UMA Voting FAQ: Vote and Earn Like a Pro
Introduction
UMA isn’t like other oracles—it leverages the wisdom of crowds to verify and secure onchain data. Anyone can participate and get paid to help secure real-world information that gets published onchain. How? By staking $UMA and voting on disputes.
Whether you’re a seasoned voter or just getting started, this FAQ has everything you need to succeed as an UMA voter. By the time you finish reading, you'll know exactly how to stake your $UMA, vote like a pro, and maximize your staking rewards—all while playing a crucial role in securing onchain data used across DeFi, prediction markets, and beyond.
Let’s dive in.
What is UMA Voting and Why Does it Matter?
UMA voting is the process of decentralized verification for disputes that happen in UMA’s oracle—it’s about securing the integrity of data that gets published onchain.
UMA’s optimistic oracle relies on voters to help verify real-world data. Since the protocol is permissionless, all sorts of data gets proposed, from crypto prices and prediction market outcomes to DAO governance proposals and crosschain transfers. The oracle optimistically assumes that proposed data is true unless disputed false, in which it is passed to UMA’s Data Verification Mechanism (DVM) to determine the truth.
The DVM is where UMA voters vote on the accuracy of data disputes. As a voter, your vote ensures that data is reliable, accurate, and ready to be published onchain. Every vote you cast makes a difference, and in return, you can earn significant rewards for contributing to the oracle’s security. With an average APR of 30%, you can earn more than you would with most DeFi strategies.
Here’s how it works.
For more in-depth information about how it all works, check out our full comprehensive UMA voting guide here.
How Do I Vote?
It’s simple. There are three basic steps you need to follow to start voting:
Acquire $UMA tokens: You can purchase $UMA on Coinbase or most decentralized exchanges on Ethereum Mainnet.
Stake your $UMA: You must stake your $UMA tokens in the official voting dApp to start voting. The more you stake, the more voting power you have.
Vote: Once you are staked, it’s your responsibility to vote on assertion disputes as they come through the dApp. So stay vigilant! (Turn on the “Remind me” option for email reminders.)
How Do I Stake and Unstake My $UMA?
Staking is your ticket to voting and earning rewards. Here’s what you need to do:
Once you’ve acquired some $UMA tokens, head to the voting dApp at vote.uma.xyz and connect your wallet.
Click “Stake/Unstake,” enter how many tokens you want to stake, and confirm in your wallet. Once staked, you can start voting and earning rewards.
If you decide to unstake, here’s what you need to do:
Click “Stake/Unstake,” enter how many tokens you want to unstake, and confirm in your wallet.
After you initiate your unstake action, there is a mandatory cooldown period. You must wait 7-days to receive your tokens. During this time, your tokens won’t earn rewards nor incur any slashing.
After the cooldown period ends, you must return to the voting dApp and manually complete the unstaking process and confirm in your wallet. At this point, your tokens become available in your wallet and can be freely used, transferred, or restaked.
What is the Voting Process?
Once you’re staked, the voting process happens in two phases spanning over 48 hours each time a new assertion dispute, or batch of disputes, are sent to the DVM:
Commit Phase (First 24 Hours): In this phase, you read up on the disputed data assertion, select your position, and submit an encrypted vote. No one knows how you voted, and that’s the point—your vote is shielded and stays private until the next phase.
Reveal Phase (Next 24 Hours): In this phase, you reveal your vote, making it public so it can be tallied. Votes are validated through UMA’s DVM, and rewards are distributed to accurate voters.
This commit-reveal system ensures fairness by preventing voters from influencing each other. No peeking, no collusion—just honest, independent decisions. The process repeats every time an assertion dispute is pushed to the DVM, sometimes batching multiple at a time for you to vote on.
Note that you need to confirm your commit and reveal transactions in your wallet in order for them to go through.
What Do the Different Voting Options Mean?
When you vote, you’ll notice that there are five options you can choose from. Here’s what they mean:
P1: Yes, this assertion is correct.
P2: No, this assertion is incorrect.
P3: The answer is unknown or 50/50.
P4: This assertion is too early.
Custom: Enter a custom answer (rarely used, if ever).
What Does the Timestamp Mean?
Each assertion displays the time at which it was proposed. We call this the timestamp, and it is very important that you pay attention to it.
Make sure you check the timestamp for each assertion. Sometimes, the assertion may be correct, but it was proposed before it was true in the real world. For example, let’s say someone proposed that Chiefs won the Super Bowl the day before it happened. Although the Chiefs did end up winning the next day, they were not the winners yet when this assertion was proposed. If this assertion were to get disputed, the accurate vote would be “P4.”
Can I Change My Vote After I Commit It?
Yes, as long as you do it before the Commit Phase ends. Once this phase is over and the Reveal Phase begins, you will not be able to change your vote.
Note that you must re-commit your vote if you change it or else changes will not be saved.
How Do Voting Rewards Work?
There are two ways you earn rewards: emissions and voting accurately.
Rewards are tied to UMA’s emissions rate (currently 0.18 UMA/second) and your voting performance. When you vote accurately, you earn a portion of the slashed $UMA collected from other voters who voted incorrectly.
If you’re consistent and accurate, you could earn up to 30% APR—a rate that beats most alternative DeFi strategies.
