# Your yield pays for your AI.

> Gatewayz yield-as-inference lets you delegate ADA from your own wallet to the Gatewayz stake pool and receive the staking rewards as AI inference instead of ADA. 95% of the rewards your stake earns Gatewayz becomes a discount balance, and every request on Gatewayz then costs 1% of its list price until the balance is used. Your ADA never leaves your wallet.

**In one line:** Delegate ADA you already hold, keep it in your wallet, and let its staking rewards pay 99% of your AI bill while the discount lasts.

Yield-as-inference is a simple trade: instead of receiving Cardano staking rewards as more ADA, you receive them as AI compute. You [delegate](/yield/glossary#delegation) ADA to the Gatewayz [stake pool](/yield/glossary#stake-pool) from the wallet you already use, the pool's rewards are tracked every [epoch](/yield/glossary#epoch), and your share comes back as an [inference discount balance](/yield/glossary#inference-discount-balance) on your Gatewayz account. Nothing is deposited, locked or lent out.

- **Preprod demo:** Live, by invitation
- **Mainnet:** Built, switched off
- **Launch limits:** $5/account/day · $50/program/day
- **Eligibility:** Not for US or Canadian persons

## Key takeaways

- Your ADA stays in your wallet. Delegation on Cardano is a certificate on your [stake key](/yield/glossary#stake-key), not a transfer, and you can spend or redelegate at any time.
- Cardano delegation has no lock-up and no [slashing](/yield/glossary#slashing): if a pool underperforms, delegators miss that epoch's rewards, not principal.
- 95% of the rewards your stake earns Gatewayz becomes your discount balance, calculated only from rewards Gatewayz has actually received.
- While the balance lasts, every request on Gatewayz costs 1% of its [list price](/yield/glossary#list-price); the other 99% is drawn from the balance.
- The first discount arrives roughly two to three weeks after you delegate, because Cardano pays rewards a few epochs after they are earned.
- Launch limits apply: at most $5 of discount per account per day, and $50 per day across the program.
- You can recompute your discount yourself from public chain data with one command.

## How does yield-as-inference work?

It works in four steps, the same for a person, a treasury or an agent. The only on-chain action is the delegation itself; linking your wallet to your account is a signed message, not a transaction.

1. **Delegate.** Point your ADA at the Gatewayz stake pool from any CIP-30 wallet (Lace, Eternl, Yoroi, Vespr). Your ADA stays in your wallet.
2. **Link.** Sign a message with your stake key to link the wallet to your Gatewayz account. No transaction, no deposit.
3. **Convert.** After each epoch, Gatewayz splits the pool rewards it received by stake and adds 95% of your share to your discount balance.
4. **Use.** Every request on Gatewayz costs 1% of its list price while the balance lasts, through one API key, or by your agents.

Under the hood, value moves along one path. The first three steps are native Cardano: your wallet, a [delegation certificate](/yield/glossary#delegation-certificate) and the pool minting blocks. The last three happen in your Gatewayz account: the pool's [fees](/yield/glossary#pool-fees) for a finished epoch are split by stake, 95% of your share is credited in USD, and your requests draw on it.

1. **Your wallet**: CIP-30: Lace, Eternl, Yoroi. ADA never leaves it.
2. **Delegation certificate**: On your stake key. One transaction.
3. **Gatewayz stake pool**: Mints blocks each epoch. Fixed cost + margin.
4. **Epoch accounting**: Fees actually received. Split by stake.
5. **Discount ledger**: 95% of your share, in USD. Non-transferable.
6. **Gatewayz API**: OpenAI + Anthropic formats. You pay 1% of list.

Linking: CIP-8 signed message links your stake address to your Gatewayz account (no transaction).

On each request, the split looks like this:

Illustration, not a quote: 100,000 ADA delegated at network-average rewards and ADA at $0.2033 (2026-10-27) adds about $5.48 of discount per epoch, $32.91 per month. A request listed at $1.00 then costs $0.01 from your credits and $0.99 from the discount.

