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Guide for Beginners

Get started with Inverse Finance in minutes. This guide walks you through common first actions step-by-step, from setting up your wallet to earning your first yield or borrowing your first DOLA.

Choose your starting point below based on what you want to accomplish. Each path includes everything you need to get started, including prerequisites and next steps.

Before You Begin: Essential Setup

You'll need three things to use Inverse Finance:

1. A Web3 Wallet

A wallet lets you interact with DeFi protocols and stores your crypto assets.

Recommended wallets:

  • MetaMask - Most popular, easy to use, browser extension + mobile app

  • Coinbase Wallet - Good for Coinbase users, user-friendly

  • Rainbow - Beautiful interface, mobile-focused

  • Rabby - Advanced features, multi-chain support

Don't have a wallet yet?

  1. Visit metamask.io (or your preferred wallet)

  2. Download the browser extension or mobile app

  3. Create a new wallet and securely store your seed phrase

  4. Never share your seed phrase with anyone

Critical Security: Your seed phrase is the master key to your funds. Write it down on paper, store it securely offline, and never type it into any website or share it with anyone claiming to be "support."

2. ETH for Gas Fees

All transactions on Ethereum cost gas fees paid in ETH.

How much ETH you need: $10-20 worth is sufficient for multiple transactions

How to get ETH:

  • Buy directly in your wallet (MetaMask has built-in purchase)

  • Buy on a centralized exchange (Coinbase, Kraken, Binance) and withdraw to your wallet

  • Use an on-ramp service (MoonPay, Ramp, Transak)

Important: Always keep some ETH in your wallet. Even if you're depositing DOLA or other tokens, you need ETH to pay gas fees for the transactions.

3. Choose Your Network

Inverse Finance's suite of products are predominantly available only on Ethereum Mainnet. DOLA is made available on select L2s like Optimism, Base, and Arbitrums. For more, visit the yield opportunities section.

Network
Best For
Gas Costs

Ethereum Mainnet

Full features, highest liquidity

$2-10 per transaction

Optimism

Lower fees, fast transactions

$0.50-2 per transaction

Base

Lowest fees, growing ecosystem

$0.10-1 per transaction

Arbitrum

Low fees, established DeFi

$0.50-2 per transaction

For this guide, we'll use Ethereum Mainnet (most features available). Once you're comfortable, you can bridge assets to L2s for lower costs.

Tip: Start on Ethereum Mainnet to access all features. Once you understand the basics, explore L2s to save on gas fees for regular usage.

Choose Your Path

Select the action you want to take first. Each path is complete and standalone—you can come back and try other paths anytime.

Earn Yield with sDOLA

  • Best for: Conservative users who want passive yield on stablecoins

  • Time required: 1-5 minutes

  • Difficulty: 🟢 Beginner

  • What you'll need: DOLA or money to buy DOLA

Step 1: Get DOLA

You need DOLA to stake in sDOLA. Here's how to get it:

Option A: Buy DOLA on your DEX or DEX Aggregator of choice

  1. Go to swap.defillama.com

  2. Click "Connect Wallet" in the top right

  3. Select your wallet (MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, etc.)

  4. Approve the connection in your wallet

  5. Navigate to the "Swap" section

  6. Select DOLA as the output token

  7. Enter the amount of ETH or USDC you want to swap

  8. Select a route to perform the swap

  9. Review the exchange rate and slippage (keep under 0.5%)

  10. Click "Swap" and confirm in your wallet

Option B: Borrow DOLA on FiRM

If you have crypto collateral and want to borrow instead of buying, see the Borrow DOLA on FiRM tab.

How much DOLA to get? Start with a small amount for your first test ($100-500). Once you're comfortable, you can add more.

