Splintershards (SPS) is the token of Splinterlands, the digital trading card game. The game's documentation calls it "the official governance token of Splinterlands". The project's distribution page says the token's main purpose is "to reward Splinterlands players and asset holders". Total supply is capped at 3,000,000,000 SPS, released over about 65 months. Holders who stake SPS vote on proposals for the game and for funds held by the SPS DAO, and each vote is weighted by the amount staked. The project's documentation was last revised on March 12, 2025.
What SPS is used for
The project gives SPS three main jobs:
- Rewards. Players earn SPS from ranked battles, Guild Brawls, staking, liquidity pools and validator node licenses. Ranked battle rewards require the Summoner's Spellbook. They come from two pools of equal size, one for the Modern format and one for Wild, and each pool holds 1.8 million SPS a month.
- Governance. Holders with staked SPS vote on in-game proposals and on how DAO funds are used.
- Securing the SPS Chain. Staked SPS is used to elect validators, and validator node operators earn SPS.
The token can be moved between the in-game balance and three external networks: Hive Engine, BNB Smart Chain and Ethereum. Before sending SPS to an external wallet, the player has to link that wallet to their game account.
Supply and allocation
The distribution page says total supply "will not exceed 3,000,000,000 SPS". Tokens are issued or unlocked over about 65 months, counted from the token's first release. The page gives no calendar date for that release. Staking rewards began on August 2, 2021, so the schedule had started by then. Counting 65 months from that date puts its end at about January 2027 at the latest.
| Pool | SPS | Share | Release terms (as stated) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Play to Earn | 900,000,000 | 30% | Over 65 months |
| Staking / LP / Oracle rewards | 900,000,000 | 30% | Over 65 months |
| Airdrop | 400,000,000 | 13.33% | Over 12 months to holders of nearly all Splinterlands asset types |
| Foundation (DAO) | 300,000,000 | 10% | 50,000,000 on day one; the rest released to the DAO multisig when the SPS Validator Network launched |
| Unallocated | 270,000,000 | 9% | Over 65 months, held in the DAO multisig; some was allocated to a Soulkeep reward pool by DAO proposal |
| Private sale | 200,000,000 | 6.66% | 10% per month over 10 months; sold to advisors and influencers |
| Partners / advisors | 30,000,000 | 1% | The page's table says 24 months; its text says 12 monthly increments starting one year after launch |
The project's own documents disagree with each other in two places:
- The partners and advisors pool is given two different vesting terms.
- The distribution page's text says the Foundation balance was released when the SPS Validator Network launched, while its table lists the pool as issued over 65 months. The release schedule, last updated in July 2023, still lists the SPS Chain mainnet and DPoS launch as "Timeline TBD".
The project's documentation does not state the circulating supply, and market data sites give widely different figures for it.
How the airdrop worked
The airdrop distributed 400 million SPS over one year, about 1.1 million SPS a day. Each type of eligible asset earned a fixed number of points:
- 1 point per point of Collection Power on owned cards
- 2 points per DEC held in eligible liquidity pools
- 10,000 points per Land Plot
Each day's SPS pool was split across all points held that day. Cards delegated to another account still counted for their owner, and cards listed on the market counted until they sold.
Would an SPS proposal clear the vote?
Answer a few questions about a Splinterlands governance proposal to see whether it meets the thresholds the article describes.
Which stage is the proposal in?
- Pre-proposal (7 days) → next question
- Formal vote (7 days) → next question
Is it a standard pre-proposal or a DAO-sponsored one?
- Standard → next question
- DAO-sponsored → next question
Did at least 5% of staked SPS vote in support?
- Yes → Advances to the formal vote
- No → Does not advance
Did at least 10% of staked SPS vote?
- Yes → next question
- No → Does not advance
Do the votes cast total at least 10% of all staked SPS?
- Yes → next question
- No → No quorum
The pre-proposal met its bar and moves on to a 7-day formal vote, where each Hive account casts one vote weighted by its staked SPS at the moment it votes.
The pre-proposal missed its bar, so it does not reach a formal vote. A standard pre-proposal needs support from at least 5% of staked SPS; a DAO-sponsored one needs 10% of staked SPS to vote and two-thirds in favour.
Votes cast must total at least 10% of all staked SPS. Below that, the vote does not meet quorum, however the votes split.
Enough SPS voted, but fewer than 66.66% of the SPS that voted was "for", so the proposal does not pass.
Votes cast reached at least 10% of all staked SPS and at least 66.66% of that SPS voted "for", the two conditions the governance rules set for a pass.
This checks the stated thresholds only: it does not count live votes, show turnout for any real proposal, or cover how a passed proposal is carried out.
Staking
Staked SPS is locked and cannot be spent or transferred. Unstaking takes four weeks, and a quarter of the amount returns each week. According to the staking guide, staking:
- earns a share of a staking reward pool, which started at 7.5 million SPS a month and falls each month
- gives a bonus on ranked battle rewards
- earns daily Vouchers for the in-game voucher shop
- is required to vote on governance proposals
SPS claimed from ranked battle wins and validator node license rewards is staked automatically. Players can also send part or all of their ranked battle and chest SPS rewards to a second account.
How governance voting works
Proposals pass through two stages.
Pre-proposal (7 days)
Anyone can submit a pre-proposal. The author burns 100,000 DEC and publishes a Hive post tagged SPSPROPOSAL. A standard pre-proposal advances if at least 5% of staked SPS votes in support. DAO-sponsored pre-proposals have a higher bar: 10% of staked SPS must vote and two-thirds must be in favour.
Formal vote (7 days)
- Each Hive account casts one vote per proposal.
- A vote's weight is the account's staked SPS at the moment it votes. Staking more later does not change the vote unless it is removed and cast again.
- Quorum: votes cast must total at least 10% of all staked SPS.
- To pass, at least 66.66% of the SPS that voted must vote "for".
What the DAO controls
The DAO page puts these under DAO control:
- proceeds of the private sale
- token emissions directed to the DAO
- revenue from products sold on its behalf, such as LICENSE tokens and Riftwatchers packs
- the 300M SPS Foundation allocation
Funds sit in multisig wallets controlled by Treasurers elected by the DAO. A Panama-based private interest foundation, run by a board the DAO elects, connects the DAO to legal and regulatory systems.
Validator nodes and the SPS Chain
Staked SPS holders vote, at no cost, for accounts that run SPS Chain software. Each block goes to a validator chosen at random, and validators with more staked votes are more likely to be picked. The chosen validator publishes a hash of the block to Hive, and other validators check it. Elected validators also choose the SPS Treasurers.
A LICENSE token lets an operator earn rewards from running a node without collecting staked votes. The DAO voted to stop accepting vouchers for licenses, so they can now be bought only with SPS. Licenses can also be traded on secondary markets.
What the official pages leave open
The project's pages do not give:
- current circulating supply
- how many tokens have actually moved from each pool
- how many validators are running
- turnout figures for recent votes
Keep in mind that the 3 billion figure is a cap, not the current supply.