The detail behind each step, including how a finished epoch's pool fees are split across linked wallets, is on [How it works](/yield/how-it-works). If you are new to Cardano staking, start with [How Cardano staking works](/yield/learn/how-cardano-staking-works).

## When does the first discount arrive?

About 15 to 20 days after you delegate, then every epoch. Cardano does not pay on live delegations: it uses a [stake snapshot](/yield/glossary#stake-snapshot) taken at each epoch boundary, so a new delegation counts from the epoch after next and is paid two epochs after that. Gatewayz credits your discount only once those rewards are recorded.

- **Epoch N, You delegate.** Certificate submitted from your wallet.
- **Epoch N+1, Snapshot.** Your stake is counted in the epoch-boundary snapshot.
- **Epoch N+2, Active.** Your stake helps the pool get elected to mint blocks.
- **Epoch N+3, Calculated.** The protocol calculates that epoch's rewards.
- **Epoch N+4, Paid, then credited.** Rewards are paid; Gatewayz records them and credits your discount.

[Cardano epochs and reward timing](/yield/learn/cardano-epochs-and-reward-timing) walks through the [reward lag](/yield/glossary#reward-lag) with dates.

## What does your stake buy each month?

Enter your own amount. The estimate is a range built from Cardano's network-wide rewards over recent epochs and the ADA price you choose; it is never a promised rate, and the per-account launch limit is applied.

Estimate for your own amount: `usd_per_month = min(amount_ada * network_rewards_per_ada_per_epoch * reward_share * epochs_per_month * ada_usd, per_account_daily_usd * 30)`.

Example only, for 100,000 ADA at $0.2033 (CoinGecko simple price, 2026-10-27): $32.91 to $34.45 of discount per month.

Interactive calculator: https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/calculator

The calculator shows dollars of discount. What those dollars buy depends on the models you use and how long your prompts and answers are; [What are AI tokens?](/learn/ai-tokens-and-pricing) explains how inference is priced.

## Why is this built on Cardano?

Because Cardano's delegation model already does the hard part. Staking there never moves your ADA, never locks it and needs nothing more than a certificate on your stake key, so a program that turns rewards into a service can be built without holding anyone's funds or writing a smart contract to custody them.

- **Non-custodial, no slashing.** Delegation is a certificate on your stake key, not a transfer. Your ADA stays in your wallet and can move at any time, with no lock-up, no slashing and no minimum amount. ([Cardano.org Glossary: Staking](https://cardano.org/glossary/staking/))
- **One transaction, standard fee.** Delegating one stake key takes a single transaction with a delegation certificate and costs only the usual transaction fee. The 2 ADA stake address deposit is paid once at registration and returned in full on deregistration. ([Cardano Docs: Delegation](https://docs.cardano.org/about-cardano/learn/delegation))
- **Any CIP-30 wallet.** Lace, Eternl, Yoroi, VESPR, Typhon and the rest all speak CIP-30, the dApp-wallet bridge. The site asks your wallet for an address and a signature; it never sees your keys. ([Cardano.org Glossary: CIP-30](https://cardano.org/glossary/cip-30/))
- **Linked with CIP-8, not a transaction.** Your stake address is tied to your Gatewayz account by a CIP-8 signed message from the stake key. It proves control without a transaction, a fee or a deposit. ([CIP-0008: Message Signing](https://cips.cardano.org/cip/CIP-0008))
- **Accounting on the protocol's clock.** Rewards follow stake snapshots taken at epoch boundaries: delegate in epoch N, active in N+2, paid at the start of N+4. Gatewayz credits a discount only after a finished epoch's rewards are recorded. ([Cardano.org Glossary: Stake Snapshot](https://cardano.org/glossary/stake-snapshot/))
- **Your vote stays your choice.** Pool delegation and governance are separate choices. Since the Plomin hard fork (29 January 2025), withdrawing rewards needs a vote delegation to a DRep, abstain or no confidence; joining the Gatewayz pool does not choose one for you. ([Cardano.org: Stake your ada on Cardano](https://cardano.org/stake-pool-delegation/))

[Non-custodial vs custodial staking](/yield/learn/non-custodial-vs-custodial-staking) compares this with other chains and with exchanges, and [Security](/yield/security) lists exactly what Gatewayz can and cannot touch.

