Owner Cut Enabled
Owner cut enabled is a per-subnet hyperparameter, listed in the documentation as OwnerCutEnabled,
that controls whether the subnet owner receives their cut of emissions at all. The reference
describes it as a boolean that, when set to false, stops the owner cut from being distributed,
with a default of true
(Subnet Hyperparameters).
What It Controls
The hyperparameter is a distribution switch, not a sizing dial. It decides whether the owner’s share of subnet emissions is paid out, but it does not by itself set how large that share is. When enabled, the owner cut is distributed as usual each epoch; when disabled, that cut is simply not distributed, leaving the rest of the emission flow to miners and validators unchanged in structure (Subnet Hyperparameters, Emission).
The disabled share is not withheld or burned, though. On chain the owner cut is subtracted from the
epoch’s distributable alpha only when the switch is on, so when it is off that alpha is never
removed from the pool for the owner and instead stays in the epoch’s normal distributable alpha
path. Disabling the cut therefore leaves the owner’s would-be portion to flow through the regular
emission distribution — root, validator, and server/miner alpha — rather than reducing what is
minted
(run_coinbase).
Because it is a boolean toggle rather than a magnitude, it offers an owner an all-or-nothing choice about receiving their portion. A subnet owner can switch off their own cut entirely without changing the underlying take proportion, then switch it back on later (Subnet Hyperparameters).
Documented Type, Default, and Setter
The Subnet Hyperparameters
reference lists OwnerCutEnabled as a Bool with a default of true. It is changed through the
sudo_set_owner_cut_enabled extrinsic, and the reference marks the permission required to set it as
subnet owner
(Subnet Hyperparameters).
OwnerCutEnabled is settable through btcli. The CLI’s hyperparameter map exposes it as
btcli sudo set --param owner_cut_enabled, which calls the sudo_set_owner_cut_enabled extrinsic
under the hood, consistent with the parameter being owner-settable; where the docs reference lists
no btcli setter for it, that table is stale relative to the current CLI source
(btcli hyperparameter map,
Subnet Hyperparameters).
OwnerCutEnabled is one of the parameters added in the v3 hyperparameter set and is exposed in the
get_subnet_hyperparams_v3 runtime API, so the live boolean for a subnet can be read from the
current hyperparameter table rather than assumed from the default
(Subnet Hyperparameters).
Because each subnet carries its own hyperparameters, the owner-cut switch on one netuid can differ from the documented default and from the setting on another subnet (Subnet Hyperparameters).
Distinction from Owner Cut Auto Lock Enabled
Owner cut enabled and owner cut auto lock enabled are two separate booleans that act at different stages. Owner cut enabled decides whether the owner receives a cut at all; owner cut auto lock enabled decides how a received cut is handled, either added to the owner’s conviction lock each epoch or received as free stake without auto-locking (Subnet Hyperparameters).
The auto-lock switch only matters when the cut is actually being distributed. If owner cut enabled
is false, there is no cut to lock or release, so the auto-lock setting has nothing to act on
(Subnet Hyperparameters).
- Owner cut enabled — whether the owner cut is distributed at all.
- Owner cut auto lock enabled — whether a distributed cut is auto-locked or received as free stake.
Distinction from Subnet Owner Take
Subnet owner take describes the proportion of emissions reserved for the subnet owner. Owner cut enabled is the boolean that switches the distribution of that reserved portion on or off, so the take defines the size while this hyperparameter defines whether it is paid (Subnet Hyperparameters, Emission).
- Subnet owner take — the proportion of emission set aside for the owner.
- Owner cut enabled — whether that set-aside portion is actually distributed.
Distinction from Yuma Consensus
Owner cut enabled governs an emission-distribution switch for the owner’s share. It does not run the epoch-boundary settlement that turns validator weights into miner incentives and validator dividends (Subnet Hyperparameters, Yuma Consensus).
Yuma Consensus reads the weight matrix, applies clipping and bonding, and allocates the emission shares each epoch on the active subnet. Owner cut enabled only decides whether the owner’s portion is handed out; it does not rerank neurons or change how the consensus split is computed (Yuma Consensus, Emission).
- Owner cut enabled — on/off switch for distributing the owner’s emission cut.
- Yuma Consensus — epoch-boundary settlement from weights to emission shares.
Reading the Live Value for netuid 1
Owner cut enabled is per-subnet chain state, so any live claim is tied to a specific netuid. For the
documented example netuid 1 on Finney mainnet, readers can verify the live OwnerCutEnabled value
with btcli subnet hyperparameters --netuid 1 --network finney, which prints the subnet’s
hyperparameter table including this boolean row
(Subnet Hyperparameters: View hyperparameters).
The infobox uses netuid 1 only as an example label; other subnets expose their own values
(Bittensor Networks).
Reader Boundary
This page defines the concept at a high level. It does not report whether the owner cut is currently
enabled on any particular subnet, the size of that cut, or whether a received cut is auto-locked.
Those are live chain state and related settings that should be checked for the relevant netuid. The
default of true is the documented value, and the parameter is owner-settable per subnet.