IMPORTANT NOTE: You also MUST reveal your vote in order to receive your rewards.
How Do I Maximize My Rewards?
There are three main ways to maximize your voting rewards:
Stay Staked
: Rewards accrue the entire time your tokens are staked.
Claim and Restake
: Reinvest your rewards to compound your earnings.
Vote Consistently
: Accurate and timely votes are the key to higher APY. Skipping votes will cost you in penalties.
How is the Correct Vote Determined?
The correct vote is determined by what the consensus of voters chose.
UMA’s DVM relies on Schelling Point theory, which suggests that a group of independent participants is most likely to converge on the correct answer without prior communication. This means voters should arrive at the truth by making informed, unbiased decisions based on the evidence presented.
The DVM determines the outcome based on the majority vote. The assumption is that most voters act honestly because they are financially incentivized to align with the correct answer.
What Happens if I Vote Incorrectly?
If you vote incorrectly, 0.05% of your staked balance gets slashed. This amount is redistributed to participants who voted correctly during that round.
What Happens if I Miss a Vote?
Just like if you vote incorrectly, missed votes trigger a 0.05% penalty on your staked tokens. This amount gets redistributed to voters who participated accurately, so don’t ghost your voting rounds.
I’m Forgetful, How Can I Make Sure I Don’t Miss Any Votes?
Voting is a responsibility. You must stay vigilant and make it a habit to check for new votes and reveal phases every day. However, we understand that you’re human, and humans aren’t perfect. That’s why we built-in a reminder system to help you out.
Simply click “Remind me” on the voting dApp and enter your email to sign up for reminders.
You can also follow the UMA Governance X account to receive voting notifications in your X feed or join the UMA Discord for community reminders.
Can I View My Voting History?
Yes you can. Simply click on “Vote History” to view your stats over time, including how many rewards you earned and slashing penalties you incurred on each vote.
Gas Fees are Expensive, Can I Get a Refund?
Yes, you can! Gas fees for committing and revealing votes are reimbursed monthly in ETH, gwei for gwei. This happens automatically at the end of each month—you don’t have to do anything but vote!
Note that gas is not reimbursed for staking, unstaking, or claiming rewards.
How Do I Claim My Rewards?
To claim your rewards, simply click “Claim.” You will be presented with two options:
Claim and Stake:
Claim your $UMA rewards and automatically stake them. This is a great way to compound your rewards over time.
Claim to Wallet:
Claim your $UMA rewards straight to your wallet.
Whichever option you choose, make sure to confirm the transaction in your wallet.
What Is the Cooldown Period for Unstaking?
You’ll need to wait 7 days before unstaked tokens are accessible. Cooldown tokens don’t earn rewards or count for voting.
Can I Cancel My Unstake Request?
Unfortunately, no. Once the request is submitted, it’s final. If you change your mind, you’ll have to wait for the cooldown period to finish and then restake.
Can I Delegate My Voting Power?
Yes, you can delegate your voting rights to another wallet. This is perfect for those using cold wallets for storage—you can delegate your staked tokens to a hot wallet for convenience.
Learn how to set up voting with a two-key contract here.
Note that this is an advanced feature. If you don’t know what this is, we do not recommend trying it.
What is the Voting Quorum?
Quorum is the minimum level of voter participation required for a voting round in UMA’s DVM to be considered valid. If the quorum is not met, the vote is invalid, and the dispute or decision remains unresolved. This mechanism ensures that decisions are made with sufficient community involvement, maintaining the integrity of UMA’s decision-making process and reducing the risk of manipulation by a small number of voters.
The quorum threshold is dynamically calculated as 10% of the total $UMA tokens staked in the DVM.
What Happens if a Vote Doesn’t Reach Quorum?
If a vote doesn’t reach the quorum amount, it “rolls” over into the next voting round. If a vote rolls four times without meeting these thresholds, it can be deleted, which prevents spam or unnecessary voting on invalid requests. Learn more about how this works here.
Is There a Place Where People Are Discussing Votes?
Yes! We host live discussion threads for each vote in the UMA Discord. However, we made things even simpler for you by mirroring these discussion in the voting dApp. Simply open up a vote and click on the “Discussion” tab to view the up-to-date conversation.
What is the DVM?
The Data Verification Mechanism (DVM) is a unique mechanism within UMA’s oracle system. It’s the smart contract that tallies votes and decides the official outcome of disputes based on the voting results. You can think of it as the ultimate arbiter for UMA’s oracle.
Can I Vote on a Mobile Device?
Yes! The voting dApp is optimized for both desktop and mobile devices. The suggested way to access it is through your wallet’s browser (e.g. Metamask browser) using the official link: https://vote.uma.xyz/.
This way, you can always vote no matter where you are as long as you have access to internet connection.
Closing Thoughts: Your Role in the UMA Ecosystem
Voting isn’t just about earning rewards—it’s about securing the future of Web3. UMA’s optimistic oracle relies on you to keep the data trustworthy, and in return, you earn a stake in the protocol’s success. Whether you’re here to build your passive income or be part of something bigger, your vote matters.
Ready to Join the Action?
Head over to vote.uma.xyz to get started. If you have any more questions, join our Discord to connect with our team and other community members.