Step 2: Navigate to sDOLA Staking

  1. Navigate to inverse.finance (connect wallet)

  2. Click on "sDOLA" in the navigation menu under Product

  3. You'll see the sDOLA staking interface

The interface shows:

  • Current APY - Your expected annual yield

  • Your DOLA balance - How much you can stake

  • Your sDOLA balance - How much you currently have staked

  • Exchange rate - Current DOLA per sDOLA ratio

Step 3: Stake Your DOLA

  1. In the "Stake" section, enter the amount of DOLA you want to deposit

  2. Click "Approve DOLA" (first-time only)

    • This gives the sDOLA contract permission to use your DOLA

    • Confirm the approval transaction in your wallet

    • Wait for confirmation (usually 15-30 seconds)

  3. Click "Stake" after approval completes

  4. Review the transaction details:

    • Amount of DOLA you're staking

    • Amount of sDOLA you'll receive

    • Estimated gas fee

  5. Confirm the transaction in your wallet

  6. Wait for confirmation (15-30 seconds)

Success! You're now earning yield. Your sDOLA balance will grow automatically as DBR rewards compound into more DOLA. No claiming needed!

Step 4: Monitor Your Position

  1. Visit inverse.finance/sDOLA

  2. Connect your wallet

  3. View your sDOLA position showing:

    • Current sDOLA balance

    • Underlying DOLA value (increasing over time)

    • Total earned yield

    • Current APY

You can check back anytime to see your earnings grow.

What's Happening Behind the Scenes?

Your DOLA is deposited in the sDOLA vault, which:

  1. Earns DBR rewards from FiRM borrowing revenue

  2. Automatically swaps DBR for more DOLA via auction

  3. Compounds the DOLA back into the pool

  4. Increases the DOLA value of each sDOLA token

You don't need to do anything. Just hold sDOLA and it automatically becomes worth more DOLA over time.

When You Want to Withdraw

  1. Return to inverse.finance/sDOLA

  2. Click the "Unstake" tab

  3. Enter the amount of sDOLA you want to withdraw

  4. Click "Unstake" and confirm the transaction

  5. You'll receive your original DOLA plus all accrued yield

No withdrawal delays, no penalties. You can withdraw anytime.

Stake INV for Governance + Yield

  • Best for: Users who want governance participation and protocol revenue share

  • Time required: 1-5 minutes

  • Difficulty: 🟡 Intermediate

  • What you'll need: ETH to buy INV, or existing INV tokens

Step 1: Buy INV Tokens

Where to buy:

  • Curve Finance (deepest liquidity): INV/WETH pool

  • DEX Aggregators (best price finder): Input INV address 0x41d5d79431a913c4ae7d69a668ecdfe5ff9dfb68

    • Try: CowSwap, 1inch, LlamaSwap, Matcha

How to buy (using a DEX aggregator):

  1. Go to swap.cow.fi or your preferred aggregator

  2. Connect your wallet

  3. Paste INV contract address: 0x41d5d79431a913c4ae7d69a668ecdfe5ff9dfb68

  4. Enter the amount of ETH you want to spend

  5. Review the exchange rate and price impact

  6. Set slippage to 1% (increase if transaction fails)

  7. Click "Swap" and confirm in your wallet

Verify the contract address! Always double-check you're buying the correct token. Scam tokens with similar names may exist. The official INV address is 0x41d5d79431a913c4ae7d69a668ecdfe5ff9dfb68.

How much INV to buy?

  • Start with a modest amount ($500-1,000 worth)

  • Remember: 1 INV = 1 vote in governance

  • Consider your voting intentions and yield goals

Step 2: Navigate to INV Staking on FiRM

  1. Go to app.inverse.finance/firm

  2. Connect your wallet (if not already connected)

  3. Find the "INV" market in the list of available markets

  4. Click on the INV row to open the market page

Step 3: Stake Your INV

  1. On the INV market page, you'll see the staking interface

  2. Click the "Deposit" tab

  3. Enter the amount of INV you want to stake

  4. Review the information shown:

    • Current xINV APY (anti-dilution rewards)

    • DBR streaming APY (real yield rewards)

    • Combined total APY

  5. Click "Approve INV" (first-time only)

    • Confirm the approval transaction in your wallet

    • Wait for confirmation

  6. Click "Deposit" after approval completes

  7. Confirm the staking transaction in your wallet

What happens:

  • Your INV is deposited and you receive xINV receipt tokens

  • You start earning xINV anti-dilution rewards (auto-compounds)

  • You start earning DBR streaming rewards (claim manually)

  • You retain full voting rights on your staked INV

Congratulations! You're now earning protocol revenue and can participate in governance. Your staked INV also maintains its voting power for DAO decisions.

