Step-by-step guides
Everything a member actually does, written out in full. If you've never used a wallet before, start at the top and work down — each guide picks up where the last one left off.
Connect your wallet
Connecting proves you own an address. It doesn't move anything, it costs no gas, and you can disconnect at any time. You do it once per browser.
Install a wallet and fund it with a little POL
You need a wallet app and a small amount of POL — Polygon's native coin — to pay network fees. A dollar's worth covers many transactions. Without any POL, nothing else on this page will work, even if you hold $VALUES.
POL is the fee coin. It is not $VALUES, and holding $VALUES alone won't pay your fees.
Open the app and press Connect wallet
The button sits at the top right of every page in the app. A list of wallets appears; choose yours.
On a computer: approve the connection in the extension
Your wallet extension opens a small window asking to connect to valuesdao.org. Press Connect. The button at the top right changes to your address — that's how you know it worked.
On a phone: the browser hands you to your wallet app
Your phone switches to the wallet app, which asks to connect. Approve it, then return to the browser yourself — most wallets do not switch back automatically. The page will already be connected when you get there.
This is the step people find hardest. If you approved in the wallet and nothing seems to have happened, go back to your browser and look at the top right — it is usually already done.
Sign the sign-in request
After connecting, you're asked to sign a short message. This proves the address is yours. It is a signature, not a transaction: it costs nothing and cannot move your tokens.
Check the network says Polygon
If your wallet is on Ethereum or another chain, the app will ask you to switch. Approve it — everything here lives on Polygon.
Make $VALUES show up in your wallet
A wallet only lists tokens it has been told about. If your balance shows on this site but not in MetaMask, nothing is wrong and nothing is lost — the wallet simply doesn't know to look for it yet. You add each token once.
Copy the contract address
Take the $VALUES address from the table at the bottom of this page. Copy the whole thing; the last four characters matter as much as the first four.
In your wallet, choose Import tokens
In MetaMask it's at the bottom of the token list on the main screen. Other wallets call it Add token or Manage tokens.
Paste the address
The name and the decimals fill in by themselves — $VALUES, 9 decimals. If they don't, you're on the wrong network: switch to Polygon and try again.
Repeat for sVALUES
If you have staked, do the same with the sVALUES address. These are two separate entries; adding one does not add the other.
Seeing both makes the difference obvious at a glance: $VALUES is your free balance, sVALUES is your staked balance, and only the sVALUES number grows on its own.
Get USDT0 into your wallet
$VALUES is bought with USDT0 on Polygon, so that's what you need first. Most people send it from an exchange.
Open the Deposit page in the app
It shows your own address as text and as a QR code. This is where USDT0 should be sent — it is your wallet, not an account we hold for you.
On the exchange, choose to withdraw USDT
Pick USDT, then choose the Polygon network. Exchanges list several networks for the same token and they are not interchangeable.
Set Polygon as the network — check this twice
Sending on Ethereum, Tron, BNB Chain or any other network will not arrive, and in most cases cannot be recovered by anyone. The network matters more than the address.
This is the single most expensive mistake a newcomer can make. If you are unsure, send a small test amount first and wait for it to arrive.
Paste or scan your address
Copy it from the Deposit page, or scan the QR code with the exchange's app. Compare the first and last four characters after pasting.
Send, and wait a minute
Polygon settles in seconds, but exchanges usually take a few minutes to release a withdrawal. The balance appears on the Swap page when it lands.
Buy $VALUES
The app swaps against the DAO's own pool. The first purchase takes three transactions — two permissions and the trade. After that it's a single transaction every time.
Open Swap and choose Buy $VALUES
The tab at the top of the panel sets the direction. Buy spends USDT0 and gives you $VALUES; Sell does the reverse.
Type an amount
The panel shows what you'll receive, the rate, the pool fee and a minimum. The estimate is already net of fees — the number shown is the number that arrives.
