# How yield-as-inference works

> Yield-as-inference works in four steps. You delegate ADA to the Gatewayz stake pool from your own wallet, link the wallet to your Gatewayz account with a signed message, and after each finished epoch Gatewayz credits 95% of your stake's share of the pool's fees, in USD, to a discount balance. While it lasts, each request costs 1% of list price.

**In one line:** Your stake's share of each epoch's pool fees, times 95%, becomes a USD discount balance that pays 99% of every request until it runs out.

Yield-as-inference turns Cardano staking rewards into AI compute. You [delegate](/yield/glossary#delegation) ADA to the Gatewayz [stake pool](/yield/glossary#stake-pool) from your own wallet, link that wallet to your Gatewayz account with a signature, and after every finished [epoch](/yield/glossary#epoch) Gatewayz credits 95% of your stake's share of the pool's fees to an [inference discount balance](/yield/glossary#inference-discount-balance). While the balance lasts, each request on Gatewayz costs 1% of its [list price](/yield/glossary#list-price).

**Pre-launch.** The program is built and switched off on mainnet. A working demo runs on Cardano's preprod testnet with test ADA, by invitation. Not available to US or Canadian persons. Every participant must confirm they are not a US or Canadian person before linking a wallet.

## Key takeaways

- The only on-chain action is the delegation certificate; linking your wallet is a signed message with no transaction and no deposit.
- For each finished epoch, your discount is 0.95 x the pool's fees x your stake / the pool's active stake, converted to USD at the ADA price when it is recorded.
- Cardano pays rewards about four epochs after you delegate, so the first discount arrives roughly two to three weeks later.
- Billing takes 1% of each request's list price from your normal credits and 99% from the discount balance; refunded requests return their discount to the balance.
- Launch limits cap each account and the whole program per day, and the program pauses itself if discounts ever exceed 95% of rewards received.

## What are the four steps?

Delegate, link, convert, use. Steps 1 and 2 are things you do once; steps 3 and 4 then repeat every epoch without any action from you.

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.

**Step 1, delegate.** Delegation assigns your stake to a pool without transferring your ADA. It is one transaction with a [delegation certificate](/yield/glossary#delegation-certificate) from your [stake key](/yield/glossary#stake-key), costing only the usual fee. If your [stake address](/yield/glossary#stake-address) has never been registered, the wallet also pays a one-time [stake address deposit](/yield/glossary#stake-address-deposit), currently 2 ADA on mainnet, which is returned in full if you deregister. There is no lock-up: your ADA stays spendable.

**Step 2, link.** Your wallet signs a one-time message with its stake key using [CIP-8](/yield/glossary#cip-8) message signing, which proves you control the address without sending a transaction or paying a fee. Any [CIP-30](/yield/glossary#cip-30) wallet can do this from the browser. Before linking, you confirm you are not a US or Canadian person.

**Step 3, convert.** Once the pool's rewards for a finished epoch are recorded, Gatewayz splits what it actually received across linked wallets by stake and credits 95% of each wallet's share to its account. The next section shows the math.

**Step 4, use.** Every request made with your [API key](/yield/glossary#api-key), by you or by [your agents](/yield/agents), is billed at 1% of list price while the balance lasts.

## How is each epoch's discount calculated?

Gatewayz runs the pool with a near-100% [margin](/yield/glossary#margin), so almost all of an epoch's rewards are [pool fees](/yield/glossary#pool-fees): the [fixed cost](/yield/glossary#fixed-cost) plus the margin. Those fees are the revenue the discount comes from, and each linked wallet receives its proportional share:

`discount = 0.95 x pool_fees x your_stake / pool_active_stake`

The result is converted to USD at the ADA price at the moment it is recorded, and that USD amount is what sits on your balance. It does not move with ADA afterward. Rewards are only counted once Gatewayz has actually received them, never in advance and never from a promised rate.

**Worked example (illustrative numbers only, not Gatewayz pool data).** Suppose that in one finished epoch:

| Input | Illustrative value |
| --- | --- |
| Pool fees Gatewayz received for the epoch | 4,000 ADA |
| Pool active stake in that epoch | 20,000,000 ADA |
| Your stake in that epoch | 100,000 ADA |
| ADA price when recorded | $0.20 |

Your share of the stake is 100,000 / 20,000,000 = 0.5%. Your share of the fees is 0.5% x 4,000 = 20 ADA. The reward share takes it to 0.95 x 20 = 19 ADA, which at $0.20 is a $3.80 discount credited for that epoch. Real numbers depend on the blocks the pool mints, so a different epoch, or a new pool that mints fewer blocks, would give a different figure. You can rerun this math on real chain data with the [verify script](/yield/verify).