Step 4: Claim Your DBR Rewards

Unlike xINV rewards (which auto-compound), DBR rewards need to be claimed manually.

  1. Return to the INV market page on FiRM

  2. You'll see "Claimable DBR" showing your earned rewards

  3. Click "Claim DBR"

  4. Confirm the transaction in your wallet

  5. DBR tokens will appear in your wallet

What to do with claimed DBR:

  • Hold it if you plan to borrow DOLA later (rate locking)

  • Sell it on Curve or via the DBR auction for immediate value

  • Use it to borrow DOLA on FiRM at zero interest

Claiming strategy: Gas fees cost $10-20, so wait until you have meaningful DBR accumulated before claiming (e.g., $50+ worth). Claim monthly or quarterly rather than daily.

Step 5: Vote in Governance

Your staked INV gives you voting power. Here's how to use it:

  1. Join the Inverse Finance Discord

  2. Follow discussions in the #governance-general channel

  3. Read proposals on the Forum

  4. When votes go live vote directly on-chain for binding proposals

  5. Connect your wallet and cast your vote

  6. Your voting power = your INV + xINV balance

Your voice matters: Even small INV holdings contribute to governance. Participating in votes helps shape protocol direction and risk management decisions.

When You Want to Unstake

  1. Return to inverse.finance/firm

  2. Navigate to the INV market

  3. Click "Withdraw" tab

  4. Enter the amount of xINV to withdraw (or click "Max")

  5. Click "Withdraw" and confirm the transaction

  6. Your INV will be returned to your wallet

No lock periods or penalties. You can unstake anytime.

Before unstaking: Make sure you've claimed all pending DBR rewards. Once you unstake, you stop earning DBR, so claim first to maximize your yields.

Borrow DOLA on FiRM

  • Best for: Users who want leverage or liquidity without selling crypto

  • Time required: 2-5 minutes

  • Difficulty: 🟡 Intermediate to 🔴 Advanced

  • What you'll need: Crypto collateral (ETH, wstETH, etc.), DBR tokens, understanding of liquidation risk

Higher complexity: Borrowing involves more steps and risk than staking. Make sure you understand collateral factors, liquidation risk, and DBR mechanics before proceeding. Read our Core Concepts if anything is unclear.

Step 1: Choose Your Collateral

FiRM accepts multiple collateral types. Each has different characteristics:

Collateral
Collateral Factor
Liquidation Factor
Daily Limit
Best For

WETH

85%

75%

2M

General borrowing

wstETH

85%

75%

2M

ETH staking yields + borrowing

CVX

65%

100%

500k

Convex governance participants

INV

30%

50%

25k

INV holders wanting leverage

sUSDe

90%

70%

1M

Pure DOLA short

wstUSR-DOLA LP

90%

100%

5M

Resolv Points Farming

Step 2: Get Collateral (If You Don't Have It)

  1. Use CowSwap, 1inch, LlamaSwap or any other DEX aggregator

  2. Under "You Buy", search for your desired collateral from the dropdown menu

  3. Under "You Sell", select ETH or any other asset that you wish to sell for your chosen collateral

  4. Set slippage to 0.3%-1% (increase if transaction fails)

  5. Click "Swap" and confirm in your wallet

How much collateral? Plan to deposit at least $1,000 worth for your first borrow. Smaller amounts work, but gas fees become a larger percentage of your position.

Step 3: Get DBR (Borrowing Rights)

You need DBR to borrow DOLA. Remember: 1 DBR = right to borrow 1 DOLA for 1 year.

