In the search for stable, decentralized value in crypto, many have turned to familiar solutions—fiat-backed stablecoins, rebasing tokens, or algorithmic models that often overpromise. But Pinto takes a different route. Built on Base, Pinto is an experiment in creating money that is not pegged to the dollar, not governed by any central authority, and not backed by fiat.

Instead, Pinto relies on a system of incentives. It doesn’t promise perfect stability—but it aims to guide its value toward $1 over time, using transparent, permissionless mechanics that anyone can participate in.

Pinto is structured like a farm. Each hour is a new “season.” And during every season, Pinto checks the price and reacts. It might mint new tokens, reduce supply, or adjust interest rates—all to help bring the price closer to its value target. Everything is coordinated through community-driven participation, not top-down enforcement.

How Pinto Works

The core of Pinto’s design is incentive-driven price adjustment. It doesn’t force a fixed price. Instead, it continuously responds to market signals.

Each hour—called a season—the protocol checks whether Pinto is trading above or below its target value (typically around $1). Based on that, it takes one or more of the following actions:

• If demand is high and the price is above target: Pinto mints new tokens and distributes them to participants, encouraging some to sell and easing upward pressure.

• If demand is low and the price is below target: the protocol borrows Pinto from the market (users “lend” their tokens) and burns the borrowed supply to reduce excess. Later, the protocol repays that debt with interest.

There are no forced actions, no hard rebases, and no centralized decisions. The protocol operates on a predictable rhythm, driven by code and community participation.

At the beginning of every season, a user calls the gm() function to trigger the next update. That action initiates supply adjustments, recalculates interest rates, and distributes rewards. In return, the caller receives a small Pinto reward. This decentralized timekeeping process keeps the system moving hour by hour.

The Core Components: Sun, Silo, Field, and Toolshed

To help structure participation and keep things intuitive, Pinto is built around a farming metaphor:

1. The Sun

This is Pinto’s timekeeper. Each new season begins when someone calls the gm() function. The first person to do this after each hour earns a small reward in Pinto. The Sun ensures regular updates to the system without relying on a central server.

2. The Silo

The Silo is Pinto’s deposit system. Users can deposit Pinto or LP tokens and earn Stalk and Seeds, which represent their share of future rewards. Depositors in the Silo receive a portion of minted Pinto when demand is high. Over time, the longer you remain deposited, the more yield you earn. This helps encourage long-term participation and system stability.

3. The Field

The Field is where Pinto borrows tokens. When the price drops and supply needs to be reduced, Pinto opens “Soil”—a debt offering. Users can lend Pinto to the protocol and receive Pods, which are promises of future Pinto. These Pods are repaid in the order they were created. The further Pinto is from its target price, the more attractive the interest rate, helping incentivize lending.

4. The Toolshed

This is Pinto’s utility layer. It includes tools that make interacting with the system easier—batching transactions, converting between assets, or managing debt. It doesn’t affect the price directly but supports smoother user experience and integration with other protocols.

Common Misconceptions

As with any new system, Pinto is often misunderstood. Here are two misconceptions we see often:

1. “This is just like $UST.”

Pinto is not like UST. Terra’s UST was designed around a hard peg to $1, enforced by minting and burning a second token (LUNA). When confidence collapsed, the mechanism failed, triggering a massive death spiral.

Pinto has no second token, no hard peg, and no arbitrage-based defense. It uses credit markets and incentives instead of promises. If confidence drops, Pinto slows down—but doesn’t implode. It can always offer higher interest to attract lenders and reduce supply. It's opt-in, gradual, and resilient by design.

2. “If it’s below $1, it’s broken.”

Price movements are expected in Pinto. It is not meant to always stay at exactly $1. Instead, it aims to oscillate around a target value, adjusting incentives over time to guide the price. A dip to $0.95 or $0.85 is not a failure, it’s part of the mechanism working. The protocol reacts to those changes gradually and incentivizes behavior that brings things back in line. Short-term volatility is the tradeoff for long-term decentralization and capital efficiency.

Why It Matters?

Most stablecoins rely on either trusted reserves (like USDC) or fragile mechanisms (like UST). Pinto offers something different: a system that tries to stay stable without trust or collateral.

It is:

• Fully onchain

• Built on Base

• Community-run

• Opt-in and permissionless

You don’t need to trust an issuer. You just need to understand how the system works. The more participants, the stronger Pinto becomes.

This experiment is not about maintaining a perfect peg. It’s about seeing whether we can grow a functional, stable-ish currency using nothing but incentives and smart design. It’s an ongoing process—but one worth watching, contributing to, or learning from.

A Note from the Community

As someone who's been deep in the weeds learning how Pinto works, I’ve also shared my thoughts with others exploring new forms of onchain money.

Here’s one of my recent posts on X that summarizes Pinto’s approach:

FeMMie.sol ➕

@0xFemmie

I’ve been exploring @pintodotmoney and it’s unlike anything else out there.

instead of forcing stability, @pintodotmoney uses permissionless incentives to guide price toward a value target—gently, consistently, and transparently.

every “season” (1 hour), the system

40

6:10 PM • Apr 3, 2025

It’s a simple reflection, but it captures the essence: Pinto doesn’t force stability, it builds incentives for it—openly, gradually, and with everyone involved.

Pinto Intern

@PintoIntern

Putting all algorithmic stables in the insolvent bucket is dangerous. Have we given up on iterating on money to fullfil Defi's promise? Are all serious stables only T-Bill wrappers now?

Not all autonomous money are UST.

Steakhouse Financial

@SteakhouseFi

In this article we use the term 'fractional reserve' to refer to stablecoins that hold a portion of their reserves in non-cash assets (commercial paper, secured loans, commodities, etc), not implying undercollateralization or insolvency.

By reserve we refer to the proportion of

15

12:02 PM • Apr 9, 2025

Final Thoughts

Pinto may not look like traditional stablecoins, but that’s the point. It’s trying to do something harder: create onchain money that doesn’t need to be backed by banks or governed by committees.

If you’re interested in decentralized finance, monetary design, or coordination games, Pinto is worth your time. Dive into the docs, check out the farm, and explore the mechanisms.

Season by season, Pinto is growing something new.

Explore & Learn More

• Pinto Website: https://pinto.money

• Pinto X : https://x.com/pintodotmoney

• Pinto Farcaster : https://warpcast.com/pintodotmoney

• Docs: https://docs.pinto.money

• Community Discord: https://discord.gg/pintomoney

• GitHub: https://github.com/PintoProtocol

• Exchange: https:/pinto.money/swap

Related Reference Material

• Beanstalk Docs: https://docs.bean.money

• Haseeb Qureshi – Ethereum is Unforkable: https://haseebq.com/ethereum-is-now-unforkable-thanks-to-defi

• What Happened to Terra UST: https://www.coindesk.com/learn/2022/05/13/what-is-terrausd-ust/