PopDEX Creators program

A creator-led weekly trading campaign. Creators bring traders through referral codes, traders generate eligible volume, and the fees that volume creates are pooled into two PopDEX-controlled Vaults and paid to two synchronized leaderboards. This site is the complete rulebook.

What the program does

The program is designed to increase verified trading volume, acquire qualified traders and encourage repeat participation. It runs as a sequence of one-week epochs: one preparation week, one pilot, and four campaign weeks. Every epoch starts fresh, with both leaderboards reset and the rules for that epoch published in advance.

• One funnel. All acquisition enters through creator referral codes. Creators may refer traders or other creators.
• Two leaderboards, one reward model. Creators are ranked on the eligible activity of their referred network and their Sorsa influence; traders on eligible executed volume with a positive-PnL uplift. Both are paid through the same six bands (Star–E), pro rata by score inside each band.
• Fee-funded rewards. Eligible trading fees are allocated into a Creator Vault (10%) and a Trader Vault (50%) at a fixed 3.5 bps, and each Vault receives a $1,000 leaderboard bonus on top.

Objectives

How a week flows

1. A participant joins with a creator referral code, registers, and links one wallet. Attribution locks at onboarding.
2. Through the epoch, traders execute eligible trades; creators grow their referred network.
3. On Sunday 12:00 (Europe/Paris) scoring freezes. PopDEX verifies exclusions and eligibility.
4. Vault allocations are settled to each leaderboard before the next epoch opens on Monday 00:00.

Where to go next

For creators

Creators are the acquisition layer of the program. You bring traders (and other creators) in through your referral code, and you are rewarded on the eligible activity of that network, weighted by your Sorsa Score.

What you do

1. Register and link one wallet. Sign the enrollment message with the wallet that will receive rewards. One wallet per participant identity.
2. Receive your referral code. Share it in your content. Anyone who onboards with it is attributed to you for the campaign.
3. Grow your network through the epoch. Referred traders' eligible volume and Qualified Trader count drive your score.
4. Get settled weekly. Your rank at the freeze places you in a band (Star–E); your band's share of the Creator Vault is paid pro rata by score, and the referral rebate on your own traders' fees is paid on top.

What you earn

The rebate rewards volume you bring regardless of rank. The Vault rewards rank. Together they mean a creator with a small but high-quality network still earns from the rebate while competing for a higher band. The program plans on one creator per ten active traders, so with 200 active traders at $100K each the planning average rebate is 20% × $7,000 ÷ 20 creators ≈ $70 per creator.

How you are scored

Sorsa Score

Your native influence score read from sorsa.io. No internally estimated engagement formula is used.

NCV

Network Contributed Volume: eligible volume executed across your referred network in the epoch.

QT

Qualified Traders: referred traders who reached at least $10,000 eligible volume in the epoch.

Read the full breakdown, including why the log and cube-root dampeners are there, in Creator Score, and the band split in Creator Vault distribution.

Practical notes

• Referring another creator counts: their onboarding is attributed to you, and activity that flows through them is part of your network.
• The Sorsa snapshot timing is confirmed in Week 0 and published before each epoch. Score access is native, so keep your Sorsa profile current.
• Rules never change inside an epoch. Anything adjusted is adjusted between epochs and announced before the next one opens.
• Wash trading, self-matched fills and linked-wallet loops in your network are excluded from NCV and can disqualify the participants involved. See Qualification & integrity.

For traders

Traders generate the volume that funds the program. Join through a creator code, trade eligible pairs through the week, and your rank on the trader leaderboard places you in a reward band.

What you do

1. Join with a creator referral code. Attribution to that creator locks when you onboard and stays for the campaign.
2. Register and link one wallet. Sign the enrollment message. Only fills from that wallet count.
3. Execute eligible trades until the Sunday 12:00 freeze (Europe/Paris).
4. Get settled weekly. Your band share of the Trader Vault is paid pro rata by score after PopDEX verification.

