Back to collectionNew Staking Tiers, Old Questions About Who Decides
The dispute over rewards after the halving had not settled when staking pools faced another capacity change. The new thresholds were laid out: Bronze required no stake and had a 1% chance of winning; Silver required 30,000 esXAI with a 1.5× multiplier; Gold, 2 million and 2×; Platinum, 4 million and 3×; Diamond, 8 million and 7×. In the group, one pool owner counted the halving and capacity change as two rule changes in two months.
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The dispute over rewards after the halving had not settled when staking pools faced another capacity change. Pool owners had to decide whether to keep recruiting stakers, while key holders wanted to know whether their previous tiers and expected rewards still meant anything.
The new thresholds were laid out: Bronze required no stake and had a 1% chance of winning; Silver required 30,000 esXAI with a 1.5× multiplier; Gold, 2 million and 2×; Platinum, 4 million and 3×; Diamond, 8 million and 7×. A pool could hold at most 1,000 keys, each supporting 20,000 esXAI, for a pool ceiling of 20 million esXAI. Officials said total network emissions would stay the same and the adjustment would apply alike to individuals and pools. They expected fewer successful submissions but more esXAI per submission; pools below their new thresholds would first drop a tier. They gave three reasons: leading stakers had repeatedly asked for more capacity; many pools had stopped growing once they reached Platinum, so a 7× Diamond multiplier was meant to encourage further recruitment; and the incentives needed to last longer. The announcement acknowledged that thresholds and emissions should update together automatically at the next halving. That mechanism was not ready, so this change was manual. On the same day, a vote passed Arbitrum’s 200 million ARB gaming catalyst plan, which Xai officials shared as a benefit for game builders across the ecosystem. Stronger than expected US payroll figures pushed rate cut expectations back, the wider market turned down, and XAI retreated to 0.87.
In the group, one pool owner counted the halving and capacity change as two rule changes in two months. A staker could move pools after one week; an owner who dissolved a pool could not earn with a Genesis Key again for six months. Some called for a governance vote using esXAI and XAI; even without a vote, they wanted a week’s warning. The higher ceiling gave large pools a reason to grow, but left owners to recruit again and explain lost tiers. Arbitrum’s vote had passed; the Xai community’s question about how this manual change was decided remained open.