Approve USDT0 — first time only
The button reads Approve USDT0. This lets the swap contract move that one token, and it is asked once per token, ever. Confirm it in your wallet and wait for it to confirm.
Enable USDT0 for swapping — first time only
A second, different permission, valid for 30 days. Uniswap routes payments through a shared permissions contract, which is what this grants. Confirm it and wait.
Two permissions in a row looks like something went wrong. It didn't — they do different jobs, and after this you won't see either again for a month.
Press Swap and confirm
Your wallet shows the transaction. Confirm, and within a few seconds the panel says Swapped and your balances update.
If it fails, look at the minimum
A swap is cancelled rather than filled if the result would fall below the minimum shown. That protects you from a bad price. Wait a moment and try again, or try a smaller amount.
Stake, and unstake again
Staking is what makes a balance grow. You give up nothing by doing it except the ability to spend those tokens until you unstake, which takes one transaction and no waiting.
Open Stake and enter an amount
Press Max to stake everything. The panel shows the fee that applies and what you'll receive after it.
Approve $VALUES — first time only
The same idea as before, for a different contract: the staking helper needs permission to move your $VALUES. Confirm and wait.
Press Stake and confirm
Your $VALUES becomes sVALUES, one for one, minus the fee. The Portfolio page will show the new sVALUES balance.
Watch it grow, once a day
Every 24 hours a rebase pays out and every sVALUES balance grows by the same fraction. You don't claim anything and you don't need to visit — it happens whether you're watching or not.
To unstake, switch the tab and repeat
The Unstake tab takes sVALUES back to $VALUES. There is no waiting period. It needs its own one-time approval for sVALUES, then a single transaction each time after.
Sell your $VALUES
Selling is buying in reverse. The only thing worth knowing is that you cannot sell sVALUES directly — it has to become $VALUES first.
If your tokens are staked, unstake them first
Go to Stake, switch to the Unstake tab, and take back as much as you want to sell. sVALUES cannot be swapped; $VALUES can.
Open Swap and choose Sell $VALUES
Enter the amount. The panel quotes what you'll receive in USDT0, net of fees.
Approve $VALUES for swapping — first time only
The same two permissions as buying, this time for $VALUES rather than USDT0. Once each, then never again for a month.
Confirm the swap
USDT0 lands in your wallet within seconds.
Send it onward if you want cash
From your wallet, send the USDT0 to your exchange's Polygon deposit address, and sell for your local currency there. Choose the Polygon network again on the way out.
Contract addresses
The addresses your wallet needs to display these tokens. Each one links to Polygonscan, where you can check it against what your wallet shows.
When something looks wrong
- I connected on my phone but the site doesn't look connected.
- Switch back to your browser yourself — most wallet apps don't return you automatically, and the page is usually already connected. Look at the top right for your address before trying again. Connecting twice does no harm, but it's rarely what's needed.
- My $VALUES balance vanished from MetaMask.
- It hasn't moved. Wallets only display tokens they've been told to watch, and that setting can reset. Add the token again with the contract address at the bottom of this page — your balance was on the chain the whole time.
- A transaction failed and I still paid a fee.
- Network fees are charged for the attempt, not the result — that's how the chain works, and it isn't something we can refund. A swap that fails on the minimum has protected you from a worse price than you agreed to.
- Why am I being asked to approve twice before my first swap?
- The two permissions do different things: the first lets the shared permissions contract move that token at all, the second gives the swap router a 30-day window through it. Both are one-time. After them, swapping is a single transaction.
- The APY changed since yesterday.
- It moves on its own. The daily reward is fixed against total supply but shared among everyone staking, so when more people stake, the same reward divides further and the APY falls. Nobody changed a setting.
- Nothing works and every transaction fails immediately.
- Check your POL balance. Every transaction on Polygon costs a fraction of a cent in POL, and with none at all, nothing will send — no matter how much $VALUES or USDT0 you hold.