Reaching Qualified Trader status

A referred trader who reaches at least $10,000 eligible volume within an epoch is a Qualified Trader (QT), the program's definition of an active trader. QT status is used for creator scoring and for planning the size of both leaderboards. It is not required to appear on the trader leaderboard; the planning model assumes around $100,000 in weekly volume per active trader.

How you are scored

V

Eligible executed notional in the epoch.

PnL

Epoch return as a decimal. Positive PnL adds uplift; negative PnL adds nothing and never erases qualified volume.

Positions

Eligible position count. The cube root gently favours conviction over fragmentation; max(1, …) prevents division by zero.

Details and worked examples in Trader Score.

Reward bands at a glance

See Trader Vault distribution for the exact 5:4:3:2:1 formula and a worked example.

Timeline & epochs

One preparation week, one pilot, four campaign weeks. Every scoring epoch runs on the same weekly clock in Europe/Paris time.

Delivery timeline

• Week 0 · PreparationSep 21 – Sep 27, 2026

  Align with PopDEX; confirm trade and referral data access, rules, Sorsa access, Vault custody and any product changes.

• PilotSep 28 – Oct 4, 2026

  Measure acquisition, fills, volume per trader, fee mix and settlement. Both Vaults receive the $1,000 leaderboard bonus.

• Week 1Oct 5 – Oct 11, 2026

  Full launch with pilot-calibrated targets.

• Week 2Oct 12 – Oct 18, 2026

  Expand creators; assess trader activation and return.

• Week 3Oct 19 – Oct 25, 2026

  Monitor concentration and integrity; adjust only between epochs.

• Week 4Oct 26 – Nov 1, 2026

  Close campaign, settle rewards and review results.

Weekly clock

Paris time is CEST (UTC+2) until Sunday Oct 25, 2026, then CET (UTC+1). Week 4 therefore opens on Monday Oct 26 at 00:00 CET.

Participation & registration

Joining is a signature, not a transaction. A participant proves wallet ownership, accepts the epoch rules, and is enrolled for the current epoch.

Who can participate

• Creators — content creators and community leads who acquire traders. Creators may refer traders and other creators.
• Traders — anyone who joins through a creator referral code and trades on PopDEX with a registered wallet.

A person may hold one participant identity. That identity links exactly one wallet.

Enrollment steps

1. Choose a role — creator or trader.
2. Join with a creator referral code — required for traders and for creators referred by another creator. Attribution locks at this step.
3. Connect one wallet — the address that trades and receives rewards.
4. Sign the enrollment message — a plain message signature (no gas). It states your role, wallet, the epoch window, your referral, a nonce, and your acceptance of the published epoch rules.
5. Enrolled for the epoch — creators receive their referral code; traders start accruing eligible volume from the next fill.

What the enrollment message contains

One wallet per identity

Linking a second wallet to the same identity, or routing volume through wallets linked to each other, is treated as a linked-wallet loop and excluded. If you need to change wallets, do it between epochs; the change applies from the next epoch and does not migrate prior scores.

Enrollment is per epoch

Enrollment is confirmed for the current epoch. Re-signing at the start of each epoch keeps acceptance of that epoch's published rules explicit. Referral attribution does not need to be renewed; it persists for the campaign from the moment it locks.

Referral attribution

All acquisition enters through creator referral codes. Attribution is a one-time lock at onboarding, so creators can invest in their network without worrying about later reassignment.

Rules

• Every participant joins with exactly one creator code. A creator who was not referred by anyone is a root of their own network.
• Attribution locks on onboarding and persists for the campaign. It is not re-evaluated per epoch and cannot be transferred.
• Creators may refer creators. The referred creator's own network activity contributes to the referrer's network volume as defined in the epoch's published rules.
• A referral code identifies a creator, not a campaign. The same code is valid across all epochs.

What attribution drives

Codes

Codes are short, human-readable strings (for example POP-7F2A) issued at creator enrollment. Codes are case-insensitive. A code is invalid if the creator is disqualified for the epoch; onboarding with an invalid code is rejected.

Qualification & integrity

Only eligible activity is scored and only eligible activity funds the Vaults. PopDEX validates eligibility and approves every payout.

