# Root Staking, Validators and Fees on Stakao How idle TAO earns Root staking rewards, how Stakao picks validators, and what you pay: network fees from your wallet, a flat price, no cut of rewards. Last updated: 2026-10-13 Canonical HTML: https://stakao.com/docs/root-and-fees Raw Markdown: https://stakao.com/docs/root-and-fees.md Start here: [Pricing](https://stakao.com/pricing): The Free plan and Premium, with a 7-day free trial. ## Table of contents - 01. [What Root staking is](#what-root-is) - 02. [How Stakao uses Root](#how-stakao-uses-root) - 03. [How validators are chosen](#how-validators-are-chosen) - 04. [What you pay](#what-you-pay) - 05. [Keep some free TAO for fees](#free-tao-for-fees) ## 01. What Root staking is Root is subnet 0, the part of Bittensor where TAO is staked directly instead of being swapped into a subnet token. Stake on Root stays in TAO, and it earns a share of the rewards that subnets pay out. Moving TAO in and out of Root is not a swap against a subnet pool. Root rewards are not fixed. They depend on the validator you are staked with and on how emissions are shared between subnets, and they can fall over time. Nothing here is a promise of a return. ## 02. How Stakao uses Root TAO that is not in a position stays on Root, where it keeps earning staking rewards. On the Premium strategies, TAO that the risk engine has not put into a subnet position waits on Root instead of sitting idle in your wallet. Stakao also collects your Root staking rewards through the same staking-only permission. - [Risk engine](https://stakao.com/docs/risk-engine): Stop-loss, profit lock and how every position is protected. - [Staking permission](https://stakao.com/docs/staking-permission): What Stakao can and cannot do with your wallet. ## 03. How validators are chosen Staking means backing a validator. Stakao picks validators with strong recent delegator yield, among established validators. A validator is a node that scores the work done on a subnet. When you stake, you back one validator and share in its rewards, minus the part the validator keeps, which is called its take. Root has its own ranking. Auto Validators and Smart DCA also choose validators for you, so you do not need to compare them yourself. ## 04. What you pay A flat plan price, plus the normal Bittensor network fees from your wallet. Stakao never takes a cut of your staking rewards. Because the price is flat, it does not grow when your stake grows or when your rewards grow. - Free plan: €0, with Auto Validators and Smart DCA. - Premium: €19 per month, or €168 per year (€14 per month), with a 7-day free trial. - Network fees: every on-chain action pays a small Bittensor network fee from your wallet’s free TAO. Stakao adds no fee on top. - Pool fees: moving into or out of a subnet token goes through that subnet’s pool, which charges a small swap fee. Root has no pool fee. - Chain deposit: 0.126 TAO is reserved while the staking permission exists. It is yours and it returns when you remove the permission. - [Pricing](https://stakao.com/pricing): The Free plan and Premium, with a 7-day free trial. ## 05. Keep some free TAO for fees Leave at least 0.1 TAO free in the wallet. Free TAO pays the network fee of each stake, unstake and claim. If it runs out, signing fails with a message such as "Insufficient balance". The troubleshooting guide lists the messages and what to do. - [Troubleshooting](https://stakao.com/docs/troubleshooting): Fix wallet, balance and signing problems. ## Related Stakao references - [Strategies](https://stakao.com/strategies): Compare the ten strategies and start one. - [How Stakao works](https://stakao.com/how-it-works): Connect, choose and stay protected: the three steps. - [Getting started](https://stakao.com/docs/getting-started): Create an account, connect a wallet and activate a strategy. - [Risk engine](https://stakao.com/docs/risk-engine): Stop-loss, profit lock and how every position is protected. - [Withdraw and deactivate](https://stakao.com/docs/withdraw-and-deactivate): Stop a strategy, unstake your TAO and revoke access. - [Glossary](https://stakao.com/docs/glossary): Plain definitions of the Bittensor and Stakao terms. ## Related blog articles - [Root staking on Bittensor](https://stakao.com/blog/root-staking-bittensor): What Root is and why idle TAO can earn there. - [TAO staking rewards and APY](https://stakao.com/blog/tao-staking-rewards-apy): What staking rewards depend on and why APY changes. - [TAO staking calculator](https://stakao.com/blog/tao-staking-calculator): Estimate staking rewards for your own amount. ## Further reading - [Bittensor docs: Staking](https://www.bittensor.com/docs/guides/staking): How staking, unstaking and Root work on the protocol. - [Taostats docs: Staking in dTAO](https://taostats.io/docs/concepts/staking/staking-in-dtao): Root versus subnet staking, fees and unstaking in dTAO.