Crypto mystery boxes are digital packages containing a random assortment of cryptocurrency tokens.
These differ from NFT mystery boxes in the sense that they typically only contain fungible tokens – that is, normal interchangeable cryptocurrencies rather than NFTs like digital artwork or in-game items.
Although they exist in many places, crypto mystery boxes are best known for their use by crypto exchanges, providing incentives, prizes and benefits for their users.
In this article, we’ll cover everything from how crypto mystery boxes work, to where you can get them and what you can expect inside.
Where are Crypto Mystery Boxes Used?
Crypto mystery boxes are often used on crypto exchanges, specifically centralized ones.
They usually serve one of three purposes:
- Incentives: Entice people to sign up or perform a certain action on the exchange.
- Prizes or giveaways: Freebies distributed randomly to users.
- Chance games: Users pay for a chance at winning a higher payoff than the mystery box price.
Crypto mystery boxes provide exchanges with an opportunity to drive certain behaviors on their platform without an explicit monetary value, as well as give their users some extra excitement and fun during their user experience.
Special use cases
One unique use-case that also popped up recently is crypto mystery boxes as a fair airdrop and rewards solution, allowing a more democratized approach to distributing project tokens.
An example of this is EARNM’s airdrop and rewards program, which aims to fairly distribute its native $EARNM token through mystery boxes. Early users of the platform earn crypto mystery boxes by participating in the ecosystem, with each box containing 2.5 to 500k $EARNM, as well as an assortment of cash and physical prizes.
Any participant has the chance of getting their hands on a huge number of coins, giving equal standing among their “investors”.
How do Crypto Mystery Boxes Work?
Before receiving or buying a crypto mystery box, you’ll most likely get a few key details:
- What assets or benefits it may include.
- The maximum possible value of the contents.
- The price of the mystery box (if any).
What you won’t be told, however, is the specific asset(s) you’ll receive, or the quantity.
Box tiers
When it comes to purchased crypto mystery boxes, they will often come in different tiers, with different price tags.
In general, the higher the tier and price tag of a crypto mystery box, the larger the potential prize.
Types of Crypto in Mystery Boxes
Whereas NFT mystery boxes typically contain NFTs that relate specifically to the provider’s ecosystem, crypto mystery boxes are much more standard.
Since a lot of these crypto mystery boxes exist off-chain on centralized servers, there’s also often less transparency and no blockchain-based mechanism to guarantee fairness.
Popular cryptocurrencies
Since most crypto platforms and exchanges all deal with similar assets, they often contain popular cryptocurrencies that most users will recognize.
For example, check out this selection of potential prizes in crypto mystery boxes from CEX.io:
All of the possible prizes are tokens available for trading on their platform, as well as quite well-recognized ones, with clear market value and good liquidity.
Sometimes, platforms might also include up-and-coming tokens in an effort to improve diversification and understanding of a wider range of assets.
Additional items
Although major cryptocurrencies make up the bulk of crypto mystery box contents, there are often also some other nifty items or offers included.
These include:
- Utility tokens for the platform.
- Trading fee discounts or rebates.
- Access to VIP or paid platform benefits.
- Real-world goods and services.
- Collectibles (yes, sometimes crypto mystery boxes throw in NFTs too).
Depending on the platform, these additional items can be on-chain or off-chain (tokenized or non-tokenized).
Where Can I Get Crypto Mystery Boxes?
Crypto mystery boxes are most commonly found on centralized platforms like popular exchanges, but are also found as incentives in other places such as portfolio tracking apps or other crypto infrastructure.
One other major thing to note is that, unlike many NFT mystery boxes, the vast majority of crypto mystery boxes are non-transferable – meaning the chances are you won’t be able to buy them from another user nor sell them on a secondary marketplace.
Due to this fact, you’ll have to go straight to the source to find most crypto mystery boxes.
Here’s a handful of platforms that currently offer crypto mystery boxes:
Crypto.com
Crypto.com is an all-in-one crypto platform tailored to beginners, centered on offering buying and selling for a ton of major cryptocurrencies. They also offer a whole host of extra features, from crypto credit cards, their own crypto wallet, an NFT marketplace, and staking services.