Qualified Trader (QT)

A referred trader who reaches at least $10,000 eligible volume within an epoch. QT count is an input to the Creator Score. A trader's QT status resets every epoch.

Eligible volume

Eligible volume is executed notional on eligible fills from a registered wallet during the epoch window (Monday 00:00 to Sunday 12:00, Europe/Paris). The list of eligible markets and any fill-level criteria are confirmed with PopDEX in Week 0 and published before each epoch.

Excluded activity

Excluded volume is removed from V, NCV and QT counts and from the fee base that funds the Vaults. Participants involved may be disqualified for the epoch or the campaign.

Fixed rules

1. Criteria are published before each epoch.
2. Scoring freezes at close (Sunday 12:00).
3. PopDEX validates eligibility and approves payouts.

Concentration monitoring

From Week 3 the program specifically monitors concentration (a few wallets or one network dominating volume) and integrity signals. Findings can adjust rules for later epochs, never the epoch in progress.

Volume targets

Targets are attributed-volume goals, not incremental-volume claims. They are preliminary until the pilot validates acquisition, per-trader volume and unit economics.

Baseline

PopDEX reported cumulative trading volume exceeding $1.7B on September 8 and $2B on September 14, 2026. From these milestones the program provisionally estimates weekly gross volume at $300–350M, to be validated against actual executed-trade data.

Campaign targets

The initial model assumes $100,000 in weekly campaign-generated volume per active trader.

Pilot validation and target adjustment

All targets are refined after the pilot based on actual trader acquisition, qualified volume, average volume per trader and campaign economics. Four-week targets are recalibrated against verified trading data, with campaign-attributed volume and incremental volume measured separately.

Published milestone sources: KuCoin (Sep 8) · Chainwire (Sep 14 PopDEX announcement).

Creator Score

Creator ranking combines referred network volume, Qualified Traders and the creator's native Sorsa Score. The formula rewards real volume first, breadth of activated traders second, and influence as a multiplier.

Formula

Sorsa Score

The actual score sourced from sorsa.io (docs at docs.sorsa.io). No internally estimated engagement formula. Native score access and snapshot timing are confirmed in Week 0.

NCV_epoch

Eligible volume across the creator's referred network during the epoch, after exclusions.

QT_epoch

Number of referred traders exceeding the $10,000 eligible-volume threshold in the epoch.

Why it is shaped this way

• NCV is linear. Volume is the thing the program buys, so it enters the score at full weight.
• QT is cube-rooted. Activating many traders matters, but 8 QTs should not be worth 8× a single QT. ∛8 = 2, so breadth is rewarded with diminishing returns.
• Sorsa is logarithmic, offset by 10. Influence multiplies the score but cannot dominate it. A creator with Sorsa 0 still has multiplier log(10) = 1 (base-10); a creator with Sorsa 990 has multiplier 3. The +10 offset keeps the log defined and bounded at zero influence.
• max(1, QT) keeps the score non-zero for a creator whose network traded but had no trader cross $10K yet.

Worked example

Base-10 logarithm shown for readability; the base only rescales all creators equally and does not change ranking. Gamma out-ranks Alpha on raw volume and breadth despite zero Sorsa influence; Beta's influence cannot compensate for a smaller network.

Where the score is used

At the freeze, eligible creators are ranked by Creator Score and cut into six bands by rank percentile, exactly like traders. Within a band, rewards are pro rata by score. See Creator Vault distribution.

Trader Score

Trader ranking captures eligible executed volume and a positive-PnL uplift, lightly normalised by how many positions it took to produce that volume.

Formula

V_epoch

Eligible executed notional in the epoch, after exclusions.

PnL_epoch

Epoch return as a decimal (0.12 = +12%). Negative PnL yields no uplift but does not erase qualified volume.

Positions_epoch

Eligible position count in the epoch. The max(1, …) denominator prevents division by zero.

Behaviour of the terms

• Volume is the base. A trader with no PnL uplift and one position scores exactly their volume.
• PnL is a bonus, never a penalty. +25% return multiplies the score by 1.25; −25% multiplies it by 1.00.
• Positions dampen fragmentation. Splitting the same volume across 8 positions divides the score by 2; across 27 positions by 3. This favours meaningful positions over churn without making size-splitting fatal.

