How to Get ICE on Aquarius: Lock AQUA, Multipliers, Melting

ICE at a glance

Item	Rule
How to get it	Lock AQUA at aqua.network/locker; no other way
Amount	AQUA × (1 + 9 × days until unlock ÷ 1,095), max 10x
Transferable?	No: cannot be sent, traded or deposited
Early unlock?	No: AQUA is claimable only after the date you chose
Decay	Melts linearly to 1x at unlock, recalculated daily
Uses	Market votes (upvoteICE), governance (governICE), LP reward boost up to 2.5x

Source: Aquarius docs, ICE tokens.

How much ICE you get

ICE grows linearly with the time until unlock and caps at 10x for 1,095 days, which is three years. A 3-year lock gives 10 ICE per AQUA, 2 years 7, 1 year 4, and 6 months 2.5.

Lock length	Multiplier	10,000 AQUA gives
3 years or more	10x	100,000 ICE
2 years	7x	70,000 ICE
1 year	4x	40,000 ICE
6 months	2.5x	25,000 ICE

Locking longer than three years adds nothing, because the multiplier stops at 10x. The lock multiplier is not the same as the 2.5x reward boost: the multiplier decides how much ICE you hold; the boost is what that ICE earns you as a liquidity provider.

How to lock AQUA, step by step

1. Get AQUA into a Stellar wallet that connects to Aquarius. See how to buy AQUA.
2. Open the Locker at aqua.network/locker, under AQUA & ICE in the top menu.
3. Enter the amount of AQUA and pick an unlock date. The tool shows the estimated ICE.
4. Review and sign. Your wallet pays the Stellar network fee.
5. Check balances in My Aquarius: ICE, upvoteICE and governICE appear once the lock confirms.

The lock is a Stellar claimable balance that only your wallet can claim, and only once the unlock date passes. Until then the AQUA cannot be retrieved by anyone, including you.

The ICE token family

Locking mints three tokens. ICE tracks how much you have locked; upvoteICE votes for markets; governICE votes on governance. downvoteICE was deprecated in June 2026.

Token	What it does
ICE	Records your lock and sets your upvoteICE and governICE. Also what the LP reward boost is measured against
upvoteICE	Votes for markets at aqua.network/vote; withdrawable at any time
governICE	Votes on governance proposals; returned when a proposal concludes
downvoteICE	Deprecated June 2026; may still show in older wallets
dICE, gdICE	Minted when you delegate market or governance votes

Because the voting tokens are separate, you can vote on markets and on governance at the same time with the same lock.

How ICE melts

Your ICE balance is recalculated every day from the days left until unlock, so it falls in a straight line toward 1 ICE per AQUA on the unlock date. Excess ICE is reclaimed from your wallet and from your votes.

The docs' example: 10,000 AQUA locked for two years starts at 70,000 ICE, is down to 40,000 ICE with a year left, and reaches 10,000 ICE on the unlock date, when the AQUA becomes claimable. To keep your voting power and boost, extend the lock or add AQUA before it melts away. A 3-year lock stays at 10x only on day one; its ICE then declines like any other.

What ICE is for

• Directing emissions. upvoteICE decides which markets share 7M AQUA a day. On 25 October 2026, 52.99B votes were committed across 537 markets. Voters earn from voting incentives on the markets they back; see how to vote on Aquarius.
• Governance. governICE votes on protocol proposals and Asset Registry listings, which need a 20% ICE quorum.
• Boosting LP rewards. If you provide liquidity, ICE multiplies your AQUA rewards by up to 2.5x. The full boost needs your share of all ICE to be at least your share of the pool; see how to provide liquidity on Aquarius.
• Delegation. If you will not vote weekly, delegate upvoteICE, governICE or both. Market voting rewards still come to you, and changes have a 24-hour cooldown.

How long to lock

Lock only AQUA you are content not to touch until the unlock date. A longer lock gives more ICE per AQUA, but AQUA's price can move a long way in three years and you cannot exit.

• Three years gives the most voting power per AQUA and the strongest boost, at the cost of the longest commitment.
• One year gives 4x: a reasonable middle if you want voting power but not a multi-year lock.
• Several smaller locks with staggered dates let part of your AQUA come free each year.

Remember that rewards from voting and providing liquidity are paid mostly in AQUA. At $0.000287 on 25 October 2026, AQUA's price matters as much as the percentage. Background on the token: what is AQUA.

The pooled alternative

If you want ICE's earning power without running a lock yourself, you can stake AQUA with a protocol that pools ICE. You give up the direct vote and accept that protocol's terms in exchange.

WhaleHub, which publishes this blog, works this way. You stake AQUA and receive BLUB one for one; WhaleHub locks the pooled AQUA for ICE, votes it toward the markets and incentives that pay best, and pays stakers in AQUA. Stakers with 150,000 BLUB or more can switch on auto-restake. The trade-offs are real: your AQUA stays locked for ICE, unstaking returns BLUB, not AQUA, after a 10-day cooldown, and BLUB is a floating token whose market price can be above or below 1 AQUA. Read what BLUB is and how to stake AQUA before choosing.

	Lock AQUA yourself	Stake via WhaleHub
You hold	ICE, upvoteICE, governICE	Staked BLUB
Who votes	You or your delegate	The protocol
Paid in	Voting incentives, mostly AQUA; LP boost	AQUA
Exit	AQUA back at your unlock date	BLUB after a 10-day cooldown