Cooldown Period — Everything You Need to Know

We’ve been keeping you busy the last few weeks - there are plenty of upcoming IDOs launching on Polkastarter. That’s great because you can apply to many exciting projects. But it's important to understand how the cooldown period works.

This article will tell you all about our cooldown period, so you know what you can expect when many IDOs are coming in quick succession.

Here are the answers to all your burning questions:

Why create the cooldown period in the first place?
The cooldown period ensures fairness across the ecosystem.

With the cooldown, successful participants will not be able to get allowlisted for upcoming sales for 7 days after participating in a sale, giving a HIGHER chance to those who were previously unlucky.

Do I enter a cooldown period immediately after being allowlisted?
NO.

The cooldown period ONLY begins once you have ALLOCATED FUNDS to an IDO. Hence participating in the project. If you have not allocated funds, NO cooldown applies.

When does the cooldown begin?
It starts when you allocate funds to a project. For example, an IDO happens at 3:00pm UTC on March 9. Those who enter the IDO by allocating funds are required to follow a cooldown period that starts at/just after 3:00pm UTC, March 9th. This means they cannot become pre-selected (win in the lottery) for another IDO until after 3:00pm UTC on March 16th. The latest IDO participation (successful purchase of the project tokens) and the next IDO lottery snapshot are the crucial dates here.

Can you avoid the cooldown period?
Only +30,000 POLS and +50,000 holders enjoy ‘no cooldown period’. If your POLS staking account is currently on a 7-day Cooldown and you top it up to 30,000 POLS or more, your account will come out of cooldown after 6 hours max (time of the next POLS Power snapshot) 

Here are some case studies to give you an idea of how exactly the cooldown period works: 

Example #1 You get pre-selected on the 11th for IDO #1. On the 12th, you get pre-selected for IDO #2. IDO #1 and #2 sales happen on the 13th and 14th, respectively. Would you still be able to participate in both? YES, because you were already pre-selected for IDO 2 before you participated in IDO 1.

Example #2 If you get pre-selected for IDO #1 on the 11th. IDO #1 sale is on the 12th, and you participated successfully. IDO #2 allowlist opens on the 13th and closes on the 16th. Can you get pre-selected for IDO #2? No, unless you have +30,000 POLS Power and are exempt from Cooldown.

Example #3 If you applied to more than 1 project and got pre-selected for the first one, will you get selected for the others? If you allocated funds, you have to WAIT 7 days until you can win the next lottery, unless you have +30,000 Pols Power. So it all depends on when the next IDO allowlist applications close. 

Example #4 You have 20,000 POLS Power and you participate in the IDO on the 15th of the month. A new allowlist opens on the 16th and will close on the 18th. You can not be pre-selected because you are in cooldown. If you decide to add more than 10,000 $POLS to staking on the 17th - you will be exempted from cooldown after 6h max and will be able to become pre-selected. 

Example #5 You have 25,000 POLS Power and there are 2 upcoming IDOs that you really want to be allowlisted for. The allowlist for IDO #2 is opening and closing within the 7 days following IDO #1 closing. You increase your stake by +25,000 $POLS and receive bonuses of no cooldown and a guaranteed allocation for both IDOs.

About Polkastarter
Polkastarter is the leading early-stage fundraising protocol enabling web3’s most innovative projects to kick-start their journey and grow their communities. Polkastarter allows its users to make research-based decisions to participate in high-potential public sales.

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