Frequently asked questions

Is TaoScope free to use?

Yes. The explorer is free and does not require an account. Some data is cached to stay within upstream rate limits, so figures can be a short interval behind the chain head.

Do I need to connect a wallet?

No. Every page works without one. Connecting a wallet adds a view of your own balances and delegations, and enables staking and unstaking.

Can TaoScope move my funds?

Not on its own. TaoScope is non-custodial: it never holds your TAO, and it never sees your private key or seed phrase. Staking and unstaking build a transaction that your browser extension asks you to review and sign, and nothing is submitted unless you approve it there. If you never connect a wallet, TaoScope has no way to interact with your funds at all.

Can I stake or register through TaoScope?

You can stake and unstake with a connected wallet, from the wallet page or any validator page. Registering a miner or validator hotkey is not supported — use btcli for registration and for any other extrinsic.

How do I take a TaoScope hiring assessment?

Apply on Careers, save the ticket ID you receive, then install TaoScope Coding Assessment from the VS Code Marketplace and paste the ticket. Technical assessment is available immediately. The full path is in VS Code extension.

What is the difference between Technical and Coding Assessment?

Technical Assessment is a timed set of 20 knowledge questions with editor lockdown and focus scoring. Coding Assessment is a workspace task for your role — you implement work, run tests, and submit a package. They are separate tools; follow the invitation you were sent. See Technical Assessment and Coding Assessment.

Can I start the assessment on another computer?

Not after the ticket is verified. Verifying binds the ticket to that machine. Continue on the original computer, or contact support if it is unavailable. Details are in Integrity and privacy.

Does leaving the window lower my score?

In Technical Assessment, yes: leaving the assessment view is recorded and can deduct up to 15 points. Coding Assessment does not lock the editor — you need it to work — but focus events are still stored with the submission.

How much does it cost to start mining?

At minimum, the registration burn for your chosen subnet, which varies widely and changes over time, plus whatever hardware that subnet requires. The live cost for each subnet is on its detail page. See Registration and UID slots.

Which subnet should a beginner start with?

We deliberately do not answer this with a ranking. Requirements change frequently and are not available from chain data, so any list we published would go stale and mislead people spending real TAO. Instead, Choosing a subnet shows you how to narrow the field yourself using data we can verify.

Why does TaoScope not show hardware requirements?

Because there is no reliable source for them. They live in each subnet's documentation and change as subnets evolve. We link to that documentation from every subnet page rather than restating it.

Why is my miner earning nothing after registering?

This is normal at first. Emissions are credited at epoch boundaries, and validators refresh their view of the metagraph periodically rather than every block, so a new miner commonly earns zero for several epochs. If it persists past your immunity period, check that validators are reaching your endpoint and that you are answering inside the latency budget.

What happens if I am deregistered?

You lose the UID slot and stop earning from that subnet. Your stake and your keys are unaffected. Re-entering requires paying the registration burn again.

Are the earnings figures a prediction?

No. They apply the current incentive distribution to the current emission pool — a snapshot of what a position pays today. Emission share, competitor count, validator weights, and alpha prices all change.

What is the difference between root stake and subnet stake?

Root stake keeps your position denominated in TAO. Subnet stake converts TAO into that subnet's alpha token, adding exposure to the alpha price and slippage on exit. See Delegating and staking.

Can I lose money by delegating?

Yes. TAO and alpha prices can fall by more than any yield you earn, and exiting subnet stake means selling alpha into a pool that may be thin.

Is the advertised APR guaranteed?

No. Yield figures are derived from recent returns and describe the past. None of the inputs are fixed.

How current is the data?

It depends on the endpoint. Refresh intervals and caching behaviour are documented in Data sources.

Why does a value show an em dash?

Because the upstream source did not report it. We show “—” rather than substituting zero, since a zero would be indistinguishable from a real measurement.

A number here disagrees with another explorer. Which is right?

Explorers differ in snapshot timing and in how they derive values such as daily emission. Where the numbers matter to a decision, verify against the chain directly with btcli. Our derivations are documented in the metrics glossary.