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Tokens & rewardsValidators2 min read

Bootstrap Bonus ends 1 November

Airdropped to each vote account's authorized withdrawer. No claim needed.

Nick P · X1 Labs ·

What to do

Make sure you control the current authorized withdrawer address.

X1's Bootstrap Bonus ends at 00:00 UTC on 1 November. Validators keep earning it every epoch until then, and it is paid automatically: one airdrop, shortly after the cutoff, to each vote account's authorized withdrawer.

What it is

The Bootstrap Bonus is an extra reward for early validators, on top of voting rewards, commission and block rewards. It has run since mainnet epoch 37. Each epoch, a pool worth 16% a year on the eligible stake of every qualifying validator is shared out by stake and vote credits.

  • Eligible stake is your own stake plus stake delegated directly to you. Stake from stake pools, including the Foundation delegation program, does not count.
  • At least 1,000 XNT of eligible stake is needed, and only the first 10,000 XNT earns the bonus.
  • Each epoch is judged on its own: active and not delinquent, commission at most 10%, vote credits at least 97% of the network average, skip rate at most 110% of the network average, a current Tachyon version, and no more than 10 qualifying validators per withdrawer.

Why it's good for X1

The bonus paid independent operators to show up and stay sharp while mainnet was young. Capping it at 10,000 XNT means a small validator earns the same rate as a large one on the stake that counts, which pushes stake toward many operators instead of a few. X1's cluster API puts the total earned so far at about 200,800 XNT.

What to watch

  • One missed leader slot can cost an epoch. Network skip rates are tiny, so the 110% limit is tiny too. The docs give an example from epoch 395 where one skipped slot out of 264 put a validator over the line.
  • Only epochs that end before the cutoff count. The epoch running at 00:00 UTC on 1 November earns nothing.
  • Final amounts are fixed 15 minutes after the cutoff.

What to do

  • Make sure you control your vote account's authorized withdrawer. That is where the airdrop lands.
  • Check your running total at https://validators.x1.xyz: pick your validator, then the Rewards tab.
  • Validators that have shut down are still paid what they earned.

Sources

Original post · Nick P

Bootstrap Bonus ends 1 November 2026 at 00:00 UTC. • Only epochs completed before the cutoff qualify. Final amounts appear at 00:15 UTC. • Bonuses will be airdropped in shortly after to each vote account's authorized withdrawer. No claim is needed. • Shared withdrawers are paid together. Former validators still receive bonuses earned. • Make sure you control the current authorized withdrawer address. Check your bonus: https://validators.x1.xyz/ Full rules: https://docs.x1.xyz/validating/validator-rewards/bootstrap-bonus To view your bonus, select your validator and open the Rewards tab.