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SUBMIT A PRSUBMIT AN ISSUElast edit: Mar 04, 2025

Validator's Guide to BTCLI

Validators evaluate miner performance, and post their evaluations to the blockchain.

This page discusses btcli stuff specifically for Validators. For general coverage of BTCLI and permissions stuff, see: Bittensor CLI: Permissions Guide

  • Hotkey:

    Used to set weights

  • Coldkey is needed for any stake management or large fund transfers.

  • Weight-setting requirements:

To have a validator permit in a given subnet, allowing you to submit miner evaluations using the set_weights function, you must meet the following requirements:

  • Your hotkey must be registered, granting you a UID on the subnet

  • You must have a stake-weight on the subnet of least 1000, including stake delegated to your hotkey from other wallets' coldkeys. A validator's stake weight in a subnet equals their alpha stake plus their TAO stake times the tao_weight parameter (current value: 0.18):

    Validator stake weight=α+0.18×τ \text{Validator stake weight} = \alpha + 0.18 \times \tau

  • You must be one of the top 64 validators in the subnet, ranked by stake.

Commands most relevant to validators:

  • Weights:
    • btcli weights reveal, btcli weights commit
    • btcli wt reveal, btcli wt commit
    • btcli weight reveal, btcli weight commit
      These require a hotkey with an active validator permit on the subnet. Typically run in a live environment (the validator node).
  • Stake Management (if you stake TAO to your validator hotkey or accept delegations):
    • btcli stake add, btcli stake remove, btcli stake move, etc. Requires the coldkey in a secure environment if you are adding or removing stake from your own coldkey to your validator hotkey.
  • Subnet Registration:
    • If you are validating on a particular subnet, you often must register with btcli subnets register or btcli subnets pow-register, same as miners. This also typically involves your coldkey to pay any required fees, while awarding your hotkey the validator status/UID in that subnet.

In short, validators use their hotkey for daily validation and weights. The coldkey is still needed for any staking or managing TAO, so you keep it offline or in a more secure environment whenever possible.