Understanding Newsletter Reward Unlocks

Newsletter rewards work differently from purchase rewards, and the difference matters. Sats earned from answering polls are credited to a subscriber's balance immediately, but they can't be withdrawn straight away. They unlock gradually as the subscriber spends.

This is what stops a newsletter rewards program from being a giveaway. Readers accumulate a balance for free, but converting it into Bitcoin they can actually take out requires them to become a customer.

The Three States of a Newsletter Reward

Every sat a subscriber earns from a poll sits in one of three states:

Locked — earned and visible in their balance, but no qualifying spend has been made against it yet. This is where every reward starts.

Pending — unlocked by spending, but still inside the reward lockup period. The subscriber can see it's unlocked and can see the date it becomes available.

Available — unlocked and past the lockup period. This is the only state that can be withdrawn.

The Unlock Rule

A subscriber unlocks their newsletter rewards by spending ten times the dollar value of what they've earned.

Oshi works it out like this:

1. Take the total sats the subscriber has earned from your polls.
2. Convert that to dollars at the current Bitcoin price.
3. Multiply by ten. That's their unlock target.
4. Compare their qualifying spend against that target.

The unlock is proportional, not all-or-nothing. A subscriber who has spent half their target has half their newsletter sats unlocked.

A Worked Example

A subscriber has answered polls over a few months and earned 10,000 sats. At a Bitcoin price of $100,000, that's worth $10.

• Their unlock target is $100 in spending.
• They place a $50 order. That's 50% of the target, so 5,000 sats unlock.
• Those 5,000 sats then enter the lockup period before they can be withdrawn.
• The remaining 5,000 sats stay locked until they spend more.

Unlocks are re-evaluated every few minutes, so a purchase reflects in their portal quickly.

What Counts as Qualifying Spend

Two conditions have to be met:

• The purchase must be at a business in the Oshi network. Qualifying spend is currently counted across the whole network, not only at your store — a subscriber can unlock rewards earned from your newsletter by shopping at any participating Oshi business.
• The purchase must have happened after their first poll reward. Spending from before they started earning doesn't count toward the target.

The Lockup Period on Top

Unlocking is only the first gate. Once sats unlock, your standard reward lockup period applies before they can be withdrawn — the same window that protects you against refunds on purchase rewards.

If your lockup is set to 30 days, a subscriber who unlocks 5,000 sats today can withdraw them in 30 days. If you've set No Lock Up, they're withdrawable as soon as they unlock.

What Your Subscribers See

Subscribers who have earned from your polls get a Newsletter Rewards card in their rewards portal. Opening it shows:

• Total sats earned from newsletter polls, with the approximate dollar value
• A progress bar showing how much has unlocked out of the total
• The remaining spend needed to unlock the rest, in dollars
• A history of past unlock events with the dates each becomes withdrawable

On the withdrawal screen, any newsletter rewards that haven't unlocked yet appear as Pending Newsletter Rewards, with a note explaining they become available after a purchase at a qualifying Oshi business.

The wording is deliberately plain, and the progress bar does most of the work. In practice subscribers understand it as "shop to unlock" without needing it explained.

Why This Design Helps You

The unlock rule turns your newsletter list into a purchase incentive that compounds:

• Every poll response raises the stakes. The more a reader has banked, the more they have waiting for them to unlock.
• The balance is a reason to buy, not a discount on buying. You're not cutting margin on the first order. You're giving readers something they already own a claim to.
• Non-customers build a balance before they ever purchase. Someone who's answered fifteen polls has a real reason to place a first order.

Common Questions

Can a subscriber withdraw without ever buying anything? No. With no qualifying spend, nothing unlocks and nothing can be withdrawn.

What if they never buy? The sats stay in their balance, locked, indefinitely. They don't expire.

Does a refund reverse an unlock? Sats that have already unlocked stay unlocked — an unlock is never undone. What a refund changes is future unlocking, and full and partial refunds behave differently:

• A fully refunded order stops counting toward the unlock target, so the subscriber needs replacement spend to unlock the rest.
• A partially refunded order keeps counting at its original value. The unlock target isn't recalculated against the reduced amount.

The lockup period is your real protection against a refund on a reward that's already been withdrawn.

Do rewards from polls count toward VIP tiers? No. VIP tiers are based on purchase spend, not newsletter earnings.

What's Next

• Set up newsletter rewards — Configure how much a poll response earns.
• Configure the rewards lockup period — Set the window before unlocked rewards can be withdrawn.
• Understand your reward activity — See how rewards appear across your dashboard.
• Connect Beehiiv — Set up the publication and automation that drive newsletter rewards.