📚 Delegation FAQs
How direct stake, the main delegation buckets, gauges and the Community Pool affect validator allocations and fees.
This page answers common validator questions about receiving stake from The Vault.
Overview of the Delegation Model
What Are the Main Ways a Validator Can Receive Stake from The Vault Today?
Approved validators receive stake from three places: gauges, the Direct Stake Leaders bucket, and the Elite Performance bucket. All undirected stake gets split between these three segments (Figure 7.19).
Figure 7.19: How undirected stake is split today
Approval and Eligibility
Is There Still a Waitlist?
No. The waitlist was a queue with no guarantee of stake, and it no longer exists. Once you pass the Validator Board review, you are approved and join the approved list, the active set of validators that The Vault can delegate to and that all delegation logic uses. From then on you can take part in the Direct Stake Leaders and Elite Performance buckets.
How Do I Become an Approved Validator for The Vault?
You apply, the Validator Board votes, and if you pass you move from applicant onto the approved list. The board is made up of validators from inside The Vault's stake pool who currently serve as board members. Results are announced in the Node News channel once voting for that batch is complete.
Where Can I See Which Validators Are Currently Approved?
You can see the approved validators on the main validator page on the public Dune dashboard that tracks The Vault validators.
I'm Not Yet on the Approved List. Can I Still Qualify for the Direct Stake Leaders Bucket?
You will need to apply first: open a support ticket on Discord, choose Validator, and use the /apply command to get your application form. To receive stake from the Direct Stake Leaders and Elite Performance buckets you must pass the application process and be successfully reviewed by the Validator Board.
Stake-as-a-Service and Fees
What Is Stake-as-a-Service in the Context of The Vault?
When The Vault allocates stake to you from the Direct Stake Leaders or Elite Performance bucket, the Stake-as-a-Service fee is 25% of earnings from that allocation, subject to its documented exemptions. Community Pool allocations instead have a 75% fee, leaving 25% for the validator.
How Often Are Stake-as-a-Service Invoices Generated and Where Do I Find Them?
Invoices are created for the allocations covered by each invoicer. Main-bucket and Community Pool invoices have separate rates and limits. You can find and pay them by clicking your validator in the validators list and opening your dashboard, or have the SaaS payment bot pay them for you.
How Quickly Should I Pay My Invoices?
Pay invoices as they become available. Community Pool stake has a three-unpaid-invoice cap; pay within three Solana epochs to retain it. Direct Stake Leaders and Elite Performance have a separate temporary 20-unpaid-invoice transition allowance. Late Community Pool stake is automatically blocked and reallocated to paying eligible validators (Figure 7.20).
Figure 7.20: Separate invoice limits
Direct Stake Leaders Bucket
What Is the Direct Stake Leaders Bucket?
This bucket holds 40% of The Vault's undirected stake and is shared equally by the top 100 approved validators by direct stake. For how it works and where to check your rank, see Direct Stake Leaders bucket.
What Exactly Counts as Direct Stake for This Bucket?
Only stake that uses The Vault Direct Stake mechanism counts, whether it is set up through the Direct Stake page or through partners such as Kamino Multiply. External self stake that is not under The Vault withdraw authority does not count.
Can I Use Direct Stake to My Own Validator?
Yes. Validators can and should direct stake to their own validator if they want to compete for this bucket.
How Much Direct Stake Do I Need to Qualify for the Top 100?
The cutoff changes with participating validators' directed stake. Check the current SOL floor and Direct Stake Leaders tab on the validators page, together with your approval and eligibility status.
Is This First Come, First Served or Can I Be Pushed Out Later?
It is entirely based on stake size, not on who arrived first. If more than 100 validators use direct stake, those with the smallest positions fall out until only the top 100 remain (Figure 7.21).
Figure 7.21: How the top 100 is selected
Where Can I See My Current Position in the Direct Stake Leaders Ranking?
On the validators page, tap Direct Stake Leaders to see the top 100 ranked by direct stake. The SOL floor shows the minimum direct stake needed to rank.
I Already Had Direct Stake Through Kamino Earlier This Year. Do I Need to Do Anything to Activate This Bucket?
No. If you are approved and still in the top 100 by direct stake, the system will automatically allocate stake over the next few epochs.
Elite Performance Bucket
What Is the Elite Performance Bucket?
This bucket holds 50% of The Vault's undirected stake and rewards approved validators with very strong vote credit performance and strict fee settings: 0% base commission and 0% MEV commission. The top 50 share it equally. For how it works and how to check your eligibility, see Elite Performance bucket.
