License setup

All staking participants on Autheo Chain must hold an on-chain license record before operating a validator or delegating. Licenses originate as ERC-721 NFTs on Arbitrum and are bridged automatically when transferred to your Autheo Chain EVM address.

Before you start

Before purchasing and setting up a license, make sure you have:

MetaMask configured for Arbitrum One. The Node Sale uses Arbitrum One for license purchases.
ETH on Arbitrum One. You need ETH on Arbitrum to pay for the node license.
ARB on Arbitrum One for transaction fees. Keep a small amount of ARB available to pay network gas fees.
A wallet address that you control. You will use your wallet to purchase, bridge, and manage the license.
The appropriate license tier selected. Choose a Sovereign license if you are operating a validator. Choose a Prime or Core license if you are delegating to an existing validator.

For details on purchasing a license, see Purchasing a license.

License tiers

Tier	Purpose	Annual THEO emission	Required for
Sovereign	Create and operate a validator	~187,969	Validator operators
Prime	External delegation (higher tier)	~18,797	Prime delegators
Core	External delegation (standard tier)	~1,880	Standard delegators

Important: Sovereign licenses and Prime/Core licenses serve different purposes. A Sovereign license is used by the operator of a validator. Prime and Core licenses are used for delegation to an existing validator and do not create or operate a validator themselves.Only one Sovereign license can bind to a given validator at any time. This enforces a strict 1:1 relationship between Sovereign licenses and validators.

Step 1: Acquire the NFT on Arbitrum

Purchase the appropriate ERC-721 license NFT on the Node Sale Platform. The license NFT is purchased on Arbitrum One. Before starting the purchase, make sure MetaMask is connected to Arbitrum One and that your wallet contains the required ETH on Arbitrum for the purchase and a small amount of ARB for transaction fees. View contract addresses:

autheod query license params

Next step: After purchasing the license NFT on Arbitrum One, you must transfer it to your Autheo Chain EVM address using the Autheo Bridge. The license is not ready for binding until the bridge process creates the corresponding license record on Autheo Chain.

Step 2: Transfer to your Autheo Chain EVM address

Use the Autheo Bridge to transfer the license NFT from Arbitrum One to your Autheo Chain EVM address (0x... format). The bridge creates the corresponding LicenseRecord on Autheo Chain with an initial status of ISSUED. No separate license-record transaction is required.

autheod keys show <key-name> --bech eth --keyring-backend file

Step 3: Verify the license record

autheod query license licenses-by-owner <cosmos-address>
autheod query license license <license-id>

You should see status: ISSUED.

Step 4: Bind the license

Sovereign license
Prime / Core license

Sovereign license

A Sovereign license is used by a validator operator. When binding a Sovereign license, the validator address is derived from your operator key.

autheod tx license bind <license-id> \
  --from <owner-key> \
  --chain-id autheo_2127-1 \
  --keyring-backend file

The validator address is derived automatically from your operator key.

Prime / Core license

Prime and Core licenses are used for delegation to an existing validator.When binding a Prime or Core license, you must specify the validator you want the license to be associated with. The target validator must be bonded and not jailed.

autheod tx license bind <license-id> \
  --validator-address <autheovaloper-address> \
  --from <owner-key> \
  --chain-id autheo_2127-1 \
  --keyring-backend file

The target validator must be bonded and not jailed.

Why do you need to select a validator? Prime and Core licenses are used for delegation rather than operating a validator. When you bind one, you must associate it with an existing eligible validator. The validator must be bonded and not jailed.

Step 5: Verify BOUND status

autheod query license license <license-id>

Confirm status: BOUND.

Sovereign: The license is ready to be used for validator creation.
Prime/Core: The license is ready to be used for delegation to the selected validator.

License status after binding

Action	Resulting status
`MsgCreateValidator`	BOUND → ACTIVE
`MsgDelegate`	BOUND → ACTIVE
Full undelegation	ACTIVE → BOUND
Validator jailed	ACTIVE → BOUND
Full unbind	BOUND → ISSUED

Claiming NFT rewards

Once ACTIVE, the license accrues NFT rewards. These rewards are separate from staking rewards and must be claimed manually.

autheod query emissions license-accrued-rewards <license-id>

autheod tx licensedistribution claim-nft-rewards <license-id> \
  --from <owner-key> \
  --chain-id autheo_2127-1 \
  --keyring-backend file

See NFT rewards for full details.

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Before you start

License tiers

Step 1: Acquire the NFT on Arbitrum

Step 2: Transfer to your Autheo Chain EVM address

Step 3: Verify the license record

Step 4: Bind the license

Sovereign license

Prime / Core license

Step 5: Verify BOUND status

License status after binding

Claiming NFT rewards

​Before you start

​License tiers

​Step 1: Acquire the NFT on Arbitrum

​Step 2: Transfer to your Autheo Chain EVM address

​Step 3: Verify the license record

​Step 4: Bind the license

​Sovereign license

​Prime / Core license

​Step 5: Verify BOUND status

​License status after binding

​Claiming NFT rewards

Before you start

License tiers

Step 1: Acquire the NFT on Arbitrum

Step 2: Transfer to your Autheo Chain EVM address

Step 3: Verify the license record

Step 4: Bind the license

Sovereign license

Prime / Core license

Step 5: Verify BOUND status

License status after binding

Claiming NFT rewards