🧩 Community Pool FAQs
Answers about delegation, snapshots, first payments, validator opt-in and unpaid invoices.
These answers cover the Community Pool, its veV delegation and validator reward payments. For manual gauge voting and eligibility outside the pool, see Gauges.
Locked $V and delegation
Do I send my $V to the pool?
No. Your $V remains in your own lock account. Delegation gives the pool voting permission over your veV. It does not transfer the locked tokens or shorten their lock.
Can I delegate only part of my voting power?
No. Delegation applies to the wallet's voting power. It cannot be split between the pool and another delegate or limited to a selected amount of $V in that lock. Use a separate wallet for an independent lock and delegation choice.
Can I add $V or extend a lock after delegating?
Yes. The token amount and lock duration remain independent settings. Added $V shares the existing expiry; adding tokens does not reset it. You can extend to a later expiry, up to 5 years from the extension, without an automatic reset to 5 years. Check your voting power and refresh the open reward epoch's snapshot when needed. See Locking $V.
Can I lock vPoints?
No. vPoints are exercised to purchase $V during the applicable exercise window. Only the $V you obtain can then be locked.
Does undelegating unlock my $V?
No. Undelegation changes voting permission. You can withdraw locked $V only after its expiry. Review existing reward epochs separately for available claims.
Rewards and snapshots
When will I receive my first reward?
It can take approximately two weeks: up to a week for the next voting epoch, then up to three Solana epochs for invoice payment, roughly another week. You also need an epoch snapshot and reward-epoch finalization. At launch, rewards are claimed manually; they are not automatically sent to your wallet.
Why can I not claim a reward?
Check the state in My delegation. An epoch still pending is not finalized. A finalized epoch without your snapshot cannot include you. An epoch with no paid invoice has no funded reward. A fully claimed reward has no remaining claimable amount. Use How to claim rewards to check each requirement.
Is the snapshot required every epoch?
Yes. Each reward epoch needs a recorded snapshot for your wallet. Use Snapshot now while it is open. If your voting power changes, review the recorded value and use Refresh snapshot when available and appropriate. A snapshot from one epoch does not replace another epoch's snapshot.
Can I recover a missed snapshot after finalization?
No. The website cannot add a missing snapshot to a finalized reward epoch. Record future epochs while they are open.
Does each holder receive 75% of validator rewards?
The 75% is the total Community Pool fee on earnings from a participating validator's Community Pool allocation. Pool delegators share the funded reward in proportion to their recorded veV for that epoch. It is not 75% for every holder, an annual yield, or a share of every reward the validator earns.
What token do I claim?
The new Community Pool contract settles and pays rewards in VLP. Claims do not add $V to your lock. For VLP withdrawal mechanics, see the Unstake Pool guide.
Are automatic claims or compounding available at launch?
No. Use Claim VLP manually. Batch claiming, automatic claims and claim-and-compound are possible later additions. Earnings averages, annualized yield relative to the $V price and break-even estimates need sufficient real payout data before they can be added.
Validator participation
Can any validator opt in?
The pool is for eligible validators already in The Vault stake pool. The opt-in transaction checks the on-chain registry. A validator missing from that eligible set, blocked or not approved by the registry cannot opt in. This pool requirement is separate from the general manual gauge eligibility rules.
Which wallet submits the opt-in?
Any ordinary wallet can act as fee payer. Prove control by signing the exact website-generated message with the validator identity key in your own secure signing environment, then paste only the Base58 signature. Never connect the identity key. See Validator opt-in.
Why does the signature fail?
Check the selected validator, identity key, requested action and exact message. Generate a fresh command from the website if the state or action changed, and paste the resulting Base58 signature without extra command text. Do not reuse an example signature or message from another validator.
Why does an opted-in validator show no stake yet?
Check gauge binding, invoice eligibility and the voting epoch. Binding can still be pending, and actual SOL movement follows voting targets over subsequent Solana epochs. Pool status and the validator dashboard show different parts of that process.
Does the pool control all gauge stake?
No. Gauges receive 10% of undirected stake. The pool controls the portion won by its collective gauge voting power. It splits that power equally among eligible opted-in validators; votes outside the pool also influence the total gauge allocation.
Why are displayed current weights different?
The Community Pool allocation rule is equal voting power among eligible opted-in validators. Check that you are comparing the same allocation cycle and eligible set, then review binding status and outstanding invoices in Pool status. If the displayed weights do not match that rule, contact support before assuming the pool has rebalanced. Actual active SOL can take additional Solana epochs to reach its voting target.
Invoices and payment limits
Do I have three epochs or 20 epochs to pay?
Community Pool stake keeps the three-unpaid-invoice cap; pay within three Solana epochs to retain it. The temporary 20-unpaid-invoice transition allowance applies to Direct Stake Leaders and Elite Performance, not the Community Pool. The stakebot automatically blocks late pool validators and reallocates their Community Pool stake to paying eligible validators.
Can I pay with SOL if the contract accepts only VLP?
Yes, through the supported website or official bot funding flow. The contract itself settles in VLP. The current official bot obtains and confirms VLP funding before sending the separate payment transaction. Verify that the invoice is paid, not just that funding succeeded.
Do existing payment bots need updating?
Yes. Update the official SaaS payment bot or adapt your custom bot for the Community Pool invoicer and VLP. Keep trusted-source validation enabled and confirm successful payments. See Pay Community Pool invoices.
Get help
Open a support ticket in The Vault Discord with the public wallet or vote account, relevant epoch, transaction signature and the exact error. Never include seed phrases, private keys or keypair files. For a reward question, include whether that epoch has a snapshot and whether it is pending or finalized.