Root Claim Type
Root claim type is the Keep or Swap setting for alpha dividends earned through Root Subnet staking. Keep leaves processed dividends as originating-subnet alpha, while Swap converts processed dividends to TAO and restakes them on Root (Root Claim overview).
The term belongs to dividend-handling vocabulary. It names the selected outcome for processed root claims, so it sits beside Root Subnet staking and emissions context rather than replacing them.
Keep and Swap Setting
Root claim type is the preference applied when accumulated root-claim dividends are processed. It answers how the dividends are handled, while claim timing answers when accumulated dividends are processed (Root Claim overview).
This distinction keeps the setting separate from the claim event. A root claim processes accumulated dividends; root claim type determines the Keep or Swap outcome used during that processing.
Keep and Swap Outcomes
Keep is the alpha-retention outcome. Earned alpha remains on the subnet that generated the dividend. Swap is the TAO-restaking outcome. Accumulated alpha dividends are converted to TAO and restaked on Root (Root Claim overview, Emission).
Both outcomes apply to dividend output. Keep preserves the originating subnet alpha form after processing, while Swap changes the processed dividend output into TAO and places that TAO back into the Root staking context (Root Claim overview).
That makes the Keep/Swap contrast an output-handling contrast. It explains how processed dividends are handled after they exist in the root-claim flow.
The distinction also keeps the setting focused on output handling. Root claim type explains the processed dividend path, while other staking changes need their own root-staking context.
Root Staking Context
Root claim type belongs to Root Subnet staking. The Root Subnet, also called Subnet Zero, is the special subnet where validators can register and TAO holders can stake in a subnet-agnostic way, and a root staker is the TAO holder using that path (Glossary: Root Subnet, Glossary: Root Staker).
This connects the setting to root staking without merging the terms. Root staker names who is staking through the root path; root claim type names the selected dividend-handling outcome.
The setting is therefore part of root-claim interpretation. It tells readers how the processed dividend output is intended to be handled, while the cited claim context explains the amount, timing, and network state.
Root proportion is nearby vocabulary but answers a different question. Root proportion describes the portion of a subnet’s dividend context attributed to the Root side, while root claim type describes how processed root-claim dividends are handled (Glossary: Root Proportion, Root Claim overview).
Root proportion helps interpret the dividend split. Root claim type names Keep or Swap handling for processed dividends.
Emission Scope
Root claim type sits near emissions vocabulary because the underlying subject is dividend handling. Emissions supply the broader reward context, while root claim type decides whether processed dividend output remains as alpha or becomes TAO restaked on Root (Emission, Root Claim overview).
Emission context explains why the output can be discussed as alpha, TAO, dividends, and staking context in the same page. Root claim type stays narrower than the emission process itself: it describes the selected handling of processed dividend output, not the full path by which emissions are generated or distributed (Emission, Root Claim overview).
When exact amounts, timing, or conversion results matter, the relevant claim record and network context supply that information.
Development Stage Context
The Introduction to Bittensor describes subnet development as moving from localnet to testnet and then mainnet. For root claim type, that sequence changes how readers should interpret Keep or Swap settings and Root Subnet dividend handling examples.
In localnet, root claim type can be tested in an isolated environment. Local claim settings reflect local chain configuration rather than production Root Subnet dividend behavior.
On testnet, root claim type can be observed in a shared, non-production network. Testnet Keep or Swap context is separate from mainnet root-staking state (Root Claim Overview).
On mainnet, root claim type describes live dividend-handling preferences for Root Subnet staking on the production Bittensor network.
The Bittensor Networks reference separates mainnet, testnet, and localnet. A root-claim-type example from one environment should not be read as representing production dividend settings in another environment.
Relationship to Yuma Consensus
Root Claim Type 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, root claim type 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
Root claim type identifies the selected Keep or Swap handling for processed Root Subnet alpha dividends (Root Claim overview).
When the focus is the act of processing accumulated dividends, root claim is the broader term. When the focus is how processed dividend output is handled, root claim type is the precise term.
Keep Leaves Alpha; Swap Restakes TAO on Root
Official root-claim documentation describes Keep as leaving processed dividend output as alpha and Swap as converting that output to TAO restaked on the Root Subnet (Root Claim overview).
Root claim type names that handling choice rather than the full dividend-generation path.
Network Scope
Bittensor separates localnet, testnet, and mainnet environments. Root-claim-type examples from one environment should not be treated as evidence for another because balances, dividend state, and claim outcomes are environment-specific (Bittensor Networks, Introduction to Bittensor: Subnet development).