Does the Elite Performance Ranking Compare Me Against the Entire Solana Network?
No. You are compared only against other approved validators in The Vault set, not against every validator on Solana.
Can I Be in Both the Direct Stake Leaders and Elite Performance Buckets at the Same Time?
Yes. You can qualify for both buckets independently and receive stake from each if you meet the criteria.
How Do Performance Windows and Edge Cases Work?
Performance is measured over a rolling 10-epoch window. A single bad epoch, such as one with non-zero MEV commission, can temporarily block you, but once that epoch falls out of the window you can become eligible again (Figure 7.22).
Figure 7.22: The rolling performance window
Gauges and the Community Pool
How Do Gauges Influence Stake from The Vault?
Gauges allocate 10% of undirected stake according to validator voting weight. Locked $V provides veV for voting. Community Pool participants delegate their veV to a pool that shares its voting power equally among eligible opted-in validators (Figure 7.23).
Figure 7.23: Community Pool gauge allocation
How Does a Validator Join the Community Pool?
An eligible validator already in the pool opts in through the website, proving control with an offline identity signature. Any ordinary wallet can submit and pay for the transaction. Never connect the validator identity key to the website.
What Does Community Pool Stake Cost?
Validators retain 25% of the earnings from their Community Pool allocation and pay 75% as a fee funding delegator rewards. The new contract settles in VLP, with supported SOL funding through the website or updated payment bot. Follow Pay Community Pool invoices.
How Does the Timing Work?
Gauge voting epochs last about one week and differ from Solana epochs. Votes set a subsequent allocation, while actual SOL follows rebalancing and activation. The system takes Community Pool holder snapshots automatically; holders do not need to take them manually. Snapshots may take up to two weeks to begin after delegation. Rewards require a recorded snapshot, funded rewards, finalization and a manual VLP claim.
Can a Validator Outside the Approved Set Receive Gauge Stake?
Manual gauge voting is available to validators meeting the general gauge eligibility criteria. Community Pool opt-in additionally requires the validator to be accepted by the pool's eligible on-chain registry. Do not assume that permissionless manual gauge participation gives automatic pool membership.
Timing, Epochs, and Stake Movement
I Just Started Using Direct Stake or Entered the Top 100. When Will I See Stake from The Vault?
Stake movement respects Solana warm-up rules and internal rebalancing, so it can take up to around five epochs for the full allocation to arrive, though you may see partial movement sooner (Figure 7.24).
I See an Announcement That Several Thousand SOL Has Been Allocated, but on Chain It Looks Like Less. Is This Normal?
Yes. Announcements describe the target from a bucket at current pool size, while actual stake ramps toward that target over several epochs.
When Do Gauge Vote Changes Start to Affect My Validator?
Once a new gauge epoch starts, the stakebot moves stake to the new targets over the following Solana epochs, usually 1 to 2, and stake gradually adjusts from there.
Figure 7.24: When stake starts moving
Invoices, Alerts, and Validator Dashboards
The Alert Bot Says I Have Several Unpaid Epochs. What Should I Do?
Open the validator list, click your validator, go to your dashboard, and pay the outstanding invoices shown there. To keep them paid automatically, set up the SaaS payment bot.
My Invoices Stopped After a Specific Epoch. Is That Expected?
If you no longer have stake covered by an invoicer, that allocation no longer generates new fees. Previously issued invoices still need to be settled. If you believe you still have undirected stake but do not see invoices, open a support ticket so the team can check.
Practical How-to Questions
How Do I Set up Direct Stake in Practice?
Choose your validator on the Direct Stake page, then set your wallet to it: tap Direct Stake and approve the transaction. From then on, all vSOL in that wallet counts as direct stake for your validator, so mint vSOL on the Stake page or keep the vSOL you already have there. vSOL from that wallet in Kamino Multiply also counts. For the steps, see How to direct stake; for how it works, see Direct staking.
Where Can I Get vSOL If I Want to Direct Stake without Kamino?
You can mint vSOL by staking SOL on the Stake page of The Vault dApp, as shown in How to direct stake.
Where Can I Safely Buy $V If I Want to Vote in Gauges?
You can buy $V on aggregators such as Jupiter or Titan. You can also earn it through the Points Program: collect vPoints, for example by providing liquidity, and exercise them for $V during a season's exercise window (Introduction to $V Options). Then lock your $V on The Vault site to vote in gauges (How to vote on gauges).
Summary
To receive stake from Direct Stake Leaders or Elite Performance, you must be approved and meet that bucket's eligibility and ranking requirements. Direct stake and gauges are permissionless paths for validators that meet their requirements.