# Overview

MintBox is the mechanism for the first public issuance of Tokenized Interest. After a card or Card Collection is tokenized on Market.Cards, it may be opened for participation through MintBox. You participate with USDC (a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the US dollar — think of it as dollars on-chain; see "Getting Started" for how to get it). The platform allocates Tokenized Interest to winning users through a public, verifiable draw mechanism; any non-winning portion of USDC becomes available to claim after results are published, and must be claimed manually by the user.

We designed this mechanism as a combination of **Box + Ticket + Draw Factor**, so that every allocation does three things:

* **Open**: all card information, valuation, and participation parameters for the MintBox are disclosed before it begins.
* **Transparent**: which Tokenized Interest, and how much of it, is in each Box can be looked up by Box number before the MintBox begins.
* **Verifiable**: the Draw Factor that determines the draw is generated from the public Binance BTC/USDC spot price at a specified moment, and anyone can recompute the result.

**A note on odds:** **the more USDC you commit, the more Tickets you get — but every Ticket has the same odds of winning.** Spending more won't buy you better odds. The only way to raise a single Ticket's odds is by inviting friends — see "MintBox Lucky Digit vs. Referral Earnings" for details.

Each MintBox goes through four phases in order:

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### Preview

The platform discloses all key information for the MintBox, including card and Box details, valuation parameters, draw rules, and allocation rules, so you can understand it and prepare to participate.
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### Participation

You commit USDC. For every full Box Price committed, you receive 1 Ticket. You can also invite others to join this MintBox to earn Lucky Digits, which improve the winning odds of your own Tickets (see "MintBox Lucky Digit vs. Referral Earnings").
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### Result

After the commitment period closes, the platform uses the publicly generated Draw Factor to determine each Ticket's hits and ranking, and publishes each user's allocation result. You can claim the Tokenized Interest you were allocated, along with the USDC corresponding to any non-winning portion.
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### Trading

Tokenized Interest enters the secondary market and becomes open for trading. You can freely buy and sell it (see "Market (Secondary-Market Trading)").
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In addition, each MintBox has a Target Raise. If total commitments do not reach that target by the end of the participation period, all committed USDC will be fully refunded.


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