Commissions & escrow
Katalyst’s money model is deliberately conservative: a commission only exists because a conversion happened, and it only pays because the program’s escrow already holds the funds.
The commission lifecyclelink
A conversion attributed to your link creates a commission in a pending state. The program owner (or the program’s automatic rules) approves it; approved commissions credit Koins to your wallet from the program escrow.
Some commissions sit in a hold window before release — a standard anti-fraud measure that protects programs from refunded or reversed orders. Held commissions release automatically on a regular schedule once their window passes.
Escrow-funded means guaranteed-fundedlink
Program owners deposit the reward pool before commissions pay. That is the platform invariant: every Koin paid to an affiliate was already funded. You never carry the risk of an owner who "will pay later".
The leaderboardlink
The public /leaderboard is a periodically rebuilt, anonymized aggregate of top affiliate performance — a real read of the platform, not a promotional mock.
Frequently asked questions
My commission says pending — is something wrong?expand_more
No — pending is the normal first state. It becomes payable when approved by the program’s rules or owner, and some approved commissions sit in a short hold window before the Koins land.