28% of TEA tokens are designated for “Incentives & Airdrops.”

These tokens are used to reward package maintainers, users, and supporters who contribute value to the decentralized network. This includes an initial airdrop for community members who earned points through active participation in the Testnet phase.

Over 21% is allocated to the “Ecosystem & Governance Fund.”

A portion of these tokens is held in the teaDAO treasury to support protocol governance through voting. The remainder is reserved for strategic third-party partnerships that are essential to sustaining and advancing the ecosystem.

Approximately 18% of the total token supply is allocated to core contributors under “Protocol Development.”

This allocation supports the ongoing evolution of the TEA Protocol, ensuring its long-term sustainability and the health of the open-source software (OSS) ecosystem. The core team is actively executing against a two-year development roadmap, with detailed plans to be shared in the near future.

Approximately 16% of the TEA token supply is allocated to “Early Supporters & Advisors”

in recognition of their foundational contributions to the protocol.

An additional 8% is designated to support broad ecosystem participation at Mainnet Launch

and throughout the following 24 months, including community distribution programs for active protocol participants.

A further 8% is designated to support initial ecosystem

accessibility at Mainnet Launch, enabling protocol participants to access TEA tokens for use within the tea Protocol.

Emissions Profile & Long-Term Alignment

The TEA Emissions Schedule defines how and when tokens are introduced into circulation. It has been carefully designed to promote utility, reward contribution, and drive long-term community adoption. TEA’s emissions model is largely programmatic and tied directly to network activity, ensuring that token issuance aligns with verifiable network activity and protocol participation, ensuring emissions reflect genuine ecosystem engagement.

Unlike front-loaded or speculative token models, TEA is a governance-balanced token with a strictly controlled inflation rate, capped at 2% annually. Inflation is not algorithmically triggered but governed by the TEA Association, a legal entity accountable to the DAO (teaDAO). This structure ensures responsible, transparent issuance aligned with long-term protocol objectives. Should corrective intervention be required, the DAO retains the authority to vote on adjustments to the burn rate, providing a mechanism for long-term economic balance and alignment with community values.

To further reinforce sustainability and community alignment, the majority of TEA gas fees collected through protocol usage are returned to the community via the emissions pool with additional distribution being earmarked for Node operations as we further decentralize. Additionally, any unclaimed OSS reward emissions are not burned or lost—they are recirculated and reallocated to the emissions pool, allowing them to be redistributed to future contributors. This ensures that all economic value within the protocol continues to serve its mission: rewarding meaningful participation and strengthening the OSS ecosystem.

Tokens are primarily distributed to three categories of network participants:

• OSS Project Developers
  

• TEA Community Members
  

• OSS Project Supporters
  

These groups are rewarded through incentive-based emissions for actions that add verifiable value to the decentralized OSS ecosystem.

In addition, staking TEA tokens plays a critical role in securing the software supply chain, enabling:

• Ongoing support for registered OSS projects
  

• Direct reward mechanisms for open-source maintainers
  

• Participation in the governance of the TEA Protocol
  

• Encouraging more signed commits across the OSS ecosystem.
  

Token Genesis & Circulating Supply

At the time of the Mainnet Launch, approximately 20% of the total TEA token supply will be unlocked and enter initial circulation. This supply will be used strategically to:

• Distribute protocol incentives and airdrops to early contributors, including OSS projects and community members
  

• Support initial ecosystem participation, enabling protocol participants to access TEA tokens for use within the tea Protocol.
  

• Fuel engagement as the protocol transitions to mainnet, with emissions beginning to reward project onboarding and community interaction
  

Commitment to Longevity

Early supporters, strategic partners, and core contributors are subject to 12-month cliff periods before any tokens unlock. This structure ensures long-term alignment between those who built the protocol and its ongoing mission.

By combining a thoughtfully constrained emissions schedule with aligned long-term incentives, TEA is designed to support sustainable protocol growth, meaningful community adoption, and long-term utility within the open-source software ecosystem.