Cliff

An initial period during which no vested tokens are released.

A cliff is a delay at the start of a vesting schedule where no tokens are released. The most common is a 1-year cliff: if you receive a 4-year vest with a 1-year cliff, you get zero tokens for the first 12 months, then your first-year allocation unlocks in a single tranche, and the rest vests monthly over the remaining 3 years.

Cliffs align early team members with long-term outcomes; without one, employees could leave after 3 months and walk with 3 months of tokens. The cliff length signals seriousness: 1-year is standard, 6-month is generous to recipients, no cliff is a yellow flag.