> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.routor.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # The $ROUTOR Flywheel > Each stage of the loop, what speeds it up, and what can stall it. Our goal is to make Routor the first place people turn for AI, and to share what it earns with the people who hold it. The flywheel is how those two goals feed each other. The $ROUTOR flywheel *** ## The Four Stages | Stage | What happens | What it feeds | | - | - | - | | **01 Hold \$ROUTOR** | Holders keep the token in their wallet. | Holders get a reason to try Routor with their reward credits. | | **02 People use Routor** | Buyers and holders send AI requests. Routor routes each one to the right model. | Every paid request earns Routor a profit. | | **03 Profit fills the pool** | A share of Routor's profit goes into the reward pool. | The pool grows with paid usage. | | **04 Holders get AI credits** | The pool pays out as credits to eligible holders. | Credits get spent on Routor, which is more usage. Rewards give people a reason to hold. | *** ## Two Loops in One The flywheel has an inner loop (credits) and an outer loop (people). ```mermaid theme={null} flowchart TB subgraph credits [Credit loop] direction LR C1["Paid requests"]:::step --> C2["Routor profit"]:::step C2 --> C3[("Reward pool")]:::positive C3 --> C4["Holder credits"]:::positive C4 -->|"spent on Routor"| C1 end subgraph people [Growth loop] direction LR P1["Rewards make\nholding worth it"]:::step --> P2["New holders"]:::step P2 --> P3["New Routor users"]:::step P3 --> P4["More paid usage"]:::positive end C4 --> P1 P4 --> C1 classDef step fill:#0d0d0d,stroke:#9ca3af,color:#d1d5db classDef positive fill:#0d0d0d,stroke:#f3f4f6,color:#ffffff,stroke-width:2px ``` * **Credit loop.** Reward credits are spent on Routor, so part of every payout comes back as usage. * **Growth loop.** Rewards give people a reason to hold. Holders who try Routor with their credits and like it become paying users. *** ## What Speeds It Up * **Better routing.** The cheaper each request is to serve at the same quality, the healthier Routor's profit, and the further every credit goes. * **More paid usage.** The pool is funded by paid requests. More of them means a bigger pool. * **Holders who become users.** The loop only compounds if reward credits turn into habits and then into paid usage. ## What Can Stall It A flywheel is only as strong as its weakest stage. These are the real risks. | Risk | Why it matters | How the design handles it | | - | - | - | | Paid usage stays flat | No new profit means no new rewards | Rewards scale with usage and are never paid ahead of funding | | Holders never use Routor | The growth loop breaks | Rewards are credits, not cash, so the only way to use them is to use Routor | | Interest is speculative | Token price moves do not fund the pool | Rewards are tied to profit, not price | | Rewards look like a promise of returns | Regulatory and trust risk | Rewards are product credits with no cash value, and the funding source is disclosed | *** ## Measuring It | Metric | What it tells us | | - | - | | Paid requests per period | Is stage 02 growing? | | Pool size per period | Is stage 03 growing with usage? | | Share of reward credits actually spent | Are rewards becoming usage? | | Holders who become paying users | Is the growth loop working? | This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.