Short answer: J Tools stores a referral code in the visitor’s browser for 7 days, but the actual binding event is the wallet’s first platform fee payment — at that point the wallet is permanently attributed to the referrer, independent of cookies, browser sessions, or later referral clicks. This on-chain, wallet-based model is structurally different from typical web affiliate cookie tracking.
Two attribution windows, not one
It’s easy to conflate the 7-day link-storage window with the actual attribution mechanism, but they’re different things. The 7-day window is simply how long the referral code persists in the visitor’s browser before it expires unused. The real event that matters is the wallet’s first platform fee payment during that window — that’s what triggers permanent binding.
Once that first payment happens, the browser-side storage becomes irrelevant: attribution has moved from a browser-dependent cookie to a wallet-dependent on-chain fact.
Why ‘sticky’ attribution changes the incentive math
Standard web affiliate cookies typically expire (30, 60, 90 days is common) and are often overwritten by the most recent referral link a user clicks — meaning a referrer’s credit can be silently displaced by someone else’s link later. J Tools’ model removes that risk entirely once a wallet is bound: there’s no later-click override described in the documented mechanism.
For content built around steady, long-term referred activity rather than one-time conversions, this materially changes the expected value of a single successful referral — the binding isn’t a rolling window you can lose, it’s a permanent state change tied to the wallet.
What this means practically for a referrer
The main operational implication: getting someone to click your link isn’t the valuable event — getting them to complete that first paid platform transaction while the code is still stored is. Everything before that first payment is provisional; everything after it is locked in.
This also means attribution tracking doesn’t depend on the visitor staying in the same browser or device between clicking the link and transacting, since the eventual binding is keyed to the wallet address itself, not session or cookie state.
A model worth understanding before assuming cookie logic applies
Anyone coming from traditional web affiliate marketing should not assume the same rules — expiry windows, last-click override, cross-device loss — apply here. The underlying mechanism is fundamentally different, and treating it as ‘just another affiliate cookie’ will lead to wrong assumptions about how credit is earned and retained.