How to lock tokens.
Locking moves a balance into a contract that will only release it back to you, and only on or after a date you set. It takes two transactions and about a minute.
Before you start#
- The wallet holding the tokens, connected to Robinhood Chain. See connecting a wallet if the network is not in your wallet yet.
- A little ETH for gas, plus the flat fee, currently 0.005 ETH, read live from the contract. See fees.
- The token's contract address, if it is not already in your wallet's token list.
Lock the tokens#
- Open the locker. Go to the lock form and connect your wallet.
- Pick the token. Choose it from your wallet's balances, or paste the contract address. Take the address from the project's own site or the DEX pair — never from a chat message, where lookalike addresses are a standard scam.
- Enter an amount. Max fills in the whole balance. You can lock part of a holding and keep the rest liquid; most teams do.
- Choose an unlock date. The presets cover the common cases. Anything in the future is valid.
- Approve, then lock. The first transaction lets the contract move that amount of that token; the second creates the lock. Two prompts, in that order.
- Share the proof link. Every lock gets a page that reads live from the chain and opens without a wallet. That link is the part that does the work. See proof of lock.
Choosing a date you can defend#
An unlock date is a claim about how long you intend to stay. The number matters less than whether it survives contact with a sceptical holder.
| Situation | A defensible starting point |
|---|---|
| Creator allocation after a launch | 6–12 months, extended as you ship |
| Treasury the project needs to spend from | Several tranches on different dates, not one block |
| Team and contributor supply | Vesting instead. See below |
| LP tokens from a v2-style pool | At least as long as your roadmap's first milestone |
Unlock dates can be pushed further out but never pulled in. That asymmetry is worth using: a shorter first lock you extend as you deliver builds a public record that a single long lock does not. See extending a lock.
When locking is the wrong tool#
A lock releases everything on one date. That is the right shape for a single allocation you intend to hold, and the wrong shape for supply going to several people over time.
- Use vesting for team and contributor allocations — gradual release with an optional cliff says something about time rather than about a single day.
- Use burning when the supply should never come back. Burning is irreversible; locking is not.
Locks vs vesting vs burning compares the three in full.
What cannot be locked#
HoodLock's locker holds ERC-20 tokens. That covers project tokens, treasury balances and v2-style LP tokens, which are themselves ERC-20.
A Uniswap v3 or v4 liquidity position is an NFT, not an ERC-20, so it cannot be locked here. Many launchpads on this chain already lock or burn those positions at graduation. Locking LP tokens explains how to tell which kind you hold.
After the lock#
- The lock appears in My locks and in the explorer.
- Withdrawal becomes available at the unlock time, to the lock's owner only. Nothing happens automatically. See when a lock expires.
- Ownership of the lock can be transferred; the tokens stay where they are.
Lock tokens now
Flat 0.005 ETH, no percentage of your tokens, and a proof link anyone can open without a wallet.
Open HoodLock →