Glossary
Gauge
A contract that meters how much of a token's emissions go to a given pool or vault. veToken holders vote weekly to direct gauge weights — the heart of the gauge wars.
In a Curve-style economy, each whitelisted pool has a "gauge". The gauge controller weights how the total token emission for the period is split across all gauges. veToken holders vote to set the weights, and pools attract more emissions when they accrue more votes.
This is what powers the "Curve wars" and their many sequels: external protocols (Convex, Yearn, Stake DAO) accumulate veCRV and sell their vote to other protocols (Frax, Lido) that want emissions directed at their own pool.