Creator fees: how you earn
If you launch a token on Kumbaya, your on-chain reward comes from one main source: a share of trading fees after the token graduates, paid out forever for as long as people trade your token. This page covers how that works, what triggers it, and where to find your earnings in the app.
Quick clarification on terminology. "Tips" on Kumbaya are a separate thing - they're how content creators (people posting yaps, replies, and media in token threads) earn. Token creators don't automatically receive tips for launching. If you also post content in your own token's thread, you can earn tips like any other content creator - see Tipping - but they're not a launch-economics line item. This page is about the streaming-fee income tied specifically to having launched a token.
How it works
When your token graduates, the bonding-curve liquidity consolidates into a single full-range Uniswap V3 position. That position keeps collecting fees on every swap going forward, forever. The fees are then split as follows on every claim:
Protocol
50%
Cult fees (pre-allocated for an upcoming feature)
30%
You, the creator
20%
The 30% cult fees allocation is held against an upcoming Kumbaya feature which rewards cults - when that feature ships, the docs will be updated with how it works, the funds will be distributed upon release.
You earn both sides of every trade:
The numeraire (typically ETH) when someone buys your token.
Your own token when someone sells it.
So a successful, actively traded token compounds for you in both directions. The longer it's traded, the more you accrue.
Where to claim
On your token's page on kumbaya.xyz, the creator earnings panel shows Claim Fees. Clicking it triggers a single transaction that sweeps both sides of the accumulated fees to your wallet.
💡 Anyone can call Claim Fees. The smart contract lets anyone trigger a fee distribution; you just receive your share. So even if you're hands-off, your earnings will flow through if someone else calls it. Calling it yourself is the most reliable.
When earnings start
Pre-graduation (bonding phase)
Nothing for the token creator. Pre-grad trading fees go to the protocol treasury and Kumbaya as the integrator. Your reward is the post-graduation stream that compounds.
At graduation
The bonding-curve liquidity consolidates into the full-range NFT, and the streaming-fee meter starts.
Post-graduation (forever)
Every swap on the pool flows fees to you (minus the protocol/ecosystem share).
If your token never graduates, the streaming income never starts. Force graduation is the safety valve: anyone can trigger graduation after a long enough wait (governance-configurable, hard floor of 90 days). At that point your fee stream begins regardless.
Visual: timeline of token-creator earnings
Common questions
Are creator fees real ETH and real tokens? Yes - real on-chain ETH and your real on-chain token, sent directly to your wallet via on-chain transactions. There's no platform-side "points" sitting between the contract and you.
What if my token never graduates? You don't earn streaming fees until graduation. If a token sits a long time without crossing the graduation threshold, anyone can force-graduate it (governance-configurable, hard floor of 90 days), at which point the fee stream starts.
Do tips affect my creator income at all? No. Tips are a content-creator economy: buyers earn small tip-bonus credits when they buy a token, and they can tip any user - typically yappers in the token thread - by signing a gasless message. Tips land in the recipient's Tip Jar (jar icon in the header, Received tab). If you also post content in your token's thread, you can earn tips that way like anyone else, but it's separate from the streaming-fee income that's tied to launching the token.
My wallet isn't recognized as the creator - what do I do? You're probably looking at an unclaimed token. Most of the time this means your launch was associated with a different signer (e.g. an embedded wallet from a different login). The fix is to claim the listing - see that page for the full flow.
Do I get fees on swaps that happen during the graduation transaction? The graduation transaction itself sweeps any pre-graduation fees to the protocol/integrator under the pre-grad split (creators don't earn on this). Every swap after the graduation transaction flows to you under the post-grad split.
Why don't creators get a share of pre-graduation trading fees? By design - pre-grad trading happens on a bonding curve where every trade contributes to graduating the token. Pre-grad fees fund protocol operations, such as the cost to run our guardian which performs graduations and tips at the protocols expense. The creator's reward is the post-graduation stream that compounds for the lifetime of the token.
Where to next
Tipping → - the content-creator side of Kumbaya's economy
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