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    Cardano staking and yield-as-inference glossary

    This glossary defines the Cardano staking terms you meet when delegating ADA, such as delegation, stake key, stake pool, epoch, stake snapshot, saturation, pledge and reward lag, plus the terms Gatewayz uses for yield-as-inference, such as reward share, list price and inference discount balance. Each definition is short, sourced and current as of 2026-10-27.

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    This Cardano staking glossary defines, in a sentence or two each, the terms you meet when you delegate ADA: delegation, stake keys, stake pools, epochs, snapshots, saturation, pledge and reward timing. It also defines the terms Gatewayz uses for yield-as-inference, where your staking rewards become a discount on AI inference. Every term has its own link, such as /yield/glossary#epoch, and live protocol values are as of 2026-10-27.

    For the full picture, read How Cardano staking works, Cardano stake pools explained and How yield-as-inference works. Common questions about the program are answered in the FAQ.

    Terms

    Yield-as-inference
    A program where the staking rewards your assets earn are turned into a discount on AI inference instead of being paid out. At Gatewayz, you delegate ADA from your own wallet, and 95% of the rewards your stake earns Gatewayz becomes an inference discount balance.
    Inference
    Running a trained AI model on new input to produce an output. Every prompt, chat message or agent step is one inference request, billed per use in tokens.
    Inference discount balance
    The USD amount on your Gatewayz account that pays 99% of each request's list price until it runs out. It is non-transferable, usable only for inference on Gatewayz, and cannot be withdrawn or exchanged.
    List price
    The published price of a model on Gatewayz, per million input and output tokens. While your discount balance lasts, you pay 1% of it.
    Reward share
    The fraction of the rewards your stake earned Gatewayz that comes back to you as a discount. It is 95% today and can change.
    ADA
    The native currency of the Cardano blockchain. One ADA is 1,000,000 lovelace.
    Lovelace
    The smallest unit of ADA: one millionth of an ADA. Cardano's APIs report amounts in lovelace.
    Staking
    Committing a proof-of-stake asset to help secure its network in exchange for protocol rewards. On Cardano, staking is done by delegation and the ADA stays in your wallet.
    Delegation
    Assigning your stake to a stake pool without transferring your ADA. It takes one transaction with a delegation certificate, and your ADA stays spendable.
    Delegation certificate
    The on-chain record, in a normal Cardano transaction, that points a stake key at a stake pool. Changing pools means submitting a new certificate.
    Stake key
    The key that controls a wallet's staking rights: delegation and reward withdrawals. It is separate from the payment keys that spend ADA.
    Stake address
    The address derived from a stake key, starting with stake1 on mainnet. It identifies your delegation and reward account.
    Stake address deposit
    A one-time deposit, currently 2 ADA on mainnet, paid to register a stake address and returned in full when it is deregistered.
    Stake pool
    A node operation that produces Cardano blocks on behalf of the stake delegated to it. Its rewards are split between the operator's fixed cost and margin and its delegators.
    Stake pool operator
    The person or company that runs a stake pool's block-producing and relay nodes and sets its fixed cost, margin and pledge.
    Fixed cost
    The ADA a stake pool takes from its rewards each epoch before anything else. The protocol minimum is currently 170 ADA.
    Margin
    The percentage of a pool's rewards, after fixed cost, that goes to the operator. The Gatewayz pool sets it near 100%, which is what funds the inference discount.
    Pledge
    ADA that a pool's owners commit to their own pool. If the owners delegate less than the declared pledge, the pool's rewards for that epoch are zero.
    Saturation
    The stake level (total stake divided by k) above which extra delegation stops increasing a pool's rewards, so rewards per ADA fall for everyone in it.
    k parameter
    The Cardano protocol parameter for the target number of saturated pools. Its live mainnet value is 500.
    Epoch
    Cardano's accounting period: 432,000 one-second slots, or 5 days. Stake snapshots, rewards and the Gatewayz discount accounting all run per epoch.
    Slot
    One second of Cardano time, in which a block may be produced.
    Stake snapshot
    A frozen record of every account's delegation taken at an epoch boundary. The protocol uses it, not live delegations, to elect block producers and pay rewards.
    Reward lag
    The delay between delegating and receiving rewards. If you delegate in epoch N, rewards for your stake are paid at the start of epoch N+4, about 15 to 20 days later.
    Monetary expansion
    The share of Cardano's remaining reserve (rho, currently 0.003 per epoch) released into each epoch's reward pot alongside transaction fees.
    Treasury cut
    The share of each epoch's reward pot (tau, currently 20%) moved to Cardano's on-chain treasury before pools and delegators are paid.
    DRep
    A delegated representative in Cardano governance. Since the Plomin hard fork, withdrawing staking rewards requires your stake key to also delegate its vote to a DRep, abstain or no confidence.
    Non-custodial
    An arrangement where you keep control of your assets and keys and no one else can move them. Cardano delegation is non-custodial.
    Custodial
    An arrangement where a third party holds your assets or keys, as on most exchanges. You rely on that party to give them back.
    Unbonding period
    The wait between asking to unstake and getting your tokens back on chains that lock staked tokens, such as 21 days on the Cosmos Hub or 28 days on Polkadot. Cardano has none.
    Slashing
    A protocol penalty that destroys part of a validator's stake, and on some chains its delegators' stake, for provable misbehavior. Cardano delegation has no slashing.
    CIP-30
    The Cardano standard that lets a website talk to a browser wallet such as Lace, Eternl or Yoroi to read addresses and request signatures, without handling the user's keys.
    CIP-8
    The Cardano message-signing standard. Signing a message proves you control an address without sending a transaction or paying a fee; Gatewayz uses it to link your stake address.
    Koios
    A public, community-run API for Cardano chain data. The Gatewayz verify script reads pool fees and delegator stake from it.
    Pool fees
    What a stake pool keeps from an epoch's rewards: its fixed cost plus its margin. For the Gatewayz pool, pool fees are the revenue the inference discount is calculated from.
    Stablecoin
    A token designed to hold a steady value, usually one US dollar. Stablecoins do not stake; any yield comes from lending, which adds protocol risk.
    API key
    The secret that identifies your Gatewayz account on each request. Anything signed with it, including your agents' requests, draws on your discount balance.

    Frequently asked questions

    What is the difference between a stake key and a payment key?

    The stake key controls a wallet's staking rights, meaning delegation and reward withdrawals. Payment keys spend ADA. That separation is why delegating never gives a pool any power to move your funds.

    How long is a Cardano epoch?

    An epoch is 432,000 slots of one second each, which is five days. Stake snapshots, reward payments and the Gatewayz discount accounting all run per epoch.

    What does pool saturation mean for delegators?

    Past the saturation point, which is total stake divided by k, extra delegation stops increasing a pool's rewards, so rewards per ADA fall for everyone in it. In epoch 664 the point was roughly 77.9 million ADA.

    Is there a deposit to stake ADA?

    Yes, once. Registering a stake address takes a 2 ADA deposit on mainnet, returned in full when the address is deregistered. Delegating or changing pools afterward costs only transaction fees.

    Sources

    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. Program disclosures