Worked example

T2 ranks first with the least volume: one conviction position and no fragmentation. T3 traded the most but spread it across 27 positions.

Where the score is used

At the freeze, eligible traders are ranked by Trader Score and cut into bands by rank percentile. Within a band, rewards are pro rata by score. See Trader Vault distribution.

Fee model & allocation

Transparent fees, controlled spending. Rewards are funded from the fees that program participants generate, split four ways on a fixed schedule.

Fee assumption

The fee rate is fixed at 3.5 bps for the whole program. The set of eligible fills is confirmed by PopDEX before each epoch.

Allocation

Fee allocation is independent of the execution-team commercial agreement. On top of the fee-funded share, each Vault receives a $1,000 leaderboard bonus per epoch (see Budget & bonus).

Planning model

For planning, program volume is expressed as active traders × volume per trader. The reference case is 200 active traders at $100,000 each.

The interactive overview lets you move the two planning inputs and see every figure update.

Proposal table — weekly volume, fees and Vault funding

Figures from the September 2026 proposal, before the leaderboard bonus was extended to every epoch. Five-week fee-funded Vault rewards: $11,550; the pilot top-up of $2,000 is now the per-epoch leaderboard bonus.

Trader Vault distribution

The Trader Vault holds 50% of eligible fees plus the leaderboard bonus. Five percent is reserved for a bottom-half lottery; the remaining 95% is split across the Star–D bands in a 5:4:3:2:1 ratio, then pro rata by score inside each band. The Creator Vault uses the same model.

Steps

1. Rank all eligible traders by Trader Score at the freeze.
2. Reserve 5% of the Vault for the E-band lottery.
3. Split the remaining 95% across Star, A, B, C and D with weights 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (sum 15).
4. Inside each band, pay each trader band pool × individual score ÷ sum of band scores.
5. Draw the E lottery among eligible bottom-half traders.

Band table

Shares of the full Vault are rounded; final payouts use the exact 5:4:3:2:1 formula.

Worked example — $5,000 Trader Vault

Inside a band

Example: the Star band pool is $1,583.33 and holds five traders with scores 300K, 250K, 200K, 150K and 100K (sum 1,000K). The top trader receives $1,583.33 × 0.30 = $475.00; the fifth receives $158.33.

Band boundaries

Bands are defined by rank percentile. With N eligible traders, the Star band is ranks 1 to round(0.10 × N), A is the next 10%, and so on; E is everyone below the 50% mark. With very small leaderboards, some bands can be empty; the epoch's published rules state how an empty band's pool is handled.

E-band lottery

The 5% reserve is drawn among eligible bottom-half traders. Any registered trader with eligible volume in the epoch who ranks in the bottom 50% is in the draw. The number of winners and draw method are published with the epoch rules.

Creator Vault distribution

The Creator Vault holds 10% of eligible fees plus the leaderboard bonus. It is distributed exactly like the Trader Vault: six bands by rank, a 5% lottery reserve for the bottom half, and a 5:4:3:2:1 split across Star–D, pro rata by Creator Score inside each band.

Steps

1. Rank all eligible creators by Creator Score at the freeze.
2. Reserve 5% of the Vault for the E-band lottery.
3. Split the remaining 95% across Star, A, B, C and D with weights 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (sum 15).
4. Inside each band, pay each creator band pool × individual score ÷ sum of band scores.
5. Draw the E lottery among eligible bottom-half creators.

Band table

Shares of the full Vault are rounded; final payouts use the exact 5:4:3:2:1 formula. Band boundaries are rank percentiles of the creator leaderboard, rounded to the nearest creator; with very small leaderboards some bands can be empty and the epoch rules state how an empty band's pool is handled.

How many creators

The program plans on one creator per ten active traders (an active trader has more than $10,000 eligible volume in the epoch). The creator leaderboard size used for planning is therefore:

At settlement the actual number of eligible creators is used; the ratio is a planning assumption, not a cap.