## What does it add to the Cardano ecosystem?

A practical reason to delegate that pays for something people already buy, under exactly the rules every pool follows. The program does not change how rewards are made or shared by the protocol; it changes what the pool's fees are used for.

- **A use for staking beyond more ADA.** Delegation becomes a way to pay for a service holders and teams already buy. The ADA still secures the network exactly as any delegated stake does. ([Cardano.org: Stake your ada on Cardano](https://cardano.org/stake-pool-delegation/))
- **One pool among many.** The k parameter targets 500 saturated pools. In epoch 664 saturation is roughly 77.9 million ADA; past it, extra stake adds no rewards. The Gatewayz pool is bound by that like any other. ([Cardano.org Glossary: k parameter](https://cardano.org/glossary/k-parameter/))
- **Fees in the open.** A pool's fixed cost (at least the 170 ADA protocol minimum) and margin are declared on-chain. Anyone can read them and recompute the discount from public data with one command. ([Cardano.org Glossary: Minimum Pool Cost](https://cardano.org/glossary/min-pool-cost/))
- **The treasury keeps its share.** 20% of each epoch's reward pot goes to Cardano's on-chain treasury before pools and delegators are paid. Nothing about this program changes that. ([Cardano.org Glossary: Treasury Cut](https://cardano.org/glossary/treasury-cut/))

How pool fees, pledge and saturation work is explained in [Cardano stake pools explained](/yield/learn/cardano-stake-pools-explained).

## Can you check the numbers yourself?

Yes. Your discount is computed from public Cardano data, so you can recompute it from your stake address. The script reads [Koios](/yield/glossary#koios) and applies the same formula Gatewayz uses: 95% of the pool's fees for an epoch, multiplied by your share of the pool's stake.

```bash
curl -sO https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/verify.mjs && node verify.mjs stake1u...
```

See [Verify your discount](/yield/verify) for what the script reads and how to compare it with your account history.

## Why take rewards as inference instead of ADA?

Because some holders spend on AI anyway. If you or your team pays for inference every month, rewards that arrive as a discount on that bill do the same job as rewards you would otherwise convert and spend, without a sale. If you would rather accumulate ADA, delegate to a pool that pays rewards out; this program is not for you.

| | Regular delegation | Yield-as-inference with Gatewayz |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Where your ADA is | In your wallet | In your wallet |
| What you receive | ADA rewards, after the pool's fixed cost and margin | An inference discount worth 95% of the rewards your stake earned Gatewayz |
| How you use it | Hold, spend or sell ADA | 99% off every request on Gatewayz while the balance lasts |
| Can you withdraw it? | Yes, as ADA | No: the discount is non-transferable and cannot be cashed out |
| Lock-up | None | None |

The full comparison, with a worked example, is in [Staking rewards vs an inference discount](/yield/learn/staking-rewards-vs-inference-discount).

## Who is it for?

It suits anyone who holds ADA and pays for AI. Three groups get the most out of it:

- **Treasuries and teams**: DAOs, funds and protocols that hold ADA and pay a monthly AI bill can cover part of it without selling principal. Read [For treasuries](/yield/treasuries).
- **Builders and ADA holders**: developers who already use OpenAI-compatible tools can fund their own usage from stake they hold anyway. Read [For builders](/yield/builders).
- **Agents and their operators**: an [AI agent](/learn/what-is-an-ai-agent) with its own Cardano wallet can link it through the API and spend the discount with its own key. Read [For agents](/yield/agents).

