EMX Token and Distribution

Introducing the EMX Token

At the center of the EMX trading experience is the EMX Token which provides several benefits to traders on the exchange:

1. Traders that hold EMX Tokens in their exchange wallet at the tiers below will enjoy discounted fees and EMX Elite Status which gives access to profitable managers and advanced trading strategies.  See here for latest fee discounts for holding the EMX Token.
   
2. EMX holders may stake some or all of their EMX Tokens to earn 10% of the insurance fund payments. -10% of the gains (or losses) in the insurance fund every two weeks are to be given (or collected) from traders who stake EMX.  Distributions are pro-rata, based on time and quantity staked.
3. EMX Tokens may be used as collateral for trading of all contracts.

EMX Token Distribution

What is “vesting”? What is a “cliff”?

Vesting and cliffs are used to incentivize employees, partners, and the ecosystem for the long term.  Vesting means that the tokens are unlocked at a predetermined rate, determined by the length of the vesting period. For example, a 4 year vest would mean tokens are unlocked equally at a rate of ~2%/month (a "linear vest").  The cliff specified on the vest determines how long into the vesting period the first batch of vested tokens will be distributed. The cliffs in the below distributions begin at the time of the EMX Token listing.

Percentage Allocations

Market Making: 50%.  These tokens are to be used to help supply liquidity onto the exchange in response to increased demand and volume on EMX.  For example, let’s say there is an abundance of demand for the GOLD-PERP perpetual swap contract. The internal market maker can step in to provide this liquidity, but in order to do so, it needs to post collateral elsewhere to offset risk.  This collateral could be obtained from sales of the market making tokens. Note that this would only be done if the team expected increased EMX volume from the sale. These tokens may also be lent to The market making tokens have a 4 year vest, and 6 month cliff.

Token Sale: 20%.  These tokens were sold in private sales and will be sold in the upcoming public listing sales.  The private sale rounds have a linear vest of up to 12 months. This means that at the end of each month an equal percentage of tokens are unlocked (ie. 33.3%/month for a 3 month vest, or 8.3%/month for a 12 month vest).

The current vesting schedule (excluding public listing sale) is:

Partners, Advisors, Marketing: 11%.  These tokens are to be used to bring on strong advisors and partners to join the EMX family and promote our exchange.  Marketing promotions include trading competition prizes, airdrops, and bounties used to attract traders to EMX. Advisory tokens have a 6 month to 4 year vesting schedule.

Company: 10%.  These tokens are used to incentivize future team members and fuel the growth of the company.  These tokens have 4 year vest and 1 year cliff.

Founding Team: 9%.  These tokens are for the founding team and incentivize the team for the long term.  There is a 4 year vest and a 1 year cliff on these tokens.