*Editor of this document: Jason Liu*

# How stock options work
## Basics of stock options
To start learning about equity, you can read [this article](https://carta.com/sg/blog/equity-101-stock-option-basics/).
To learn more about employee stock options in general, please refer to the [employee resource center from Carta](https://carta.com/sg/blog/category/employee-resource-center/).

## Your vesting status and actions
Bitmark uses a **four year vesting schedule with a one year cliff**. The company can add more options so that fully vested employees could continue to get more shares. You can view your [Carta](https://app.carta.com) account to see exactly how many options you have at any time. If you don't have access to Carta, please contact your manager.

After the one year cliff, there are several actions that you can take with your vested options:
* **Do nothing** -- You don't need to do anything to keep vesting, your rights to exercise the vested options will last for 10 years if you're still in the company.
* **Exercise** -- If you want to exercise the vested options, fill out and sign the "*ESOP Notice of Exercise*" document, and send it to Sean. You can find that document after you log in to your Carta account. Note that you need to pay the exercise price per share, which is also written in your Carta account.
* **Sell** -- For the shares that you have already exercised, you can sell it back to the company or to some other investors. Bitmark has the 1st priority to buy back the shares.

### Tax
Exercising the options may subject to different income tax in different countries. It's best if you check with a CPA for this. But here's some information that we know now:
* Tax incurs in the tax year that you exercise or sell, depending on local regulations.
* When you exercise, the shares will be distributed from Bitmark's Cayman Island identity. This means that they're likely viewed as overseas income.

## FAQs
**Q: Do I get dividends with my vested or exercised options?**
A: No. Most tech companies don't pay a dividend until they are out of ideas to invest their money. Bitmark still has plenty of ideas to invest our money.

**Q: What happends to my options / shares if I leave the company?**
A: If you leave the company, there is a 3-months window to exercise your vested options before they expire.