## When does the first discount arrive?

About 15 to 20 days after you delegate, provided the pool mints blocks. Cardano does not use live delegations: it pays rewards from a [stake snapshot](/yield/glossary#stake-snapshot) taken at an epoch boundary, which creates a built-in [reward lag](/yield/glossary#reward-lag).

| Epoch | Days from start of epoch N | What happens on Cardano | What happens at Gatewayz |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| N | 0 to 5 | You submit the delegation certificate | You link your wallet |
| N+1 | 5 to 10 | Your stake is captured in the snapshot | Nothing to credit yet |
| N+2 | 10 to 15 | Your stake is active and the pool can mint blocks with it | Nothing to credit yet |
| N+3 | 15 to 20 | Rewards for epoch N+2 are calculated | Nothing to credit yet |
| N+4 | 20 to 25 | Rewards for N+2 are paid at the start of the epoch | Gatewayz records them and credits your share |

After that, a new epoch's rewards arrive every five days. Each epoch is 432,000 one-second slots. [Cardano epochs and reward timing](/yield/learn/cardano-epochs-and-reward-timing) explains the snapshot in depth.

## How does billing use the discount?

On each request you pay 1% of the list price from your normal Gatewayz credits, and the other 99% is drawn from the discount balance until it runs out. If a request is refunded, its discount goes back to the balance. Because the 1% still comes from credits, you need a small credit balance to use the discount at all; a request your credits cannot cover returns a 402 `insufficient_credits` error ([agent errors](/yield/agents/errors)). When the balance is empty, requests are billed at list price from credits as usual.

## What limits apply at launch?

Two daily limits apply while the program starts, and a safety stop sits behind them.

Launch limits: at most $5 of discount per account per day, and at most $50 per day across the whole program. Limits may change.

The program also pauses automatically if discounts granted ever exceed 95% of the rewards Gatewayz has received. The calculator applies the per-account limit as a cap of $150 a month.

## What happens if you redelegate or stop?

You can leave at any time and leaving is never blocked. Redelegating is one more certificate from your wallet; deregistering returns your 2 ADA deposit. Because of the snapshot, a redelegation becomes active in the epoch after next, and your old pool still earns you rewards for three more payouts before the new pool takes over, with no gap. Accounting follows the stake recorded for each epoch, so epochs in which your stake still counted in the Gatewayz pool are attributed as usual while your wallet stays linked. Discounts already credited stay on your account whatever you do next.

## Frequently asked questions

### Does linking my wallet send a transaction?

No. Linking is a CIP-8 signed message from your stake key. It proves you control the stake address, costs nothing and moves nothing. The only transaction in the whole process is the delegation itself.

### Why is the discount in USD instead of ADA?

Because inference is priced in USD. Each epoch's share is converted at the ADA price when it is recorded, so the balance you see is fixed in dollars from that point on, even if ADA moves afterward.

### What if the pool mints no blocks in an epoch?

Then there are no rewards for that epoch and nothing to share, so no discount is credited for it. Small or new pools mint blocks less often, so their rewards vary more from epoch to epoch.

### Can the discount ever exceed the rewards Gatewayz received?

No. The discount is calculated only from rewards actually received, and the program pauses automatically if discounts granted ever exceed 95% of rewards received.

## Sources

- [Cardano Docs: Delegation](https://docs.cardano.org/about-cardano/learn/delegation), as of 2026-10-27
- [Cardano.org: Stake your ada on Cardano](https://cardano.org/stake-pool-delegation/), as of 2026-10-27
- [Cardano.org Glossary: Stake Address Deposit](https://cardano.org/glossary/stake-address-deposit/), as of 2026-10-27
- [Cardano.org Glossary: Stake Snapshot](https://cardano.org/glossary/stake-snapshot/), as of 2026-10-27
- [Cardano Docs: Cardano node (Slots and epochs)](https://docs.cardano.org/about-cardano/learn/cardano-node), as of 2026-10-27
- [Cardano Docs: Pledging and rewards](https://docs.cardano.org/about-cardano/learn/pledging-rewards), as of 2026-10-27
- [CIP-0008: Message Signing](https://cips.cardano.org/cip/CIP-0008), as of 2026-10-27
- [CIP-0030: Cardano dApp-Wallet Web Bridge](https://cips.cardano.org/cip/CIP-0030), as of 2026-10-27

## Related

- [ADA staking calculator for AI inference](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/calculator)
- [When do Cardano staking rewards arrive?](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/learn/cardano-epochs-and-reward-timing)
- [Verify your discount from public chain data](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/verify)
- [The risks of ADA delegation with Gatewayz](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/risks)
- [Staking rewards vs an inference discount](https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/learn/staking-rewards-vs-inference-discount)

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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 2026-10-27. Canonical page: https://www.gatewayz.ai/yield/how-it-works