Calculate how much DBR you need:

  • Planning to borrow 1,000 DOLA for 6 months? Need 500 DBR

  • Planning to borrow 5,000 DOLA for 1 year? Need 5,000 DBR

  • Planning to borrow 2,000 DOLA for 90 days? Need ~493 DBR

Where to buy DBR:

Option A: Use Helper Function built into FiRM Market page

  1. Go to your desired market and toggle the Auto-buy DBR button

  2. Select duration to cover and select one between Days, Months, and Years

  3. Check slippage before confirming

Option B: DBR XY=K Auction (often better prices)

  1. Visit inverse.finance/xykauction

  2. Enter the amount of DBR you want

  3. Review the DOLA cost

  4. Confirm the purchase

  5. DBR is minted directly to you

Option C: DEX Aggregator

  1. Use CowSwap, 1inch, LlamaSwap or similar

  2. Input DBR address: 0xad038eb671c44b853887a7e32528fab35dc5d710

  3. Swap DOLA, ETH, or stables for DBR

Pro tip: Buy 20-30% more DBR than you minimally need. This buffer protects you from forced replenishment if you hold the loan longer than expected. DBR that reaches zero triggers expensive forced purchases.

Step 4: Deposit Collateral and Borrow DOLA on FiRM

  1. Go to inverse.finance/firm

  2. Find your collateral type in the markets list

  3. Click on that market to open it

  4. Click the "Deposit & Borrow" tab

  5. Enter the amount of collateral to deposit and how much DOLA to borrow

  6. The interface shows:

    • Borrow Limit

    • Liquidation Price

    • DBR depletion date

  7. Click "Approve [Token]" (first-time only)

  8. Confirm approval in your wallet

  9. Click "Deposit & Borrow" after approval completes

  10. Confirm the deposit & borrow transaction

What's happening:

  • Your collateral goes into a Personal Collateral Escrow (PCE)

  • This is YOUR isolated smart contract—problems in other markets can't affect it

Safety Check: Even if FiRM allows you to borrow up to 82% of collateral value, stay below 75%. This buffer protects you from liquidation during normal market volatility. A 10-15% price drop in your collateral can trigger liquidation if you're too leveraged.

Step 6: Monitor Your Position

Immediately after borrowing:

  1. Visit inverse.finance/dashboard

  2. View your FiRM position showing:

    • Current debt amount

    • Collateral value

    • Collateral ratio

    • Remaining DBR balance

    • Days until DBR depletes

    • Liquidation price

Position management is critical: Unlike staking (set and forget), borrowing requires active monitoring. You must:

  • Watch your collateral ratio

  • Ensure DBR doesn't run out

  • Be ready to add collateral or repay debt if market drops

  • Check positions more frequently during high volatility

  1. Watch two critical metrics:

  • Collateral Ratio (liquidation risk) - your collateral ratio = (Debt / Collateral Value) × 100

  • DBR Balance (replenishment risk)

If your collateral value drops or DOLA debt increases, your ratio rises. Stay in the safe zone.

How to improve your ratio:

  • Add more collateral (deposit more of the same token)

  • Repay some debt (reduces numerator)

  • Both for maximum safety margin

Your DBR balance decreases every second while you have debt.

Check your "Days until depletion" metric regularly

If DBR is running low:

  • Buy more DBR immediately (prices may rise if you wait)

  • Plan to repay your loan before DBR hits zero

  • Never let DBR reach zero—forced replenishment is expensive (5-10x normal prices)

When You Want to Repay

Partial repayment:

  1. Go to your FiRM market

  2. Click "Repay" tab

  3. Enter amount to repay

  4. Confirm transaction

  5. Your debt decreases, collateral ratio improves

Full repayment:

  1. Click "Repay" tab

  2. Click "Max" to repay all debt

  3. Confirm transaction

  4. Your debt is cleared

  5. You can now withdraw all collateral

After repaying:

  • Unused DBR stays in your wallet (keep for future borrows or sell)

  • Withdraw your collateral if you want

  • Or leave it deposited for future borrowing

What to Do With Borrowed DOLA

Now that you have DOLA, here are common strategies:

Earn yield: Deposit borrowed DOLA into sDOLA or jrDOLA to earn while borrowing (yield farming / "carry trade")

Liquidity provision: Provide DOLA to DEX pools for trading fees + incentives

Use in other DeFi: DOLA is available on many protocols for lending or farming

Real-world use: Spend DOLA for real needs without selling your crypto collateral

Leverage: Borrow DOLA, buy more of your collateral, re-deposit, borrow more (advanced, risky)

Risk management: Whatever you do with borrowed DOLA, remember you still need to monitor and maintain your collateral ratio. Don't forget about your open borrow position while chasing yields elsewhere.

