Validator
A subnet participant who evaluates miner work and submits scores (weights) to the blockchain. Validators earn ALPHA dividends in return, and can accept delegated stake from nominators to increase their influence.
Validators are the judges in Bittensor's subnets. They receive miner responses, score them using the subnet's incentive mechanism , and submit those scores as weights to the blockchain. Yuma Consensus then processes the weights from all validators to determine how ALPHA emissions get distributed.
Validators do not design the incentive mechanism (that is the subnet owner 's responsibility). Validators run the code the subnet owner provides and submit their honest assessment of each miner's output. Their financial incentive is to score accurately, because validators whose weights align with consensus earn more dividends over time.
DELEGATEES
Any validator can become a delegatee, accepting stake from other accounts (nominators). More stake means more influence in Yuma Consensus. In return, the validator can keep a percentage of the dividends earned from delegated stake (this is called the delegate take).
Not everyone who wants to validate can. Each subnet has a limited number of validator permits (up to 64 by default). These permits are assigned to the hotkeys with the most stake on that subnet. If a hotkey's stake falls below other validators, it loses its permit and is replaced.
Only validators with permits can set weights. Hotkeys without permits are treated as miners, regardless of whether they run the code to score miners.
Validators receive their share of the subnet's ALPHA emissions as dividends. After the 18% subnet owner cut is deducted, approximately 41% of emissions go to validators and 41% to miners.
A validator's share of the dividends depends on their stake (relative to other validators) and how consistently their weights align with consensus over time. Validators build up bonds with the miners they score, and dividends are calculated from those bonds.
Validators who accept delegated stake can set a delegate take between 0% and 18%. This take is deducted from the dividends earned through the delegated stake before the rest goes to the nominator . The take can be decreased at any time but increases are rate-limited.
The root subnet (subnet 0) has a separate set of up to 64 validator slots. Root validators have stake in TAO on the root subnet and earn ALPHA dividends from every subnet their hotkey validates. These dividends can be claimed as ALPHA or swapped to TAO through the root claim by the nominators.
Root validators do not set weights on subnets or directly influence how TAO emissions are allocated. A subnet's share of emissions is determined by its net TAO inflow, not by root validator decisions.