Delegation
Delegation is the process of staking TAO to a validator. It names the support relationship between a TAO holder and the validator receiving that stake (Glossary: Delegation, Staking and delegation overview).
The term should be read separately from the validator role and from stake as an amount. Delegation is relationship vocabulary inside the staking model.
Validator Support
Delegation attaches staking support to a validator. A validator’s total stake can include stake delegated by others, so delegated TAO contributes to the validator’s broader staking context (Staking and delegation overview, Glossary: Stake).
This makes delegation different from performing validation work. The delegator supplies support, while the validator performs the validator role.
Wallet Authority Boundary
Delegation describes where stake support is assigned, not a transfer of wallet signing authority. The staking overview describes delegating TAO to validators, while wallet documentation keeps coldkey and hotkey authority in the wallet-key model (Staking and delegation overview, Wallets, Coldkeys and Hotkeys).
For readers, that keeps the support relationship separate from key custody. A delegation can attach stake to a validator without making the validator the owner of the delegator’s wallet keys.
Stake and Nomination
Stake names the amount associated with a validator position after support exists. Delegation is one path by which that support becomes attached (Glossary: Stake, Glossary: Delegation).
Nominate is nearby action vocabulary. Delegation names the support relationship, while nominate names the staking action that attaches TAO to a validator (Glossary: Nominate, Glossary: Delegation).
Consensus and Dividends
Delegation matters because validator stake is part of Bittensor consensus and emission context. It helps explain why stake attached to a validator can matter for consensus power and emission outcomes (Staking and delegation overview, Glossary: Validator Permit).
Dividends are a related but distinct outcome term. Delegation establishes the support position, and dividends describe an emission share that can follow from delegated-stake relationships (Glossary: Dividends, Staking and delegation overview).
Development Stage Context
The Introduction to Bittensor describes subnet development as moving from localnet to testnet and then mainnet. Delegation examples need that context because validator sets, pool state, and staking relationships belong to the network where they were observed (Bittensor Networks).
Localnet delegation examples can test support wiring in isolation. Testnet examples add shared non-production staking state. Mainnet delegation interpretation concerns production validator relationships on the active network.
Delegation examples from one environment should not be treated as evidence for another.
Relationship to Yuma Consensus
Delegation and Yuma Consensus describe related parts of Bittensor’s incentive system. Yuma Consensus is the on-chain process that aggregates validator weight signals within a subnet into miner incentives and validator dividends, applying consensus clipping, bonding, and emission calculation (Yuma Consensus).
For readers, delegation names a specific part of that incentive picture, while Yuma Consensus names the consensus process that turns validator weights into the resulting incentives and dividends.
Reader Boundary
Delegation is not a validator recommendation, balance report, fee explanation, or staking guide. It names staking TAO to a validator as support inside Bittensor’s staking model (Glossary: Delegation, Staking and delegation overview).
Delegation does not rank validators or calculate dividends.
Multiple Mechanisms and Child Hotkey Context
When a subnet uses multiple incentive mechanisms, delegation remains the same staking-support concept. The nominator-delegate relationship holds across mechanism contexts: nominators supply delegated stake, and delegates perform validation in the relevant mechanism. The mechanism context explains what the validator evaluates; delegation describes the staking-support side of that relationship (Multiple Incentive Mechanisms Within Subnets, Staking and delegation overview).
Child hotkeys also appear near delegation context. A child hotkey is a hotkey that can participate in subnet validation under a parent hotkey. The child hotkey documentation describes how child hotkeys relate to validation, while delegation describes how TAO support attaches to a validator hotkey (Child Hotkeys, Staking and delegation overview).
For readers, delegation stays focused on the staking-support relationship between a TAO holder and a validator. Multiple mechanisms and child hotkeys add context around where and how validation can occur, but delegation names the staking-support relationship rather than the validation context itself (Glossary: Delegation, Staking and delegation overview).
Subnet Delegation Converts TAO to Alpha
The Staking and delegation overview states that staking is always local to a subnet. When a TAO holder delegates on an alpha subnet, the TAO first enters that subnet’s automated market maker pool and is converted into the subnet’s Glossary: Alpha Tokens before the delegated position settles behind the validator hotkey.
That conversion is part of the delegation path itself, not a separate reward step. The support relationship is the same staking concept, but the amount held behind the validator is expressed in subnet alpha units rather than as TAO sitting directly on the hotkey.
The Glossary: Root Subnet is the contrasting path. Root Subnet delegation keeps stake expressed in TAO, while alpha-subnet delegation produces subnet-specific alpha exposure through each subnet’s paired pool reserves.
Because staking to a validator on different subnets is independent, a delegation statement should name the subnet whose pool and alpha currency apply, not only the validator hotkey. The same validator identity can carry separate delegated positions across separate subnet markets.
References: Staking into Subnets, Glossary: Alpha Tokens
Validator Take Precedes Delegator Credits
The Staking and delegation overview explains that after a validator or delegate extracts their Glossary: Validator Take %, the remaining emissions are credited back to stakers and delegators in proportion to their stake with that validator.
That ordering sits between validator-side emissions and delegator outcomes. Delegation names the support relationship, while validator take names the validator’s kept share from delegated-stake emissions before the rest moves toward those who delegated.
The proportional credit applies within the staking relationship around one validator. It does not turn delegation into a fixed yield quote, but it does explain why delegator-facing Glossary: Dividends follow after the validator-side take rather than mirroring the full validator emission total.
Official emission documentation treats validator take as part of the distribution stage after validator emissions are calculated (Emission: Distribution).
References: Staking and delegation overview, Glossary: Validator Take %
Moving Stake Repoints Delegation
The Staking and delegation overview describes moving stake as a way to transfer a delegated position between validators or between subnets in one atomic step, without first withdrawing TAO to the coldkey.
That operation changes where Glossary: Delegation points while the position stays delegated. It differs from unstaking, which ends the support relationship and returns value toward coldkey control, and from adding new stake, which increases support without rearranging an existing position.
Moving stake therefore fits delegation management rather than the initial act of attaching support. A holder can shift support from one validator hotkey to another, or from one subnet market to another, while keeping delegated exposure active across one submitted rearrangement instead of an unstake-and-restake sequence through the coldkey.
References: Moving stake, Glossary: Stake
Relationship to Delegate
Delegation and delegate are related but different staking terms. Delegation names staking TAO to support a validator hotkey, while delegate names the receiving validator role nominators support (Delegation, Glossary: Delegate, Glossary: Nominator).
For readers comparing figures behind one hotkey, delegation tracks nominated support actions and delegate identifies who receives that support. Delegate stake reports validator-supplied TAO only, effective stake counts delegate-owned plus nominated TAO, and delegation totals can differ from both (Glossary: Delegate Stake, Glossary: Effective Stake).
Official delegation documentation describes nominators attaching stake to validator hotkeys without conflating that support action with the delegate role on the receiving side (Staking and delegation overview). Use delegation when the article covers how support is attached and delegate when the receiving validator role itself is the focus.