Penalties for misbehaviour
Development status: Experimental implementation exists — An experimental implementation exists; this page describes the intended public developer capability. An experimental penalty library exists in an internal prototype, but the design is being explored and no penalties are enforced on any available network; which actions would be penalised, amounts, evidence and procedures are not described. Nothing is publicly available for live use.
Before you read: Operating a node: intended roles and what exists today.
Will misbehaving participants be penalised, and are penalties enforced today? Misbehaviour is intended to be penalised, and no penalties are enforced anywhere today. This page explains why penalties are part of the design, whom they would concern and what is not described, and points to the pages where disputes, appeals and accountability are discussed.
Why penalties are part of the design
- Misbehaviour is intended to be penalised. In this documentation, misbehaviour means a participant acting against the protocol’s rules. Misbehaviour by participants who run the network is intended to carry consequences.
- Penalties would give participants something to lose. A participant that stands to lose something by misbehaving has a reason to follow the rules beyond goodwill. That is why penalties are one part of the intended layered defences; see Threat model and misbehaviour defences.
- Penalties are not expected to be sufficient on their own. A penalty is a consequence that follows misbehaviour; it does not by itself prevent it. Penalties would work alongside other intended defences, such as redundancy, which are also being explored and are not implemented.
Are penalties enforced today?
No.
- No penalties are enforced on any available network, and there is no public network.
- An experimental penalty library exists in an internal prototype. It is not evidence that penalties work or would be applied.
- Nothing in experimental software should be read as a penalty rule.
Whom penalties would concern
Being explored.
- Penalties would concern participants who take part in running the network, such as validators, who are planned to stake in order to take part; see Staking and validator participation.
- Eligibility, offences and the circumstances in which a penalty would apply are not described.
- This page does not describe consequences for application users.
What is not described
This page does not describe:
- which actions would count as misbehaviour;
- amounts or timing;
- how evidence would be gathered, assessed or decided on, and by whom;
- the procedures for applying a penalty.
Further technical reference is not yet available.
Disputes, appeals and accountability
- How a participant could contest a penalty is covered on Disputes and appeals.
- Research-level goals and open questions are discussed in Design note: accountability for misbehaviour.
- Assurance readers should treat accountability as a design goal until published evidence exists; see Security assurance status and reporting problems.
What this means for prospective operators
- There are no penalty rules to prepare for today.
- Do not assume rules from other networks apply. This documentation gives words such as penalty a Cubane-scoped definition, marked for review in the glossary, and does not import meanings from other platforms.
- Future rules would come with their scope. Any future rules would be published together with the network and software version they apply to.
Assumptions, trust and limitations
- Penalties would depend on evidence being produced and assessed correctly. How that would happen is not described.
- Because a penalty could be applied in error, a governed way to contest it is being explored; see Disputes and appeals.
- The design may change substantially before anything is enforced.
Not yet available, and how this page will grow
Further technical reference is not yet available. If penalties become active on a supported network, this page would describe them at the level approved for publication, together with their scope. Terminology on this page is pending review; status changes would be recorded in the Documentation change log.
What this page does not claim
This page does not claim:
- any offence, amount, evidence format or procedure;
- that penalties are enforced on any network;
- any assurance that misbehaviour would be detected or penalised.
Anything not stated here as available should be treated as unavailable.
Related pages
- Threat model and misbehaviour defences — penalties as one of the intended layered defences.
- Disputes and appeals — how penalties could be contested.
- Staking and validator participation — the planned staking concept for validators.
- Design note: accountability for misbehaviour — research-level goals and open questions.
- Operating a node: intended roles and what exists today — the operator overview.
- Security assurance status and reporting problems — what evidence is (not yet) published.
Glossary
References
No approved public references yet.
