How Staking Works

Why Stake

Every block mints new TAO and pays it to the people running the network. Staking is how capital claims a share of that without running any infrastructure: you back a validator on a subnet, and the emissions flowing through that validator accrue to your position. What you earn depends on which subnet you picked and how it performs relative to the rest of the network — picking is the skill, not staking.

Delegation and the Take Rate

You stake by delegating to a validator on a specific subnet. The validator uses your stake, combined with everyone else’s and its own, to set the weights that decide which miners get paid — and keeps a percentage of the emissions attributed to its hotkey as its fee. That percentage is the take rate.

Each validator sets its own, under a chain-wide ceiling. The MaxDelegateTake parameter is 11796/65535 — 18% — and has been capped at that value since runtime v320. A validator may set less, and the number can be changed, so it is one of the live chain parameters rather than a fact to memorise: read the take column for the validator you are considering before you delegate to it.

Compare validators and their current take →

Alpha Tokens

Under dTAO every subnet has its own token — its alpha. Staking TAO into a subnet swaps it for that subnet’s alpha through an automated market maker, and your position is denominated in alpha from then on. Emissions arrive as more alpha, so the position compounds without you doing anything; its TAO value moves with the alpha price.

Alpha is not a transferable token. It exists on-chain as a staking position tied to your coldkey, and the only way out is back through the AMM.

The Exit Price

Unstaking sells your alpha back through the same AMM curve you bought on, and settles in the same transaction — there is no lockup and no cooldown. What you receive is set by the pool, not by a rate: a large unstake moves the price against itself as it executes, so reducing a big position is normally done in several smaller transactions rather than one. The chain also rate-limits repeated stake and unstake operations on the same hotkey within a short window, so back-to-back attempts can be rejected and need retrying a few blocks later.

This is the risk that surprises people. Exiting is immediate but it is not free, and it is worst exactly when you most want it — a subnet losing confidence has both a falling alpha price and a thinning pool. Size positions against the exit, not the entry.