Minting Delegations

Minting delegations allow a delegate to instruct their validator node to automate the minting of rewards on behalf of an external party (the beneficiary) hosted on the same validator node. The delegate can be any party onboarded to the validator node’s wallet (e.g., the validator operator party, but other internal parties are also possible). This is useful to automate the reward collection for external parties.

Overview

A minting delegation grants a delegate party the authority to:

  • Mint reward coupons on behalf of a beneficiary party

  • Auto-merge amulets for the beneficiary (up to the configured limit)

The following reward coupon types may be minted through a delegation:

Note

To mint ValidatorRewardCoupon, the beneficiary must first create a ValidatorRight.

The delegation has the following key properties:

Property

Description

Beneficiary

The external party on whose behalf minting is performed

Delegate

The internal party authorized to perform minting operations

Expiration

The time after which the delegation is no longer valid

Amulet merge limit

The number of amulets to keep after auto-merging

Automation

When a minting delegation is active, the validator node runs automation (MintingDelegationCollectRewardsTrigger) for the beneficiary party that periodically:

  1. Checks for reward coupons owned by the beneficiary that are eligible for minting

  2. Collects and mints these rewards on behalf of the beneficiary

  3. Merges the beneficiary’s amulets when the count exceeds twice the configured merge limit

For the automation to run successfully, the following conditions must be met:

  • The delegate must be a party onboarded to the validator node’s wallet (e.g., the validator operator party, or another internal party with its own user account)

  • The delegation must not be expired

  • The beneficiary must be hosted on the validator node in at least observer mode

  • The beneficiary should not be onboarded to the wallet app, as otherwise the delegated automation contends with the built-in automation of the wallet app

  • The beneficiary must have reward coupons or amulets that need processing

Note that minting delegations count towards the max 200 Splice wallet parties limit.

The automation submits transactions as the delegate party. Transaction costs are paid from the validator node’s traffic balance.

Note

The amulet merge limit controls automatic consolidation of the beneficiary’s amulets: when the number of amulets exceeds twice the limit, the smallest amulets are merged to maintain exactly the configured number.

Managing Minting Delegations

The minting delegation workflow consists of the following steps:

  1. Proposal Creation: The beneficiary creates a MintingDelegationProposal specifying the delegate, expiration date, and amulet merge limit. This is typically done via the Ledger API.

  2. Proposal Acceptance: The delegate reviews and accepts (or rejects) the proposal through the wallet UI. Upon acceptance, an active MintingDelegation contract is created.

  3. Withdrawal: When the delegation is no longer needed, the delegate can withdraw it through the wallet UI. This terminates the delegation and stops the automation from minting rewards for the beneficiary.

Using the Delegations Tab

Delegates can manage minting delegations through the Delegations tab in the wallet UI. This tab displays two sections:

Proposed Delegations

The Proposed section shows all pending MintingDelegationProposal contracts where the current user is the designated delegate.

For each proposal, the delegate can:

  • Accept: Approve the delegation request. This creates an active minting delegation. If a delegation already exists for the same beneficiary, accepting a new proposal will replace the existing delegation.

  • Reject: Decline the delegation request. This archives the proposal.

Note

The Accept button is disabled if the beneficiary is not yet hosted on the validator node. The beneficiary must be hosted before a delegation can be accepted.

Active Delegations

The Active section shows all current MintingDelegation contracts where the current user is the delegate.

For each active delegation, the delegate can:

  • Withdraw: Terminate the delegation. This archives the delegation contract and stops the automation from minting rewards for the beneficiary.

Replacing Delegations

When a delegate accepts a proposal for a beneficiary that already has an active delegation, a confirmation dialog will appear showing:

  • The current delegation’s Merge Threshold and Expiration values

  • The new proposal’s Merge Threshold and Expiration values

Accepting the proposal will automatically replace the existing delegation with the new one. This allows beneficiaries to update their delegation parameters (such as extending the expiration date) without the delegate having to manually withdraw the old delegation first.

Security Considerations

When managing minting delegations, delegates should consider:

  1. Verify the beneficiary: Before accepting a delegation, ensure you recognize and trust the beneficiary party. The Party ID should match the expected party.

  2. Traffic costs: Verify that the validator operator is willing to pay the cost of minting transactions from the validator node’s traffic balance.

  3. Hosting status: Only accept delegations from hosted parties. The UI enforces this by disabling the Accept button for non-hosted beneficiaries.

  4. Monitor active delegations: Periodically review active delegations and withdraw any that are no longer needed or authorized.

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