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.
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 |
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 NFT on the Node Sale Platform. View contract addresses:
autheod query license params
Step 2: Transfer to your Autheo Chain EVM address
Use the Autheo Bridge to send the NFT from Arbitrum to your EVM address (0x... format). This triggers an automatic on-chain hook that mints a LicenseRecord in ISSUED status — no separate transaction needed.
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>
status: ISSUED.
Step 4: Bind the license
Sovereign license
Prime / Core license
autheod tx license bind <license-id> \
--from <owner-key> \
--chain-id autheo_2127-1 \
--keyring-backend file
autheod tx license bind <license-id> \
--validator-address <autheovaloper-address> \
--from <owner-key> \
--chain-id autheo_2127-1 \
--keyring-backend file
Step 5: Verify BOUND status
autheod query license license <license-id>
status: BOUND. Your license is ready for validator creation or delegation.
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 per-block NFT rewards. Claim them 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