- **For people and treasuries:** apply for the demo at https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield#apply.
- **For agents:** read https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/llms.txt and https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/offer.json.

## Which assets can pay for AI today?

ADA is live; stablecoins and other proof-of-stake assets are listed so you can tell us which should come next. Each coming asset has its own page explaining how its native staking works and why it is on the list.

| Asset | Yield source | Status |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Cardano (ADA)](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/assets/ada) | Protocol staking: delegation to the Gatewayz stake pool | Live |
| [Cardano stablecoins (USDM, DJED, iUSD)](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/assets/stablecoins) | Lending on a Cardano protocol with a published audit (not yet selected) | Coming |
| [Ethereum (ETH)](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/assets/eth) | Native staking on Ethereum | Coming |
| [Solana (SOL)](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/assets/sol) | Native staking on Solana | Coming |
| [Avalanche (AVAX)](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/assets/avax) | Native staking on Avalanche | Coming |
| [Polkadot (DOT)](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/assets/dot) | Native staking (nomination) on Polkadot | Coming |
| [Cosmos Hub (ATOM)](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/assets/atom) | Native staking on the Cosmos Hub | Coming |
| [NEAR](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/assets/near) | Native staking on NEAR | Coming |
| [TRON (TRX)](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/assets/trx) | Native staking (voting) on TRON | Coming |
| [Sui (SUI)](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/assets/sui) | Native staking on Sui | Coming |
| [Toncoin (TON)](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/assets/ton) | Native staking on TON | Coming |
| [USD Coin (USDC)](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/assets/usdc) | Lending on its own chain | Coming |
| [Tether (USDT)](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/assets/usdt) | Lending on its own chain | Coming |

## What is at risk?

Your ADA is not at risk from Gatewayz: delegation never moves it, and no Gatewayz contract holds it. Nor is it at risk from the protocol: Cardano delegation has no slashing, and [the Cardano Developer Portal](https://developers.cardano.org/docs/developers/curriculum/staking-governance/staking/) puts it plainly: if a pool underperforms, you simply miss rewards for that epoch. The real trade-offs are the rewards you give up, the pool's performance, the ADA price and changes to the program.

- **Your ADA.** Delegation never moves your ADA. There is no Gatewayz contract holding it and no lock-up. Your ADA's market price still moves, as it would in your wallet anyway.
- **Rewards you give up.** The pool takes nearly all of its rewards as its fee (99% margin plus Cardano's minimum fixed cost), so you do not receive ADA staking rewards while delegated. You receive an inference discount instead.
- **Pool performance.** Rewards depend on the blocks the pool mints. A new or small pool mints blocks less often, so its rewards vary more from epoch to epoch, and an epoch with no blocks has nothing to share.
- **ADA price.** Rewards are converted to USD when they are recorded, so the size of your discount moves with ADA.

Every risk is on [Risks](/yield/risks), and what Gatewayz can and cannot touch is on [Security](/yield/security).

## What is Gatewayz?

Gatewayz is an [inference layer](/learn/what-is-an-inference-layer): one API key and one OpenAI-compatible endpoint for models from several providers, with native Anthropic Messages support. The discount applies to the same requests you would make anyway. [What is Gatewayz?](/learn/what-is-gatewayz) covers the product.

- Gatewayz is listed in the FlashyOS public directory as org/gatewayz with three capabilities: inference routing, model catalog and usage metering. (as of 2026-10-15)

## Frequently asked questions

### Do I lose my ADA when I delegate it to Gatewayz?

No. Delegating only tells the Cardano network which pool your stake supports. Your ADA stays in your wallet under your keys, you can spend it at any time, and Gatewayz has no way to move it.

