Bonds Moving Average
Bonds moving average is a per-subnet hyperparameter, listed in the documentation as
BondsMovingAverage, that sets the moving-average behavior applied to
validator-miner bonds in
Yuma Consensus. The hyperparameter reference
describes it as the moving average of bonds and points readers to the bonding mechanics section of
the Yuma Consensus documentation
(Subnet Hyperparameters).
What It Controls
The hyperparameter configures bond smoothing inside Yuma Consensus, not the subnet task or the raw validator weights validators submit. Validator weights are evaluation inputs; bonds are smoothed validator-miner relationships that evolve across consensus rounds and feed into validator dividends (Yuma Consensus: Bonding mechanics).
Yuma Consensus documentation describes each bond update as combining a new instant bond contribution with the prior bond value through an exponential moving average. Bonds moving average is the subnet-level hyperparameter that governs that smoothing behavior for bond state on the selected subnet (Subnet Hyperparameters).
The reference also states that higher bonds yield to higher dividends for validators. That ties the parameter to validator-side emission outcomes rather than to miner incentive ranking alone (Subnet Hyperparameters).
Smoothing Factor and Scaling
In the default path, where liquid alpha is not enabled, documentation describes the stored
BondsMovingAverage value scaled down by 1,000,000 to derive an EMA smoothing factor alpha equal to
one minus that scaled value. Each new bond is alpha times the instant bond plus one minus alpha
times the prior bond
(Yuma Consensus: Bonding mechanics,
Exponential Moving Averages,
Subnet Hyperparameters: BondsMovingAverage).
The relationship is inverse. A higher BondsMovingAverage produces a smaller alpha, which puts more
weight on prior bonds and makes bond state change more slowly, while a lower value raises alpha and
lets bonds track recent weights faster. Because of the 1,000,000 scaling, a stored value such as
900,000 corresponds to an alpha of 0.1
(Yuma Consensus: Bonding mechanics).
That default smoothing path is distinct from bonds penalty, which pulls out-of-consensus bond weights toward the consensus benchmark rather than controlling how quickly prior bond state decays (Yuma Consensus: Penalizing out-of-consensus bonds, Subnet Hyperparameters: BondsPenalty).
When liquid alpha is enabled on a subnet, per-pair alignment-responsive coefficients replace this
subnet-wide smoothing factor during bond updates. Bond smoothing on that path then follows
liquid-alpha rules rather than the stored BondsMovingAverage value, so the same hyperparameter
table can produce different bond behavior depending on whether liquid alpha is active
(Consensus-based Weights,
Subnet Hyperparameters,
Yuma Consensus: Bonding mechanics).
Documented Type, Default, and Setter
The Subnet Hyperparameters
reference lists BondsMovingAverage as a u64. It is changed through the
sudo_set_bonds_moving_average extrinsic, exposed in tooling as
btcli sudo set --param bonds_moving_avg, and the reference marks the permission required to set it
as subnet owner
(Subnet Hyperparameters).
The constants reference exposes the startup default as
api.consts.subtensorModule.initialBondsMovingAverage, listed as 900000. With the documented
1,000,000 scaling described above, that startup stored value corresponds to an EMA alpha of 0.1;
the live BondsMovingAverage hyperparameter can later differ on a selected netuid
(Subtensor Constants: initialBondsMovingAverage,
Subnet Hyperparameters).
Because each subnet carries its own hyperparameters, the bond-smoothing setting on netuid 1 can differ from another subnet’s configuration (Subnet Hyperparameters).
Distinction from Validator-Miner Bonds
Validator-miner bonds name the smoothed relationship values that connect validator evaluation history to validator-side consensus outcomes. Bonds moving average names the hyperparameter that configures how those bond values are averaged over time (Glossary: Validator-Miner Bonds, Yuma Consensus).
- Validator-miner bonds — the smoothed relationship state used in consensus.
- Bonds moving average — the subnet hyperparameter that sets the moving-average smoothing for those bonds.
Distinction from Liquid Alpha
Consensus-based weights, also called liquid alpha, can vary the EMA smoothing factor for validator-miner bonds according to consensus alignment. Bonds moving average is the documented bond-moving-average hyperparameter, while liquid alpha is a separate modifier described in the consensus-based weights documentation (Consensus-based Weights, Exponential Moving Averages).
