$KNOW is the currency of the Knowledge-Backed Economy. It powers Bonfire deployment, [[files/Knowledge Economy/Knowledge Network]] participation, and rewards communities for producing useful knowledge. ## Token Utility **Deploy and maintain a Bonfire.** Tokens cover compute and storage costs. Multiple pricing models supported: per-query, credits, time-based. **Join a Bonfire.** KNOW staked into a Bonfire becomes wKNOW and mints an internal community currency at a rate set by each Bonfire. Unstaking returns the underlying KNOW. **Network issuance.** Tokens are emitted as baseline incentives for contributing knowledge to the [[files/Knowledge Economy/Knowledge Network]], distributed based on Bonfire Scores. **Knowledge target bounties.** Tokens fund bounties for specific knowledge targets — directing the network's attention toward what's needed. **Custom retrieval pricing.** Bonfires can set pricing for external retrievals of their knowledge, denominated in KNOW or other currencies. **Governance.** Token holders vote on network upgrades, inflation parameters, target policies, and funding proposals. ## How Rewards Work Each Bonfire earns a **Bonfire Score** combining gravitational energy (semantic alignment with knowledge targets) and retrieval score (how frequently outputs are queried). See [[files/Knowledge Economy/Knowledge Network]] for the full mechanics. Epoch rewards are distributed proportionally across all Bonfires based on their scores. ## Minting Schedule Total supply is fixed at genesis. Tokens mint over time via epoch-based allocation, with the rate adjustable through **KPI-responsive dynamic minting** — the network can accelerate or slow minting based on performance against targets like total gravitational energy, number of active knowledge targets, total staked value, and aggregate Bonfire scores. Unminted tokens roll into future epochs, ensuring the full supply eventually enters circulation. ## Access - **[[files/Genesis NFT|Genesis NFT]]** — 40% of supply allocated to 20,000 Genesis NFT holders (0.002% per NFT) - **Whitepaper:** [IPFS](https://bafybeigriwv577wpzvjoa2lpgl5hiruq5ygghgxw4u2hx45qssl7ufoaqa.ipfs.dweb.link/) - **TGE:** September 2025 > [!info] Token contracts are upgradeable, leaving room for economic policy changes as the network evolves. --- **See also:** [[files/Knowledge Economy/Knowledge Network]] · [[files/Knowledge Economy/kEngrams]] · [[docs/Genesis NFT]] · [[Improving Access to AI]]