There are several ways to earn XP on Ethos, and they all come back to one idea: the more you participate meaningfully, the more you earn. XP isn't handed out for showing up — it's earned by putting skin in the game.
Earning from your positions
The primary way to earn XP is through the four emission pools. The emissions pools are rewarded for vouching, holding Ethos.markets votes, delegating and market making on Ethos.markets. Each day, a fixed amount of XP is distributed across these pools based on your activity:
Markets Holdings (32.5% of emissions) — Earn XP by holding positions in reputation markets. The longer you hold and the larger your position, the more you earn.
Delegator Pool (25% of emissions) — Earn XP by delegating to a validator. Your share is proportional to the XP you've staked with your chosen validator.
Vouch Pool (32.5% of emissions) — Earn XP by vouching for other users. Your earnings scale with the amount you've vouched.
Market Making (10% of emissions) — Earn XP by providing liquidity in reputation markets. Active market makers who help keep markets healthy are rewarded.
You don't have to pick just one — you can earn from all four pools simultaneously. The more ways you participate, the more XP flows your way.
Self-funded pools
Beyond the emission pools, you can also earn XP directly from other users. When someone spends XP on actions like voting, commenting, or reviewing, that XP flows to the content creators and subjects involved. This creates a direct reward for producing content that others find valuable enough to engage with.
Epoch rewards
Each week, a substantial XP pool is awarded to one validator community through a weighted lottery. If you're delegated to the winning validator, you receive a proportional share of the prize. See "What are epoch rewards and the weekly validator lottery?" for details.
Boosting your earnings with multipliers
Everything you earn gets amplified by your multipliers, which stack multiplicatively:
Credibility Multiplier (0–2.5x) — Higher credibility scores mean higher earnings. This rewards users who build and maintain a strong reputation.
Streak Multiplier (1–2.75x) — Consistent daily activity builds your streak, which boosts all earnings. Miss a day and the multiplier starts to decay.
Validator Bonus (+0.1x per NFT) — Holding Validator NFTs adds a flat bonus to your multiplier.
Delegation Bonus (1.2x) — Simply delegating to a validator gives you a 20% boost on all earnings.
These multipliers compound on each other. A user with high credibility, a long streak, a Validator NFT, and an active delegation could earn several times more XP than someone with the same positions but no multipliers. See "How do XP multipliers work?" for the full breakdown.
The bottom line
The best strategy for earning XP is straightforward: participate broadly, maintain your streak, keep your credibility high, and delegate to an active validator. There's no single trick — the system is designed to reward consistent, genuine engagement across the network.