- Bonds moving average — the subnet hyperparameter configuring bond smoothing.
- Liquid alpha — varies the EMA coefficient by consensus alignment.
Distinction from Bonds Penalty
Bonds moving average and bonds penalty are different bond-related Yuma Consensus hyperparameters. Bonds moving average sets the moving-average behavior applied to validator-miner bonds, while bonds penalty sets the magnitude of the penalty applied when validator weights exceed the subnet consensus benchmark (Subnet Hyperparameters, Yuma Consensus).
- Bonds moving average — the smoothing applied to validator-miner bonds over time.
- Bonds penalty — the penalty magnitude for out-of-consensus weights.
Distinction from Alpha Sigmoid Steepness
Bonds moving average sets the moving-average behavior applied to validator-miner bonds across epochs, while alpha sigmoid steepness shapes how sharply the liquid alpha coefficient responds to a validator’s consensus alignment (Subnet Hyperparameters, Yuma Consensus).
- Bonds moving average — the smoothing applied to bonds over time.
- Alpha sigmoid steepness — the sharpness of the liquid-alpha response curve.
Distinction from EMA
EMA is the exponential moving-average technique that blends each bond update with prior bond state.
Bonds moving average is the per-subnet BondsMovingAverage hyperparameter that configures that
smoothing behavior on a selected netuid (EMA,
Subnet Hyperparameters,
Yuma Consensus).
- EMA — the smoothing technique applied to validator-miner bonds.
- Bonds moving average — the hyperparameter that configures that smoothing per subnet.
Chain Reads for netuid 1
Readers can verify live hyperparameter values for the documented example netuid with
btcli subnet hyperparameters --netuid 1 --network finney
(Subnet Hyperparameters: View hyperparameters).
That read path keeps live hyperparameter claims tied to a parseable netuid.
Per-Subnet Live Value Boundary
Bonds moving average is per-subnet chain state. The bond-smoothing coefficient configured on one netuid applies only inside that subnet’s Yuma Consensus bonding path and can differ from reference defaults and from the value on another netuid (Subnet Hyperparameters, Yuma Consensus: Bonding mechanics).
This article’s infobox uses netuid 1 as an example label when reading one subnet’s hyperparameter table on Finney mainnet. That example helps readers verify one row; it is not proof that every subnet exposes the same live smoothing coefficient (Bittensor Networks).
Bonds moving average configures how instant bond contributions blend into smoothed bonds; Yuma Consensus still settles validator weights into emission shares each epoch on the active subnet (Yuma Consensus).
- Bonds moving average — bond-smoothing hyperparameter inside Yuma bonding on a subnet.
- Per-subnet boundary — live smoothing coefficient is chain state on one netuid.
Distinction from Yuma Consensus
Bonds moving average is a per-subnet hyperparameter that configures how quickly validator-miner bonds smooth across epochs. It names one bond-path smoothing coefficient on the hyperparameter table, not the full settlement step that allocates emissions (Subnet Hyperparameters, Glossary: Validator-Miner Bonds).
Yuma Consensus is the on-chain mechanism that runs at the epoch boundary on the selected netuid. It reads the weight matrix, applies clipping and bonding (using smoothed bonds as state input), and converts the filtered result into miner incentives and validator dividends (Yuma Consensus, Emission).
A higher smoothing coefficient changes how bond state evolves between epochs; it does not replace clipping, bonds penalty, or dividend allocation inside Yuma. Hyperparameter tuning and settlement are separate layers on the same consensus path (Yuma Consensus: Validator emissions).
Readers should treat bonds moving average as bond-path configuration on one netuid, and Yuma as the mechanism that settles submitted weights into payouts.
- Bonds moving average — hyperparameter controlling validator-miner bond smoothing.
- Yuma Consensus — epoch-boundary settlement from filtered weights to emission shares.
Reader Boundary
Bonds moving average should not be read as a live bond value, a validator weight, liquid alpha itself, or the bonds penalty magnitude. It names only the subnet hyperparameter that configures how validator-miner bonds are smoothed across epochs on the selected netuid when liquid alpha is not replacing that smoothing path (Subnet Hyperparameters, Consensus-based Weights, Yuma Consensus: Bonding mechanics).