Host a group

Once your group is hosted, members' contract posts become calls, the group gets its own group score and rank, and it can earn a share of each epoch's rewards (paid to you, the host).

What you need#

• You are an admin of the Telegram group.
• A verified Solana wallet (see Verify your wallet).
• A hosting tier of $ALPHA in that wallet. The defaults are:

Steps#

1. Check your status. In a private chat with the bot, send /host (or tap 🏠 Host a group). You'll see four steps with a 👉 on the next one: verify your wallet, hold ALPHA, add the bot, live.
2. Verify your wallet if you haven't. Tap 🔗 Verify my wallet and sign the message.
3. Hold a hosting tier. Top up your verified wallet, then tap 🔄 Refresh balance. Your tier appears in the list.
4. Add the bot to your group. Tap ➕ Add me to your group, pick your group, and approve the admin rights Telegram asks for.
5. Done. If you qualify, the bot activates the group straight away. You'll see:
   • in the group: "✅ Your group now an Alpha Network node", with the host, the tier and what is tracked;
   • in your private chat: "Your group is live", with buttons for ⚙️ Group settings and 🏘 My groups.
6. Set your rules (optional). Send /settings in the group, or open My groups on the website. See Group settings.
7. Tell your members. They just post contract addresses as usual. The first member to post a token gets the credit.

Why the bot needs admin rights#

As an admin the bot can read every contract post and every Rick or Phanes reply. Without admin rights it can only see commands, and the group card says "🟠 Commands only".

Activate later with /claim#

If the bot was added before you qualified, or by someone else:

1. Make sure the bot is an admin in the group.
2. Send /claim in the group (you must be a group admin).
3. You'll see "✅ … now an Alpha Network node". If something is missing, you'll see "⛔ Can't activate yet" with the reason. Send /host to the bot privately to see what's missing.

Keep your group active#

• Your $ALPHA balance is re-checked every few hours.
• If it drops below your tier, the group enters a grace period (24 hours by default) and you get a warning message.
• If you don't top up in time, the group becomes restricted: new calls pause, and all history is kept. Topping up restores it.
• A failed balance check (for example a network outage) never restricts your group.

Pause or hand over a group#

• /release in the group (host only) pauses tracking and frees the group. All history is kept.
• Another admin can then run /claim to become the new host.

If it doesn't work#

• "Can't activate yet". Your wallet isn't verified, your balance is below the tier, or you've reached your tier's group limit. Send /host to the bot privately.
• "Only an administrator of this group can claim it". Ask a group admin to run /claim.
• "This group is already hosted by another admin". They must send /release first.
• "I'm not an admin here". Promote the bot to admin in the group's settings in Telegram.
• Contract posts aren't detected. Make sure the bot is an admin, and that Contract addresses is on in /settings → 📥 Tracking.

More in Troubleshooting.