IQ
Rejected venues wait the longest for re-review; a rejection has to earn another look before the scheduled date.
IQ is the token behind IQ.wiki, a crypto encyclopedia, with staking on Ethereum through HiIQ and governance through BrainDAO. Tracked staking value was about $1.55 million at the 2026-08-15 survey, far under our $100 million materiality line. Rejected on size: one practice advising 100 households moves $1M to $8M into a venue on the same research, and below $100M TVL that book becomes the exit crush. Size alone decides it, whatever the protocol’s quality. Sustained growth reopens the file.
- TVL sustained above $100M for 30 days
The research file
Mechanism applicability
HiIQ lets Ethereum holders lock IQ for one week to 208 weeks. Lock amount and duration determine the non-transferable HiIQ balance, governance weight and share of ongoing IQ emissions; rewards are claimable in IQ. The surveyed record is this locked staking contract, not the market capitalization or treasury of the wider IQ AI and knowledge ecosystem, so its tracked value directly invokes the shared v1 below-materiality dossier.
Current observation and lifecycle
The DefiLlama protocol API read on 2026-08-15 classified IQ as Services and reported approximately $1.55M in its Ethereum staking balance, while the aggregate TVL field itself was zero because the value appears under the staking component. The live IQ dashboard showed active lock, reward, checkpoint and unlock controls, hundreds of HiIQ holders, and a roughly 3.1-year average lock. This is an active Ethereum staking system.
Control and exit applicability
Users choose a fixed lock term and cannot treat locked IQ as demand liquidity; unlocking becomes available only after the selected term. HiIQ determines BrainDAO governance power, and community votes can alter emissions, treasury use and ecosystem policy. Token inflation, reward rules, governance concentration, contract execution, and IQ market liquidity therefore affect realized value even though the user signs staking and claim transactions.
Why the class rule decides
At roughly $1.55M tracked staking value, a $1M to $8M advised position would equal a dominant fraction of the system before a multi-year lock or market exit is considered. The shared v1 below-materiality dossier therefore decides. Reopen after the DefiLlama staking balance remains above $100M for 30 consecutive days, then review contract and governance controls, emissions and treasury decisions, incidents, lock-expiry and proposed-size IQ sale liquidity, legal access, and named liquid staking or governance alternatives.
Sources
The claims above trace to these. Where a number could not be independently verified, the thesis says so.
- IQ — HiIQ mechanism · primary · accessed 2026-08-15
Supports: IQ lock, HiIQ balance, lock duration, governance power, staking rewards, emissions - IQ — HiIQ staking guide · primary · accessed 2026-08-15
Supports: Ethereum, one to 208 weeks, wallet control, claim rewards, lock mechanics - IQ — live staking dashboard · primary · accessed 2026-08-15
Supports: current lifecycle, lock, unlock, checkpoint, claimable rewards, average lock time - IQ — live governance dashboard · primary · accessed 2026-08-15
Supports: BrainDAO governance, community proposals, treasury decisions, emissions policy - DefiLlama — IQ survey record · secondary · accessed 2026-08-15
Supports: staking TVL, Ethereum, Services category, staking component, survey observation
Inherited controls
The verdict above grades the protocol layer. Every position also inherits the asset it holds and the chain it settles on. The least safe layer sets the position’s grade, and the position table names which one that is.
| Chain | Verdict | Grade | Control constraint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereum | Approved | sovereign | No sequencer, no upgrade key, no operator who can be compelled — rule changes require social consensus. |