Worked example — $1,700 Creator Vault, 20 creators

$700 from fees (10% of $7,000) plus the $1,000 leaderboard bonus. Bands of 2 creators each for Star–D, 10 in E.

Inside a band the split is by score: if the two Star creators score 6.0M and 4.0M, they receive $323.00 and $215.33 of the $538.33 Star pool.

Referral rebate on top

Separately from the Vault, 20% of eligible fees are allocated as a fee-linked rebate to eligible referrers. The rebate follows the fees generated by each creator's own referred traders and is paid regardless of band. As a planning average it is:

So in the example above a Star creator takes home about $269 from the Vault plus roughly $70 of rebate; an E-band creator still keeps the rebate on their traders' fees and is in the lottery draw.

Settlement & payouts

Settlement happens once per epoch, between the Sunday 12:00 freeze and the Monday 00:00 open. PopDEX verifies exclusions, controls both Vaults and authorizes disbursements.

Settlement formula

The "group" is the participant's band on their leaderboard. Group allocations come from the fee allocation applied to the epoch's verified eligible fees, plus the leaderboard bonus.

Sequence

1. Freeze — Sunday 12:00 Europe/Paris. Scores are locked.
2. Verification — PopDEX validates exclusions and eligibility on trade and referral data. Disqualified wallets are removed and network metrics are recomputed.
3. Vault sizing — verified eligible fees are allocated 20 / 20 / 10 / 50 at 3.5 bps. The $1,000 leaderboard bonus is added to each Vault.
4. Allocation — each Vault to its leaderboard's bands (5% E reserve, 95% at 5:4:3:2:1), pro rata by score inside a band. The referral rebate is paid to creators separately.
5. Approval — PopDEX approves the payout set.
6. Disbursement — rewards are paid from the PopDEX-controlled Vaults to registered wallets; the E lottery is drawn and paid.

Reporting

Each epoch's settlement is accompanied by a report listing eligible volume, fees, Vault sizes, band boundaries and exclusions applied. Campaign-attributed volume and incremental volume are reported separately.

Timing and currency

Rewards are denominated in USD terms as shown throughout these docs; the settlement asset and any conversion are confirmed with PopDEX in Week 0 and stated in the epoch rules.

Budget & bonus

Rewards are fee-funded at a fixed 3.5 bps. The direct PopDEX contribution is a leaderboard bonus of $1,000 per Vault per epoch.

Leaderboard bonus

$1,000 to each PopDEX-controlled Vault in every epoch, added on top of the fee-funded share before bands are computed. The bonus guarantees a meaningful reward pool on both leaderboards even in a low-volume week. The proposal introduced it as a pilot-only top-up; it is now part of every epoch's Vault. Sorsa/API charges and other external costs, if any, require separate approval.

Cost lines

Governance & approvals

PopDEX retains control of both Vaults and final disbursement authorization. The program operates within a decision package approved before Week 0.

Decision package

• Approve campaign mechanics, eligibility criteria, and access to trade and referral data.
• Approve native Sorsa Score access and snapshot timing.
• Authorize the $1,000 leaderboard bonus per Vault per epoch ($2,000 per epoch).
• Approve the fee allocations (20% PopDEX · 20% referral rebate · 10% Creator Vault · 50% Trader Vault).
• Agree execution-team compensation by mutual agreement.

Controls

Change process

Learnings from an epoch are reviewed during verification. Any resulting change to criteria, thresholds or band mechanics is published before the next epoch opens and takes effect only from that epoch. The Changelog records every published change.

Glossary

Terms used across the program, in the sense the rules use them.

Epoch

One scoring week: Monday 00:00 to Sunday 12:00, Europe/Paris. Leaderboards reset each epoch.

Freeze

Sunday 12:00, the moment scoring stops for the epoch.

Creator

A participant who acquires traders or creators through a referral code.

Trader

A participant who joins through a creator code and executes eligible trades.

Referral code

A creator's code (e.g. POP-7F2A). Attribution locks when a participant onboards with it.

Eligible volume

Executed notional on eligible fills from a registered wallet in the epoch, after exclusions.

