How Plutos works
Plutos is a savings account with a monthly prize draw. Your money earns interest, the interest from all savers is pooled, and once a month it's paid out as prizes. Your deposit is never used for prizes.
01
The idea
A regular savings account pays everyone a small amount of interest. Plutos pools that interest and pays it out as prizes instead. Each month some savers win, and everyone keeps their full deposit.
The idea has a long track record. The UK government has offered Premium Bonds since 1956, and more than 22 million people hold them today. In the U.S., a 2014 federal law allows banks and credit unions to offer prize-linked savings in states that permit it, and more than 30 states do. Plutos is building a version anyone can open from their phone.
02
Where your money goes
What happens to a $100 deposit, from start to finish:
- You add $100.With Apple Pay or a debit card through Coinbase, or by sending USDC. That's 100 entries in every draw while it stays saved.
- It's held in U.S. Treasury bills.Short-term loans to the U.S. government. A portion stays in cash so withdrawals are instant.
- The Treasury bills earn interest.The interest from all savers goes into one shared pool.
- The pool becomes the prizes.85% of the interest is paid out as prizes and Plutos keeps 15% to run the service. There are no fees to deposit or withdraw.
- Draw day.Chainlink picks the winners at random, and their prizes are added to their savings.
- Your $100 is still $100.Win or not, your deposit stays the same, and you're entered in next month's draw automatically.
03
Where prizes come from
Prizes come only from interest. Here is an example month to show the scale.
Example month
For example, an $8,500 top prize plus several smaller prizes. 4% is an example rate; Treasury rates change over time.
More savers means more entries in each draw, but also a bigger prize pool. Your expected share stays about the same, and there's room for more and bigger prizes.
04
How the draw works
Every dollar is an entry
Entries also count how long your money was saved during the month. $100 saved for the whole month counts the same as $200 saved for half of it, so a large deposit made the night before a draw doesn't get an unfair advantage.
Chainlink picks the winners
When the month ends, every saver gets a stretch of one long line: their savings times how long they were saved. Plutos then requests a random number from Chainlink VRF. It arrives with a cryptographic proof that the blockchain checks, so nobody, including Plutos, can influence who wins. The number picks one spot on the line for each prize, and whoever's stretch holds that spot wins it. The same person can win more than once.
Prizes go straight into your savings
There's nothing to claim. If you win $25, your balance goes up by $25.
Your odds
Exact odds change whenever someone deposits or withdraws. The rule of thumb: double your savings and you double your chances.
See it for yourself: watch a draw step by step → The Draws page replays every real draw from the blockchain, and runs pretend ones with the real savers and prize pool.
05
Adding and withdrawing
You add money with Apple Pay or a debit card through Coinbase, or by sending USDC to your Plutos wallet. When you save it, it turns into Plutos savings tokens, one for each dollar.
You can withdraw your savings at any time, and cash out to the bank account linked in your Coinbase account. Most withdrawals are instant because part of everyone's savings is kept in cash. If many people withdraw at once, a large withdrawal can take about a business day while Treasury bills are sold.
In the test app, Add money gives you free test dollars and saves them straight away, up to $10,000 a day. You can also try the real Apple Pay checkout, which runs in Coinbase's test mode, so no card is ever charged.
06
Good to know
- Most months, most people don't win. On average, savers receive 85% of the interest their savings earn, paid as prizes. In some months you may win nothing. If you want a steady, predictable return, a high-yield savings account is the better choice.
- Plutos isn't open yet. Before taking real deposits, we need the right legal setup, independent security audits and identity checks for new customers, like any financial company.
- Plutos isn't a bank. Deposits won't be FDIC insured. The current app runs on the Base Sepolia test network with test money that has no value.
07
FAQ
Is this gambling?
You never risk your deposit, which is the main difference from a lottery ticket or a bet. Prize-linked savings is legal for banks and credit unions in the states that allow it, and it isn't treated as a lottery there because nobody pays to enter. We're working out exactly how Plutos fits these rules before launch.
What if I never win?
Then you haven't lost anything, but you also haven't earned interest on that money. That's the trade-off.
How much do I need to start?
$1. Every dollar you save is an entry.
Why does Plutos run on a blockchain?
So anyone can check the rules and the results. Every deposit, prize and random number is public, and nobody can quietly change who won. You don't need to know anything about crypto to use it: you sign in with your email and see dollars.
Who's behind Plutos?
Pluto's Financial, a small team building Plutos while it's tested on the Base test network. Join the waitlist and we'll keep you posted.
How do I try the app?
Open the app, sign in with your email, and press Add money. It adds free test dollars straight into your savings, so you're in the next draw. Then open the Draws page to see how a draw picks its winners.