The platform offers its own Crypto.com mystery boxes that must be purchased exclusively with rewards points, called “Diamonds”. The mystery boxes strictly contain unknown amounts of CRO – Crypto.com’s native crypto token.
Each mystery box on the platform costs 25 Diamonds, and contains up to $1,100 worth of the CRO token.
OKX
OKX is one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, ranking third in 24-hour trading volume at the time of writing.
The exchange has it all: Spot, margin, and derivatives trading for a ton of tokens, a Web3 wallet made for managing your DeFi assets, and an NFT marketplace.
OKX currently offers crypto mystery boxes for new sign-ups and deposits, offering up to crypto rewards worth up to 50 USDT in each box.
CEX.io
CEX.io is one of the most well-established crypto exchanges and brokerage services around. It has a strong presence in Europe and the U.S., offering a wide range of user-friendly payment methods.
CEX.io offers mystery boxes for users who opt-in and verify their accounts. The boxes can contain up to 0.01 BTC in rewards.
Users know exactly their chance of receiving each potential payoff, with all possible rewards and odds shown upfront on the website.
Are Crypto Mystery Boxes Worth It?
Crypto mystery boxes vary a ton in the way they are distributed and in terms of the rewards they contain, depending entirely on the provider and their offering.
With that being said, a large proportion of crypto mystery boxes are free. In this sense, they are usually worth whatever small task they require to get your hands on them – almost like a free lottery ticket.
When it comes to paid crypto mystery boxes, you’ll want to weigh up the risks and the potential benefits of paying the asking price.
The Risks of Crypto Mystery Boxes
Although many crypto mystery boxes come free with certain tasks on your favorite exchanges and platforms, you’ll still want to make sure that those platforms have your best interests in mind. a
Privacy risks
For example, you don’t want to be handing over your identity and personal details to any shady platform, just for a shot at some free crypto.
Personally, I would advise only going for free crypto mystery boxes from well-established and trustworthy platforms, unless you’re not giving up any sensitive information.
Investment risk
For paid crypto mystery boxes, you’ll want to consider the following factors before making a purchase:
- Do you know what type of asset(s) you will receive in the mystery box?
- Do you know the exact odds of receiving each possible reward in the box?
- If so, what is the expected return, and what are the odds of covering your initial investment?
If the details given by the mystery box provider don’t answer any or all of the above, it’s probably best to avoid purchasing them – you simply don’t know if it’s worth the investment.
NFT Mystery Boxes
NFT mystery boxes are a different type of crypto mystery box, typically containing non-fungible tokens (NFTs) rather than popular cryptocurrencies.
Instead of promising different amounts of tokens, NFT mystery boxes usually differ by offering the chance of acquiring rarer or more valuable NFTs than others.
The types of NFT(s) in the mystery box depend on the nature of the project itself. This could be anything from digital art by renowned artists, in-game items like tools and special characters, utility tokens giving special privileges or access within a project, and virtual real estate in the metaverse.
For a full overview of NFT mystery boxes, check out our NFT mystery box guide.
FAQs
A crypto mystery box is a digital package that contains a random assortment or quantity of cryptocurrency tokens. They typically contain normal, interchangeable cryptocurrencies, and sometimes perks and benefits such as fee reductions or real-life prizes.
Most crypto mystery boxes are non-transferable, meaning that you usually can’t resell them to anyone else. However, the contents of a crypto mystery box can definitely fall in value (although it could also rise in value too). Make sure that you thoroughly weigh the risks and benefits.
A majority of crypto mystery boxes come free on crypto exchanges as a reward for performing a certain task, such as verifying your identity with the platform. In other cases, you may be able to buy a crypto mystery box for cryptocurrency. In either case, make sure that the mystery box is coming from a trustworthy platform to minimize risk.
Before buying a mystery box, you want to know that the expected value of the contents is worth the cost of the mystery box. Good mystery box providers will give you complete details of what might be inside your mystery box before buying it: The possible assets inside and the chances of the quantity you might get.