### Can my ADA be slashed if the pool misbehaves?

No. Cardano delegation has no slashing and no lock-up ([Cardano.org](https://cardano.org/glossary/staking/)). A pool that underperforms or misses blocks earns fewer rewards, so the worst case for a delegator is a smaller or missing reward for that epoch, never a loss of the ADA itself.

### How much AI inference will my ADA pay for?

It depends on how much you delegate, how many blocks the pool mints and the price of ADA when rewards are recorded. The calculator gives a range for your own amount; there is no promised rate, and the per-account launch limit caps any single account.

### When does the first discount arrive?

Roughly two to three weeks after you first delegate. Cardano counts a new delegation from the epoch after next and pays that epoch's rewards about two epochs later, and each epoch lasts five days.

### Can I withdraw or sell the discount?

No. The discount balance is non-transferable, works only for inference on Gatewayz and cannot be withdrawn or exchanged. That is the difference between this program and ordinary staking rewards.

### Does delegating to Gatewayz change my governance vote?

No. Pool delegation and vote delegation are separate choices on Cardano. Since the Plomin hard fork, withdrawing rewards requires your stake key to delegate its vote to a DRep, abstain or no confidence, and joining the Gatewayz pool does not make that choice for you.

### Who can take part?

Anyone outside the United States and Canada. The program is not available to US or Canadian persons, and every participant confirms this before linking a wallet.

### Is the program live?

Not on mainnet yet. The program is built and switched off on mainnet, and a working demo runs on Cardano's preprod testnet with test ADA. Apply below and we will walk you through it.

## Apply for the demo

We are walking a small group of holders, treasuries and agent builders through the live testnet demo before launch. Tell us a little about you.

Apply for the demo at https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield#apply, or write to hello@gatewayz.ai. Not available to US or Canadian persons. Every participant must confirm they are not a US or Canadian person before linking a wallet.

## Sources

- [Cardano.org: Stake your ada on Cardano](https://cardano.org/stake-pool-delegation/), as of 2026-10-27
- [Cardano Docs: Delegation](https://docs.cardano.org/about-cardano/learn/delegation), as of 2026-10-27
- [Cardano.org Glossary: Staking](https://cardano.org/glossary/staking/), as of 2026-10-28
- [Cardano Developer Portal: Staking](https://developers.cardano.org/docs/developers/curriculum/staking-governance/staking/), as of 2026-10-28
- [Cardano Docs: Pledging and rewards](https://docs.cardano.org/about-cardano/learn/pledging-rewards), as of 2026-10-27
- [Cardano.org Glossary: CIP-30](https://cardano.org/glossary/cip-30/), as of 2026-10-27
- [CIP-0008: Message Signing](https://cips.cardano.org/cip/CIP-0008), as of 2026-10-27
- [Cardano.org Glossary: Stake Snapshot](https://cardano.org/glossary/stake-snapshot/), as of 2026-10-27
- [Cardano.org Glossary: k parameter](https://cardano.org/glossary/k-parameter/), as of 2026-10-27
- [Koios API: totals (epoch 664)](https://api.koios.rest/api/v1/totals?_epoch_no=664), as of 2026-10-27
- [Cardano.org Glossary: Minimum Pool Cost](https://cardano.org/glossary/min-pool-cost/), as of 2026-10-27
- [Cardano.org Glossary: Treasury Cut](https://cardano.org/glossary/treasury-cut/), as of 2026-10-27

## Related

- [How yield-as-inference works](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/how-it-works)
- [ADA staking calculator for AI inference](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/calculator)
- [Verify your discount from public chain data](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/verify)
- [Is delegating ADA to a stake pool safe?](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/security)
- [How Cardano staking works](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/learn/how-cardano-staking-works)

---

Discounts are a share of staking rewards Gatewayz actually received, can change at any time, and are not a guaranteed return. Not available to US or Canadian persons. Every participant must confirm they are not a US or Canadian person before linking a wallet. Not investment, legal or tax advice. Figures as of 2026-10-27.

Updated 2026-10-28. Canonical page: https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield