# What is HEX? HEX is a trustless smart contract that allows people to timelock their HEX tokens to earn yield. This yield comes by way of inflation. HEX inflates at a max inflation rate of 3.69% per year. This inflation is rewarded to HEX stakers who timelock their HEX for any period of time from 1 day up to 15 years. Stakers are rewarded HEX inflation because by timelocking, they're supporting the price of HEX by reducing circulating supply. In its first 3 years, HEX has had massive success in both price and community growth. HEX did a 10,000x in price and has grown to over 120,000 stakers. HEX has also had 3 years of flawless operation with 100% uptime which is very rare. ### HEX Staking Bonuses * Bigger Pays Better - 10% more yield potential for staking 150M HEX * Longer Pays Better - 200% more yield potential for staking up to 10 years ### Early End Stake Penalties * If you unstake your HEX before the stakes maturity, you will incur severe penalties on you HEX. (As you will read, HEX stake pools will never incur this penalty.) --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.hexpool.party/background/what-is-hex.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.