Staking Rewards

TL;DR

Validators and their delegators earn rewards from two sources: a decaying inflation schedule (block subsidies) and priority fees from transactions. Rewards are distributed pro-rata by stake, after the validator takes its commission. APR depends on the total amount of ASE bonded — less bonded means higher per-validator APR.

Where rewards come from

• Block subsidy. Newly minted ASE emitted each block under a decaying inflation schedule. Highest early, tapering toward zero over time.
• Priority fees. Optional tips users attach on top of the base fee. The block proposer keeps 100% of these.
• Not the base fee. Base fees are 100% burned today — validators don't earn them. A service-node split is planned. See the fee market.

How rewards are split

Every block, the rewarded validator's stake pool earns its share. Inside the pool:

1. The validator takes its commission off the top (capped at 20%).
2. What remains is distributed pro-rata to all bonded stake, self-bond + delegations.
3. The validator's self-bond participates in the pro-rata distribution alongside delegators.

The mechanics match Cosmos-style delegation. See Delegation.

Estimating your APR

A rough model:

APR ≈ (annual_inflation × supply / total_bonded) × (1 - commission)
    + priority_fee_share

If 50% of supply is bonded and inflation is 5%, gross APR on bonded ASE is ~10%. Take off a 10% commission, ~9% net. Priority fees add on top of that, depending on chain utilization.

Lower total-bonded → higher per-validator APR (fewer stakers splitting the same pie). The mechanism self-balances: if APR gets attractive, more people bond, which lowers APR, until it finds equilibrium.

Slashing offset

APR is not a guarantee. A single double-sign slash burns ~5% of bonded stake — roughly a year of gross APR. Downtime slashes are smaller but persistent. The realized return net of slashing depends heavily on the validator you chose. Pick carefully. See How to Delegate.

Claiming rewards

Rewards accrue to your delegation automatically. To realize them into spendable ASE, submit a withdrawRewards transaction via your wallet, the desktop app, or the CLI. You can also restake directly from pending rewards into additional bonded stake, compounding automatically.