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SUBMIT A PRSUBMIT AN ISSUElast edit: Sep 10, 2025

Introducing Sub-Subnets

Historically, each subnet operates with a single incentive mechanism, a function that validators run to assign weights to miners based on the value of their work. The Sub-Subnets feature allows a subnet creator to apportion the subnet's emissions across multiple sub-subnets, each of which runs Yuma Consensus independently to evaluate the miners' performance on each of a number of distinct tasks.

Each miner receives emissions separately within each sub-subnet, so a miner's performance within one sub-subnet does not affect their rating in another, and their emissions for each epoch are summed across the sub-subnets. Validators receive dividends as a weighted sum of their performance across all sub-subnets - they cannot choose which sub-subnets to validate, and if they don't validate all sub-subnets, they receive proportionally reduced emissions. Sub-subnets don't change the total emissions to a subnet, but create a way for subnet creators to distribute those emissions to miners working on different tasks. This mechanism affords subnet creators a transparent, on-chain way to exercise fine-grained control over the work they are incentivizing, keeping miner effort focused on work that is most needed at a time.

Each sub-subnet has its own:

  • Weight matrix: Each validator sets weights for each miner on each of the subnet's sub-subnets.
  • Independent emissions: Since they depend on weights set by validators, a miner's emissions in each sub-subnet are independent.
  • Transparent on-chain data: All sub-subnet configurations and the flow of emissions are visible on-chain.
  • Emission distribution: Currently emissions are evenly distributed, but it is planned that subnet creators will control what percentage of total emissions goes to each sub-subnet.

Takeaways​

  1. Same Validators, Same Stake: All validators participate in all sub-subnets with identical stake weights.
  2. Same Miners: All registered miners can participate in any or all sub-subnets.
  3. Owner-Controlled Proportions: The holder of the subnet creator key will set the emission distribution among sub-subnets.
  1. Separate Yuma Consensus: Each sub-subnet runs its own consensus to determine miner rankings.

What Should Stakers Know?​

Core Impact:

  • No change to your staking mechanics: Your stake weight remains identical across all sub-subnets within a subnet. The same validators, same stake, same neurons participate in all sub-subnets.
  • Same total emissions: The subnet's total emissions remain unchanged - sub-subnets only redistribute these emissions internally.
  • Transparent allocation: All emission proportions are visible on-chain, so you can see exactly how subnet owners are distributing emissions.

What This Means for Your Strategy:

  • No immediate action required: Your existing staking strategy doesn't need to change
  • Enhanced monitoring: You may want to track sub-subnet performance to understand subnet health
  • Risk assessment: Factor in sub-subnet design when evaluating subnet quality
  • Community oversight: Use transparency to hold subnet owners accountable for fair emission distribution

What Should Miners Know?​

Automatic Participation:

  • No separate registration: When you register for a subnet, you automatically participate in ALL its sub-subnets
  • Same UID across all sub-subnets: You use the same UID for all sub-subnets within a subnet

Performance Tracking:

  • Independent scoring: Your performance is independent in different subnets, e.g. sub-subnet 0 doesn't affect your rating in sub-subnet 1.
  • Separate incentive columns: You'll see individual incentive amounts for each sub-subnet in metagraph data.
  • Cumulative emissions: Your total emissions = sum of emissions from all sub-subnets where you participate.

What Should Validators Know?​

Core Changes​

  • Separate weight setting: You must set weights independently for each sub-subnet.
  • Independent evaluation: Each sub-subnet requires separate assessment according to its specific criteria.
  • Separate Yuma Consensus: Each sub-subnet runs its consensus algorithm independently to determine rankings.
  • Same stake weight: Your stake weight is identical across all sub-subnets - no additional stake required.
  • Weighted dividend calculation: Your dividends are calculated as a weighted sum of your performance across all sub-subnets. If you don't validate on all sub-subnets, you receive proportionally reduced emissions (e.g., if you validate 1 out of 8 sub-subnets, you receive 1/8 of your potential emissions).

Operational Changes​

1. Evaluation Workload:

  • Multiple assessments: You must evaluate miners separately for each sub-subnet's tasks
  • Different criteria: Each sub-subnet may have distinct evaluation standards

2. Data Structure Changes:

  • Two-dimensional weights: Weight data becomes [validator][uid][sub_subnet]
  • Separate incentive tracking: Each sub-subnet tracks incentives independently
  • Extended metagraph: New columns for sub-subnet weights and incentives

What Should Subnet Creators/Developers Know?​

Core Changes​

  • Emission distribution: Currently, emissions are divided evenly between subnets; In the planned release state, you will control what percentage of total emissions goes to each sub-subnet.

    info

    Currently, emissions are divided evenly between sub-subnets; In the planned release state, you will control what percentage of total emissions goes to each sub-subnet (planned feature).

  • Incentive mechanism design: You define the specific tasks and evaluation criteria for each sub-subnet

  • Transparent configuration: All sub-subnet settings are visible on-chain for community oversight

  • Single subnet slot: No need to register multiple subnets for multiple competitions

tip

Ensure proportions sum to 100%.

Example Emissions Split​

For each subnet, the subnet creator keeps 18% of emissions, 41% is allocated to miners, and 41% to validators and their stakers, unless the subnet creator has reduced their take. Of the 41% that goes to miners and validators, here is an estimated emission distribution across three sub-subnets for each 100 τ\tau earned on the subnet:

  • Sub-subnet 0 (60%): 100 τ\tau *.41 * .6 = 24.6
  • Sub-subnet 1 (30%): 100 τ\tau *.41 * .3 = 12.3
  • Sub-subnet 2 (10%): 100 τ\tau *.41 * .1 = 4.1

Note that a miner who excels in sub-subnet 0 but performs poorly in others might receive more emissions than a miner who performs moderately across all sub-subnets, depending on the emission proportions and their relative performance.

On-Chain Data Structure​

Sub-subnets extend the existing metagraph with additional columns:

UID | Hotkey | Stake | Sub-subnet 0 Weights | Sub-subnet 1 Weights | Sub-subnet 0 Incentive | Sub-subnet 1 Incentive
-----|--------|-------|---------------------|---------------------|----------------------|----------------------
123  | 5ABC...| 1000  | [0.3, 0.2, 0.1...] | [0.1, 0.4, 0.2...] | 0.05 τ               | 0.02 τ
456  | 7DEF...| 800   | [0.2, 0.3, 0.2...] | [0.2, 0.3, 0.1...] | 0.03 τ               | 0.04 τ

Backward Compatibility​

  • Existing subnets continue with only one subnet (sub-subnet 0) collecting all emissions by default
  • All existing API calls default to sub-subnet 0
  • No breaking changes to current functionality