Public pays $20 a side in a stock or ETF of your choice, and carries the strictest sharing rule of any program we track: its terms require a direct, personal relationship with anyone you refer. The cap is the other thing worth knowing, because it has no clock. $500 across all Public promotions and then you are done, permanently.
How you get your link
Open the Public app to get your referral link.
- Share with people you know personally
What the person you refer gets
$20 in stock. They must make a one-time deposit of $1,000 or more.
The cap, exactly
Public caps this at $500 per lifetime, across all Public promotions, per person. The limit follows you, not the card, so holding more than one eligible card does not multiply it.
Tax treatment
Public says the cash value of an offer may be reported as Other Income on a Form 1099-MISC, with gains or losses on the sale reported as capital gains. The tax falls on the person doing the referring, not the person referred. This is reference information, not tax advice.
Where you may share this link
Public's own terms restrict sharing to people you know personally. Posting your link on a public site or forum can forfeit the referral bonus, and Dealaka does not host links for this program.
When it pays
You have 30 days to claim the reward or it expires.
The fine print that matters
- The cap has no time window. It is $500 across all promotions on the app, roughly 25 referrals, and once reached you are no longer eligible for any reward program even though your link keeps working.
- Public's terms require a direct, personal relationship with the person you refer, and bar sharing your link through spamming, commercial advertising, or similar means.
- The reward is a fractional share, not cash. Fractional shares have limited or no voting rights and are not transferable.
- The cash value cannot be withdrawn for 12 months after claiming, or the account may face an early withdrawal fee of up to $20.
- The friend must make a one-time deposit of $1,000 or more to qualify.
Sources: public.com referral terms (checked Jul 21, 2026)
Dealaka does not host referral links for this program and takes no share of any referral reward. This page describes the terms Public publishes. Something wrong? Send a tip.