lokinet can in fact run without staking. this mode is called opennet mode.

make sure to clear out any existing nodedb before starting lokinet in opennet mode.

to run a client on opennet it is strongly advised to run your own lokinet routers to bootstrap from and use as edges.
first set up an opennet lokinet router.

to run a lokinet router on opennet:

install lokinet-router package from deb.oxen.io

# wget https://lokinet.io/opennet.signed -O /var/lib/lokinet/router/opennet.signed
# mkdir -p /var/lib/lokinet/router/conf.d/


add the following to /var/lib/lokinet/router/conf.d/opennet.ini and restart lokinet-router.service

[router]
netid=opennet

[dns]
bind=127.0.0.1:15533

[lokid]
enabled=false

[bootstrap]
add-node=/var/lib/lokinet/router/opennet.signed


if you do not have a public ip on one of your network interfaces add another file /var/lib/lokinet/router/conf.d/pubaddr.ini

[router]
public-ip=ur.pub.ip.here
public-port=443

[bind]
0.0.0.0=443


a lokinet client can bootstrap off of any valid lokinet router. on opennet it is advised to set up your own lokinet-router and bootstrap any clients off of it
and also pin your first hops to use only nodes you trust. your lokinet router's router contact (RC) can be found at /var/lib/lokinet/router/self.signed 

you can get the snode address of your lokinet-router using:

# dig @127.0.0.1 -p 15533 -t cname localhost.loki +short


additionally make a copy of the lokinet router's nodedb and copy it to your lokinet clients for ease of bootstrapping.

# tar -cJvf lokinet-nodedb.tar.xz nodedb -C /var/lib/lokinet/router/

to run lokinet client on opennet:

install lokinet package from deb.oxen.io

# systemctl stop lokinet
# cp your-lokinet-router-self.signed /var/lib/lokinet/opennet.signed
# tar -xJvf lokinet-nodedb.tar.xz -C /var/lib/lokinet/
# mkdir -p /var/lib/lokinet/conf.d

pick 4 lokinet routers on mainnet you trust that are not your bootstrap node and note their .snode address

add the following to /var/lib/lokinet/conf.d/opennet.ini and start lokinet.service again, make sure to substitute the placeholder values.

[router]
netid=opennet

[bootstrap]
add-node=/var/lib/lokinet/opennet.signed

[network] 
strict-connect=placeholder1.snode
strict-connect=placeholder2.snode
strict-connect=placeholder3.snode
strict-connect=placeholder4.snode