | 1.25x | 60% TGE, 1mo |
| Total | 150M | 15% | ~$1.03M |
Listing: $0.01/SHOT → FDV $10,000,000
| Category | Amount |
|---|---|
| LP Pairing | $200,000 |
| Runway (6 months) | $250,000 |
| GPU Infrastructure | $100,000 |
| Marketing | $150,000 |
| Buffer | $330,000 |
| Category | TGE | Cliff | Linear | Fully Unlocked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sale (Early) | 20% | — | 3 months | Month 3 |
| Sale (Whitelist) | 40% | — | 2 months | Month 2 |
| Sale (Public) | 60% | — | 1 month | Month 1 |
| 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% | Day 30 | — | Day 60 |
| Launch Incentives | 50% | — | 1 month | Month 1 |
A dashboard of exclusive discounts, credits, and trials from partner AI tools — unlocked by staking $SHOT at Base 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: Day 30 to Day 60 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.