Provide Liquidity

  • Best for: Experienced DeFi users comfortable with impermanent loss

  • Time required: 5-10 minutes

  • Difficulty: 🔴 Advanced

  • What you'll need: DOLA + pairing token (USDC, ETH, etc.), understanding of IL risk

Advanced users only: Liquidity provision involves impermanent loss risk, smart contract risk, and requires active management. Only proceed if you understand these risks. See Core Concepts for background.

Understanding Liquidity Provision

When you provide liquidity, you:

  1. Deposit two tokens into a liquidity pool (e.g., DOLA + USDC)

  2. Receive LP tokens representing your share of the pool

  3. Earn trading fees when people swap using the pool

  4. Potentially earn additional rewards (incentive programs)

  5. Face impermanent loss if token prices diverge

Step 1: Choose Your Pool

For beginners to liquidity provision: Start with DOLA/stablecoin Pool on Curve such as DOLA/sUSDe, DOLA/wstUSR, or DOLA-sUSDS

  • Both are stablecoins, minimal impermanent loss

  • High liquidity, established pool

  • Straightforward to understand

Step 2: Get Both Tokens

To minimize slippage, you need values of both tokens in the pair according to the pool's current balance.

Example for DOLA/sUSDe:

  • If providing $1,000 of liquidity

  • You may need $700 DOLA + $300 sUSDe

  • The pool will accept a small imbalance but works best with equal values

How to get the tokens:

  • Buy DOLA (see Tab 1 above)

  • Buy sUSDe on any DEX or transfer from an exchange

  • Check you have enough of both before proceeding

Step 3: Navigate to the Pool

  1. Go to curve.fi

  2. Search for "DOLA" in the pools list

  3. Select the DOLA/sUSDe pool

  4. Click "Deposit"

Step 4: Add Liquidity

  1. Enter the amount of DOLA you want to deposit

  2. Enter the amount of sUSDe (or use "Balanced" option)

  3. Review:

    • Current pool balance

    • Your expected LP tokens

    • Pool fees and slippage

  4. Click "Approve DOLA" (first time)

  5. Click "Approve sUSDe" (first time)

  6. After approvals, click "Deposit"

  7. Confirm the transaction

You now have LP tokens representing your share of the pool.

Step 5: Stake LP Tokens (Optional, for Rewards)

Many pools offer additional rewards if you stake your LP tokens.

  1. Look for "Stake" or "Gauge" option on the pool page

  2. Click "Stake LP tokens"

  3. Approve the LP token

  4. Confirm the staking transaction

You now earn:

  • Trading fees (automatically compound into LP value)

  • Incentive rewards (CRV, INV, or other tokens)

After Completing Your First Action

Congratulations! You've successfully:

  • ✅ Set up your wallet and got connected

  • ✅ Completed your first transaction on Inverse Finance

  • ✅ Earned your first yield or borrowed your first DOLA

What's Next?

Keep Learning

Deepen your knowledge:

Expand Your Portfolio

Try other products:

  • If you started with sDOLA, try staking INV for governance participation

  • If you staked INV, explore borrowing on FiRM with your collateral

  • If you borrowed, consider providing liquidity for additional yields

  • Check out jrDOLA if you're comfortable with higher risk/reward

Important Reminders

Security First: Inverse Finance team will never DM you first. Never share your seed phrase. Always verify URLs before connecting your wallet.

Understand the Risks: All DeFi carries smart contract risk, market risk, and various other risks. Only deposit funds you can afford to lose. Read our Risk Disclosure before using any products.

Start Small: Your first transaction is about learning, not maximizing returns. Use small amounts, understand the mechanics, then scale up gradually as you gain confidence.

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