On this page
- What are the risks, in one list?
- What rewards do you give up?
- How does pool performance affect your discount?
- How does the ADA price affect it?
- Can the program change or stop?
- What about your Gatewayz account and API key?
- What changes for stablecoins and other future assets?
- How does each risk compare with what limits it?
- Frequently asked questions
- Sources
The main risks of ADA delegation are about rewards, not principal. Delegating never moves your ADA and Cardano has no lock-up, so the stake itself is exposed only to the ADA price, as it would be in your wallet anyway. With Gatewayz, the trade-offs are the ADA rewards you give up in exchange for an inference discount, how often the pool mints blocks, the ADA price when rewards are recorded, changes to the program, and the security of your Gatewayz account.
What are the risks, in one list?
These are the risks Gatewayz publishes for the program, in order. Each is explained in more depth below.
- 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.
- Program changes
- The reward share, the discount, the limits and the program itself can change or be paused. The program also pauses automatically if discounts granted ever exceed 95% of rewards received.
- Smart contracts
- None for ADA: delegation is a native Cardano certificate, not a smart contract. Future assets that use contracts or lending protocols will list their contract risk on their own page.
- Your Gatewayz account
- The discount balance lives on your Gatewayz account. Anyone with your API key can spend it, so treat the key like a password.
What rewards do you give up?
You give up the ADA staking rewards you would get from a typical pool. The Gatewayz pool takes nearly all of its rewards as its fee, so its members receive almost no ADA rewards; you receive an inference discount instead.
Cardano splits a pool's rewards in a fixed order: the declared fixed cost goes to the operator first, then the declared margin, and the remainder is shared by stake among all delegators. The minimum fixed cost is currently 170 ADA per epoch. The Gatewayz pool sets a 99% margin on top of that minimum, so what is left for delegators is close to zero. Gatewayz then credits 95% of what it actually received, split by your share of the stake, as a discount on AI inference.
That is a real cost if you would otherwise keep the ADA rewards. The discount is not cash: it cannot be withdrawn, transferred or exchanged. If you do not spend on AI, delegate to a pool that pays rewards out. Staking rewards vs an inference discount works through the comparison.
How does pool performance affect your discount?
Your discount depends on the blocks the pool mints. Cardano's own wording is that small pools mint blocks less often, so their rewards vary more from epoch to epoch, and a pool that is offline when elected misses that block and its rewards.
A new pool starts small, so expect uneven epochs: some with a discount, some with less or none. An epoch with no blocks has nothing to share. Separately, if a pool's owners delegate less than its declared pledge, that pool's rewards for the epoch are zero. Cardano stake pools explained covers these mechanics.
How does the ADA price affect it?
Rewards are earned in ADA and converted to USD at the ADA price when Gatewayz records them, so the dollar size of each discount moves with ADA. Your delegated ADA is exposed to its price exactly as it is in your wallet today; delegation neither adds to nor removes that exposure.
Can the program change or stop?
Yes. The reward share, the discount, the limits and the program itself can change or be paused. The program also pauses automatically if discounts granted ever exceed 95% of rewards received, which protects the accounting from errors.
Launch limits also cap how much discount any account can receive:
Launch limits: at most $5 of discount per account per day, and at most $50 per day across the whole program. Limits may change.
No expiry is set today, and discounts already credited stay on your account if you stop delegating.
What about your Gatewayz account and API key?
The discount balance lives on your Gatewayz account, and anyone with your API key can spend it. Treat the key like a password, keep it out of code and chat, and give unattended agents a spending ceiling. Security covers what to protect, and How Gatewayz keeps you secure covers account security.
What changes for stablecoins and other future assets?
Future assets carry risks ADA delegation does not. Stablecoins do not stake, so any yield would come from lending, which adds contract and protocol risk. None of these assets are live; each will list its own risks on its page.
The risks below apply to stablecoin lending in general, as described by their sources:
| Risk | What it means |
|---|---|
| Smart contract | A bug or exploit in lending or stablecoin contracts can lose deposits or mint unbacked tokens. Audits lower this risk but do not remove it. |
| Depeg | A stablecoin can drift from $1 because of doubts about reserves, a run on redemptions, or collateral falling faster than liquidations respond. |
| Withdrawal liquidity | Supplied funds are lent out, so withdrawals depend on the market having enough unborrowed liquidity. |
| Oracle | A manipulated or stale price feed can cause wrong liquidations or undercollateralized loans. |
| Bad debt | If collateral falls faster than liquidators act, suppliers absorb the shortfall. |
| Issuer | Fiat-backed stablecoin holders rely on the issuer holding reserves and honoring redemptions; attestations are point-in-time checks, not full audits. |
| No native staking | Any return comes from lending or protocol interest, which carries the risks above. |
Gatewayz will only add stablecoins through a protocol with a published audit. See Stablecoins.
How does each risk compare with what limits it?
| Risk | What limits it |
|---|---|
| Losing your ADA | Delegation never moves it; no Gatewayz contract, no lock-up |
| Rewards you give up | You choose: redelegate to a pool that pays ADA at any time |
| Pool variance | Nothing removes it; verify each epoch from public data |
| ADA price | Nothing removes it; the same exposure you already have |
| Over-crediting | Credits only from rewards actually received; automatic pause at 95% |
| Program changes | Credited discounts stay on your account; any expiry announced first |
| API key misuse | Treat it like a password; spend ceilings for agents |
Frequently asked questions
Can I lose my ADA by delegating it?
Not through delegation. Delegation assigns your stake to a pool without transferring your ADA, and you can spend it at any time. Your ADA's market price still moves, as it would in your wallet anyway.
Why do Gatewayz pool members get almost no ADA rewards?
The pool sets a 99% margin plus Cardano's minimum fixed cost, so nearly all rewards go to the pool as its fee. Gatewayz turns 95% of the rewards it actually received from your stake into an inference discount on your account instead of ADA.
What happens if the pool mints no blocks in an epoch?
That epoch has nothing to share, so no discount is credited for it. Small pools mint blocks less often, so their rewards vary more from epoch to epoch.
Can my ADA be slashed?
No. Cardano delegation has no slashing: delegation never moves your ADA and there is no lock-up (Cardano.org Glossary: Staking). What can drop to zero in an epoch is the reward, not your stake; as the Cardano Developer Portal puts it, if a pool underperforms you simply miss rewards for that epoch.
Is there a risk the discount disappears?
The program can change or be paused, and it pauses automatically if discounts granted ever exceed 95% of rewards received. Discounts already credited stay on your account, and no expiry is set today.
Sources
- Cardano.org Glossary: Staking, as of 2026-10-28
- Cardano Developer Portal: Staking, as of 2026-10-28
- Cardano Docs: Delegation, as of 2026-10-27
- Cardano.org: Stake your ada on Cardano, as of 2026-10-27
- Cardano Docs: Pledging and rewards, as of 2026-10-27
- Cardano.org Glossary: Minimum Pool Cost, as of 2026-10-27
- Chainlink: DeFi stablecoins explained, as of 2026-10-27
- Chainlink: What is a stablecoin depeg?, as of 2026-10-27
- Liqwid docs: qTokens, as of 2026-10-27
- Liqwid docs: Risk analysis, as of 2026-10-27
- Liqwid docs: Liquidations, as of 2026-10-27
- Circle: USDC transparency, as of 2026-10-27
- Liqwid docs: Supply and earn, as of 2026-10-27
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