How to Become a Validator on Core
For those who want become validators on the Core blockchain, we strongly recommend reading through our Technical WhitePaper.
Validators on CORE are responsible for producing blocks and validating transactions on the Core network. Becoming a validator requires registration with the network and locking up a refundable CORE deposit to be included into the validator set per the rules of the validator election. Anyone can deposit and become a validator on Core.
Before you register as a validator on CORE, you need to run a fullnode in validator mode. Please read How to Run a CORE Fullnode. A quick way to check whether the node is running successfully in validator mode is to open the log file and search for error message "unauthorized validator". This error goes off once this node is registered as a validator and elected to the validator quorum sometime later.
After successfully running a fullnode, the easiest way to register a validator is using the stake website. Click the
register button on the top right.
You need to provide:
- Consensus Address: the consensus address configured to run the fullnode.
- Fee Address: the address used to collect commission fees.
- Commission: revenue received by a validator is split between the validator and its delegators. The portion that goes to the validator is calculated using value set here.
- Total Deposit: the amount of refundable CORE required to be locked up. The minimal amount is set to 10000 on TestNet.
Each day, 21 validators with the highest hybrid scores are elected to the validator set, thereby becoming responsible for producing blocks on the Core network for the entirety of the round. At the last block of each round, the accumulated rewards for the round will be calculated and distributed and the validator quorum for the next round will also be determined. For more details about validator election, please visit the online technical whitepaper: validator election.
You can check the validator status on the stake website, the elected validators will be marked as
Active/Normal. For more information about the validator status, please check the appendix part in the end. The validator set will be updated at 00:00 am UTC every day.
You can also search for the consensus address on CORE scan to see the block producing history of the validator.
The two categories of rewards for validators are (1) base rewards (newly minted CORE) and (2) fees collected from transactions in each block. Validators are required to share rewards with the delegators who staked their CORE with them in addition to those delegating hash power. Given each validator has an equal probability to produce blocks, in the long run all stable validators should get a similar portion of the rewards. The portion for validators themselves (commission fees) will be distributed to their fee addresses directly when the system turns rounds. For more details about rewards, please visit the online technical whitepaper: rewards.
Core has managed to mitigate most attacks by various means outlined throughout the Technical Whitepaper. However, we also chose to implement slash + jail/ejection mechanisms to further disincentive malicious behaviors. Verifiers can submit evidence to have validators slashed and jailed for different cases. Two notable cases that are slash-able are unavailability and double signing. Unavailability is taken care of by validators themselves in the consensus algorithm and double signing is left to external verifiers.
Status | Description |
|---|---|
Active/Normal | Elected Validator in the round |
Active/Refuse | Elected validator in the round, refuse to accept delegation, not qualified for the next election |
Active/Jailed | Elected validator in the round, triggered felony and got jailed, not qualified for next election |
Inactive/Queued | Registered, not elected but qualified for the next election |
Inactive/Refuse | Registered, refuse to accept delegation, not qualified for the next election |
Inactive/Jailed | Registered, in jail, not qualified for the next election |
Inactive/Locked | Registered, not enough deposit, not qualified for the next election |
Inactive/Invalid | Unregistered |