Core Validator Election
Overview
Core's Satoshi Plus consensus draws validator support from three delegation sources:
- Delegated Proof of Work (DPoW) from Bitcoin miners
- Self-Custodial Bitcoin Staking from Bitcoin holders
- Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) from CORE token holders
Each source contributes to a validator's hybrid score, which determines their election into the active validator set.
Election Process
1. Delegation of Support
Validators receive support from three sources:
- Bitcoin Holders: Timelock Bitcoin using CLTV and embed validator metadata in the redeem script to vote for validators.
- Bitcoin Miners: Delegate hash power by including validator votes in the op_return field of Bitcoin coinbase transactions.
- CORE Token Holders: Delegate CORE tokens directly to preferred validators.
Each form of delegation contributes to validator selection and reward eligibility.
2. Hybrid Score Calculation
Validators are ranked by a hybrid score that blends the three forms of support:
Where,
- : Bitcoin hash power delegated to a validator.
- : Total hash power on Core.
- : Amount of CORE tokens staked to a validator.
- : Total CORE tokens staked on Core.
- : Amount of BTC tokens staked to a validator.
- : Total BTC tokens staked on Core.
- : Ratio assigned to hash power.
- : Ratio assigned to CORE staking.
- : Ratio assigned to BTC staking.
This formula promotes proportional and fair influence across all delegation sources.
3. Validator Selection and Block Production
- The top 29 validators with the highest hybrid scores are elected every round (1 day)
- Validators produce blocks in a round-robin fashion, with each slot lasting 3 seconds
- The validator set is updated every 200 blocks to promote consistency and prevent disruption from underperforming or penalized validators
- Core maintains liveness as long as fewer than ⅓ of validators are malicious
Flow Summary
The validator election cycle proceeds as follows:
- Delegation: Miners, CORE stakers, and Bitcoin stakers delegate support
- Score Calculation: Hybrid scores are computed using the defined formula
- Election: Top 29 validators are selected based on scores
- Block Production: Validators take turns producing blocks
- Rewards: CORE tokens are earned by validators and distributed proportionally to delegators
- Cycle Repeats: Validator set updates every 200 blocks