Staking Intro
Overview
Staking in Bittensor is foundational to the accurate distribution of rewards to the network. The staking process is the process by which a user locks up their tokens in exchange for a share of the network rewards. Staking is a way to earn rewards for participating in the network. The more tokens a user stakes, the large share of rewards they will earn. When you stake, you delegate your tokens to a chosen validator. The validator then uses its total staked amount as incentive for miners to contribute to meaningful intelligence. The more incentive validators have, the more the miners will be encouraged to strive to increaes the intelligence of the network.
Staking Process
There are a couple options to staking in Bittensor.
- The primary one is to stake directly to a validator, called delegation. This is the simplest method and is recommended for users who don't have the holdings or technical proficiency to run a validator themselves. See below for our main guides to get started.
- The second option is to run a validator node and stake to yourself. This is only recommended for users that have both the funds and technical proficiency to maintain their own validator node. We'll have guides on how to stay on top of this later on.
Staking Rewards
Current staking rewards are a proportional share of the currently 3,600 TAO being emitted daily. Currently, this translates to ~35% APY. Note this is a very high reward rate compared to other networks. The high reward rate is due to the fact that Bittensor is a new network and is still in the early stages of development. As the network grows and matures, the reward rate will decrease. Further, the rate is based on a fixed distribution, as more Tao is emitted the denominator of the ratio increases, decreasing the APY.