QT

Qualified Trader: a referred trader with ≥ $10,000 eligible volume in an epoch.

NCV

Network Contributed Volume: eligible volume across a creator's referred network in the epoch.

Sorsa Score

A creator's native influence score from sorsa.io.

Creator Score

log(Sorsa + 10) × NCV × ∛max(1, QT).

Trader Score

V × (1 + max(0, PnL)) ÷ ∛max(1, Positions).

Creator Vault

PopDEX-controlled Vault funded by 10% of eligible fees plus the leaderboard bonus; paid to creator bands and the E lottery.

Trader Vault

PopDEX-controlled Vault funded by 50% of eligible fees plus the leaderboard bonus; paid to trader bands and the E lottery.

Band

A rank-percentile cohort on either leaderboard: Star (top 10%), A, B, C, D (each 10%), E (bottom 50%).

Referral rebate

20% of eligible fees paid as a fee-linked rebate to eligible referrers.

Leaderboard bonus

A direct PopDEX contribution of $1,000 to each Vault, every epoch, added before bands are computed.

Active trader

A trader with more than $10,000 eligible volume in the epoch (same threshold as QT). Planning assumes one creator per ten active traders.

bps

Basis points. 1 bp = 0.01%. The program fee is fixed at 3.5 bps = 0.035%.

Attributed volume

Volume executed by campaign participants. Distinct from incremental volume, which is measured separately.

Frequently asked questions

Short answers with links to the rule that applies.

Do I need to pay gas to join?

No. Enrollment is a message signature, not a transaction. See Participation & registration.

Can I use more than one wallet?

No. One wallet per participant identity. Linked-wallet activity is excluded and can disqualify you. See Qualification & integrity.

Can I switch creators?

No. Attribution locks on onboarding for the campaign. See Referral attribution.

Does a losing week hurt my trader score?

Negative PnL gives no uplift but never removes qualified volume. Your score is at least your eligible volume divided by the positions dampener. See Trader Score.

I'm in the bottom half. Do I get anything?

You are in the E-band lottery, funded by 5% of the Trader Vault. See Trader Vault distribution.

I'm a creator in the bottom half. Do I get anything?

Yes. Creators use the same bands as traders, so the bottom half is in the E lottery, and the 20% referral rebate on your own traders' fees is paid regardless of band. See Creator Vault distribution.

How is the creator leaderboard sized?

Planning assumes one creator per ten active traders: ⌈active traders ÷ 10⌉. At settlement the real number of eligible creators is used. See Creator Vault distribution.

Is the leaderboard bonus only for the pilot?

No. $1,000 is added to each Vault every epoch, on top of the fee-funded share. See Budget & bonus.

When are rewards paid?

After verification, between the Sunday 12:00 freeze and the Monday 00:00 open. See Settlement & payouts.

Can the rules change during a week?

No. Rules are published before each epoch and fixed within it. See Governance & approvals.

Are the dollar figures in these docs guaranteed?

The fee rate (3.5 bps), the split and the bonus are fixed rules; the volume figures are planning estimates, and eligible fills are confirmed by PopDEX at settlement. See Budget & bonus.

Where does the Sorsa Score come from?

Natively from sorsa.io. No internal engagement estimate is used. See Creator Score.

Changelog

Every published change to the program rules, newest first. Changes take effect only from the epoch stated.

• Creator bands, 1:10 ratio, per-epoch bonusSep 19, 2026 · applies from the pilot

  The creator leaderboard now uses the same six bands and 5:4:3:2:1 split as traders (replacing the top-20% rule). Planning ratio set to one creator per ten active traders. The $1,000 pilot top-up becomes a per-epoch leaderboard bonus on each Vault. Fee rate fixed at 3.5 bps. Planning reference: 200 active traders × $100K.

• Documentation publishedSep 19, 2026 · applies from Week 0

  Initial release of the interactive overview and full documentation, based on the revised growth campaign proposal (September 2026).

Week 0 confirmations (eligible markets, Sorsa snapshot timing, settlement asset, empty-band handling, lottery draw method) will be recorded here before the pilot opens.