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Level 1How Bittensor works10 lessons
Subnets, the people in them, and the chain that pays them.
Level 2Your wallet9 lessons
The keys that own your TAO, and how to keep them safe.
Level 3Staking8 lessons
Backing a validator with your TAO, and what it earns.
Level 4Subnets6 lessons
Who runs a subnet, who joins it, and how ownership can change.
Level 5Emissions10 lessons
Where new tokens come from, and who receives them.
Level 6Subnet lifecycle4 lessons
How subnets start, how they end, and what it means for the people holding their alpha.
Level 7Root4 lessons
How staking on root earns, since Root Reborn.
Level 8How rewards are decided6 lessons
How validators' scores turn into payments.
Level 9Validators5 lessons
What validators do, how they qualify, and what to look at when choosing one to stake with.

Root rewards

Root itself does no work, so its rewards come from the other subnets.

On every subnet, part of the validators' share of alpha is set aside for stake on root. That alpha goes to the root validators, and root stakers earn their share of it through the validator they back.

With eTAO, subnet owners can change how their alpha is split, but not root's cut. The network sets it, and it is taken first from the validators' part. If an owner shrinks that part, root stakers keep what they earn and the subnet's other validators get less.

So root rewards arrive as many different subnet tokens, not as TAO, and they are held rather than sold straight away.