# ALPHA Locked Vault
### What is the ALPHA Vault?
It's a smart contract that holds staked ALPHA and distributes SUI rewards from protocol fees. Mechanically, it works like an AlphaFi Strategy vault — you receive a receipt for your share, and rewards accrue against your position.
Two things to know:
1. **Rewards are paid in SUI**, not ALPHA. They're funded by 50% of protocol fees.
2. **Unstake have a 35 days lock period.** Unstaking is a two-step process with a wait between request and claim.
### How it works
**Stake ALPHA → receive xTokens.** xTokens are your share of the vault.
**Earn SUI every Sunday.** Target APR \~20%, sourced from protocol fees. Historical APR has stayed close to that.
**First reward arrives on the second Sunday.** After staking, your first distribution comes on the second Sunday after deposit. Then every Sunday.
#### The 35 Days Lock Period
The ALPHA Vault applies a lock period to unstake.
**What "lock" means.** Your ALPHA is not frozen. You can request unstake any time. After requesting, there's a waiting period before you can claim the tokens. During the wait, your funds remain in the vault.
**Lock duration.** The lock period is fixed at 35 days and enforced on-chain. Check the ALPHA Vault page for your unlock date and lock status.
Why Lock Period?
The lock period ensures committed participation in the protocol. It aligns staker incentives with the long-term health of AlphaFi and enables the protocol to deploy capital effectively to generate rewards.
#### Weekly SUI Rewards
**Cadence.** Rewards are distributed every Sunday. The first eligible Sunday for a new staker is the second one after their deposit.
**Source.** 50% of protocol performance fees flow into the ALPHA Vault Rewards pool.
**Calculation.** Your share of the weekly distribution is proportional to your xToken holdings:
```
your_reward = weekly_pool × (your_xTokens / total_xTokens)
```
**Collect Rewards.** Click '**Collect Rewards**' to collect accumulated SUI rewards to your wallet. Unclaimed rewards keep accruing.
Rewards are not subject to the lock. They can be claimed any time, regardless of withdrawal status.
#### Stake Flow (Step by Step)
1. Open the **ALPHA** page.
2. Click **Stake**.
3. Enter the amount of ALPHA to stake, or click **Max**.
4. Review the current APR and lock period.
5. Click **Approve** (first-time stakers).
6. Click **Stake** and sign the transaction.
7. Your position will appear instantly. First SUI rewards arrive on the second Sunday after staking.
#### Unstake: A Two-Step Process
Withdrawal uses a two-step flow because of the lock.
**Step 1 — Initiate Unstake (request)**
Enter the unstake amount.
**What happens on-chain:**
* The vault creates an unstake request attached to your position.
* The 35-day unlock timer starts immediately.
* Your estimated unlock date appears instantly in the **Unstake Transactions** section.
* The requested amount stops earning new rewards during the unlock period.
* Any remaining balance in your position continues earning rewards normally.
**Step 2 — Claim Withdrawal**
After the unlock time passes, return to claim.
**Waiting for the unlock time.** The interface shows a countdown for each pending unstake.
**Receiving your tokens.** Once the unlock has passed, click **Claim** on the request. The vault burns the corresponding xTokens and sends the ALPHA to your wallet.
**Multiple concurrent requests**
A position can have multiple unstake requests in flight at the same time. Each has its own unlock timer.
This is useful for laddering unstake — for example, unstake 25% now and another 25% in 30 days. Each request starts its own clock.
All pending unstakes, their status, and unlock time are shown in the **Pending Unstakes** section.
**Unstake Flow (Step by Step)**
1. Open the **ALPHA** page.
2. Click **Unstake**.
3. Enter the amount of ALPHA to unstake.
4. Click **Unstake** and sign the transaction.
5. Wait for the unlock period. The interface shows the claimable unstake date.
6. After unlock, return and click **Claim** on the request.
7. Sign the claim transaction. ALPHA lands in your wallet.
#### Vault Mechanics (under the hood)
For users who want to understand what's happening at the contract level.
**xToken model.** When you stake, you receive xTokens proportional to your share of the vault. The vault tracks `xTokenSupply` (total shares) and `tokensInvested` (total ALPHA backing those shares).
**Settlement.** Rather than updating the vault on every individual deposit and withdrawal, AlphaFi batches updates. New deposits and pending withdrawal requests are tracked until a settlement transaction processes them. This is gas-efficient and prevents griefing patterns. Practical impact: a withdrawal's unlock timer starts at the next settlement, not at the moment of the request transaction.
**Pause states.** The vault has two independent pause switches: deposits and withdrawals.
* Pausing withdrawals automatically pauses deposits.
* Deposits cannot be unpaused while withdrawals are paused.
This means users can always exit, even if new entries are halted. Pause is used only in extreme circumstances (active exploit, contract issue).
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