Bitcoin staking for token allocations: a look at Jumpstart

In March 2019 the cryptocurrency exchange OKX introduced Jumpstart, a platform for distributing tokens of new blockchain projects. Since launch, the platform has hosted 15 projects, including Toncoin, Woo Network and Sui.

This article explains the rules for token distribution on the platform and how to take part.

How to get tokens on Jumpstart

To join token sales you must verify your account on OKX and stake bitcoin or OKB. To do so, go to Earn and click Jumpstart.

“Jumpstart differs from competitors in that it provides the possibility of staking bitcoin, which virtually every crypto investor has. OKX will accrue staking rewards every minute. Funds can be withdrawn at any time,” the OKX team comments.

Thanks to Lightning Network support, users can instantly transfer bitcoins to OKX from other platforms or Lightning wallets.

For some token sales the exchange imposes regional restrictions. For example, the token sale of the Dmail project was held only among users from South Korea, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

How token sales on Jumpstart work

OKX announces new Jumpstart projects on its blog as well as on X, Telegram and other social networks. At the time of writing, ten projects distributed tokens through mining and five through sales.

Mining is a token-sale model in which users receive rewards for staking bitcoin or OKB over a set period. The more funds you stake, the larger the participant’s reward.

Example: On January 26 the exchange announced the token sale of ZetaChain (ZETA), an L1 network focused on exchanging assets and data across different blockchains.

The minimum stake was 0.3 BTC or 200 OKB. Distribution ran from January 30 to February 1. After staking ended, OKX transferred the staked assets and ZETA to participants’ main accounts.

Sales are lottery-based distributions. Over a set period OKX takes daily snapshots of OKB tokens in the funding account, trading account and Earn account. Participants can then “subscribe” to the lottery — buy one or more tickets on Jumpstart — depending on the amount captured in the snapshots.

At the end of the subscription period the exchange randomly determines the winning tickets. Winners receive the project’s tokens; the other participants get a refund.

Example: On April 14, 2023, OKX announced the token sale of Sui (SUI), a blockchain for serving latency-sensitive dapps from Mysten Labs.

Subscription ran from April 23 to 24. For each OKB token the exchange credited four tickets (up to 100 per user). Winners received 100 SUI per ticket. OKX distributed the tokens to participants’ accounts over 12 months.

After receiving tokens, users can:

• sell them to lock in profit;
• hold or move them to the passive-income service OKX Earn.

For staking ZetaChain the platform pays from 1% to 16.68% per annum, and for staking Sui from 1% to 3.56%.

“We list all projects that were presented on Jumpstart. History shows that after the token sale they demonstrate good returns. For example, the price of ZETA rose by 325% after the token distribution on February 1,” representatives of OKX note.

Conclusions

Jumpstart is a platform that gives access to new projects not only to holders of the exchange token but also to owners of the first and most popular cryptocurrency.

Users do not need to sell bitcoin: they can stake the cryptocurrency and earn additional income in the form of tokens. However, they should follow OKX’s social channels to avoid missing new token sales.