Deposit via Principal Miner
The easiest way to start earning as a federated miner — browse verified principal miners, review their stats and commission rates, and lock your funds directly from their dashboard.
Make sure you've completed Step 1: Set Up Your Wallet before continuing.
How It Works
The Principal Miners page lists trusted, verified miners that have been approved to accept federated capital. Each principal miner shows their performance stats, commission rate, and total positions — so you can make an informed choice before locking your USDC.
Principal miners charge a commission (e.g. 3%) on the ALPHA rewards your position earns. In return, they handle subnet registration, run infrastructure, and manage automated reward distribution to their federated miners.
Step-by-Step
1. Connect Your Wallet
Click "Connect Wallet" in the top right corner and select your wallet provider
Make sure you're connected to Base Mainnet network
2. Browse Principal Miners
Click "Principal Miners" in the left navigation bar
You'll see a list of trusted principal miners with their stats:
Commission — The percentage taken from your rewards
Locks — Total USDC locked under this miner
Positions — Number of active federated miner positions
ALPHA Dist — Total ALPHA distributed to miners to date
Choose a principal miner by clicking on their card
3. Review the Miner & Lock
You'll see the principal miner's full dashboard with detailed performance metrics (24H and 7-day earnings, daily rate, total positions, etc.)
Click the "Lock to this Miner" button in the top right corner
4. Enter Your Lock Details
The "Lock Funds to This Miner" modal will appear with the principal miner's hotkey pre-filled and verified. Fill in:
Pool — Select which trading pair to provide liquidity for (ETH/USD, BTC/USD, etc.)
Amount (USDC) — How much USDC you want to lock
Lock Duration (days) — Minimum 7 days, maximum 365 days. Longer locks = higher deposit score = larger share of rewards
Your EVM Address — Auto-filled with your connected wallet
Click "Request Signature & Continue"
5. Approve & Confirm
Approve USDC — Your wallet will prompt you to approve the vault contract to spend your USDC. Confirm the transaction (requires a small gas fee in ETH).
Lock Position — After approval, confirm the second transaction to lock your USDC in the vault.
6. Verify Your Position
Wait for confirmation — It may take 30 seconds to 5 minutes for the position to be processed by the verifier.
View your position — Navigate to "My Positions" in the sidebar to see your active lock. You'll see the pool, principal miner hotkey, lock status, amounts, expiration date, and options to Extend or Top Up.
Why Choose a Trusted Principal Miner?
No hotkey needed
The miner's hotkey is pre-filled — no copying or searching
Verified & trusted
Only approved miners are listed on the Principal Miners page
Transparent stats
See commission rate, performance, and total positions before you commit
Automated rewards
Trusted miners run automated reward distribution systems
Self-service claiming
Claim your ALPHA rewards directly from the dashboard
Understanding Commission
Principal miners charge a commission on the ALPHA rewards earned by federated miners under them. For example:
If you earn 100 ALPHA and the commission rate is 3%, you receive 97 ALPHA net
Commission is automatically deducted — you always see your net reward in the dashboard
Different miners may have different commission rates — compare before choosing
Next Steps
Once your funds are locked, continue with the main guide:
Step 3: Principal Miner Dashboard — Monitor your position and earnings
Step 4: Claim ALPHA Rewards — Withdraw your earned ALPHA
Managing Your Position — Top up, extend, or withdraw
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