Staking and validator participation
Development status: Planned — The planned design would allow validators to stake in order to take part in the network’s agreement on results. Staking is not available on any current network: there is no public network, nobody can stake today, and amounts, terms, eligibility and rules are not described. Nothing is publicly available for live use.
Before you read: Operating a node: intended roles and what exists today.
Will validators stake to take part, and can anyone stake today? This page answers both parts directly, explains the general idea of staking, relates it to validators, penalties and governed economic settings, and states plainly what is not described. It makes no financial or investment statement.
The short answer
- Planned: validators would stake in order to take part in the network’s agreement on results.
- Today: staking is not available on any current network. There is no public network, and nobody can stake.
- No way to stake is described here, because none exists. Treat any claim that Cubane staking is available with caution, and check Development status: what exists today and what does not.
What staking would mean here
Planned.
In general terms, staking means committing value as a condition of taking part, so that a participant has something to lose if it misbehaves. Networks use it to give participants a reason to follow the rules beyond goodwill: a participant that has committed value in advance is more exposed to the consequences of acting against the network than one that has not. The Cubane-scoped definition of staking is marked for review in the glossary, and this documentation does not import meanings the word carries on other platforms.
- In the planned design, staking concerns validators — the participants that would take part in the network’s agreement on results.
- What would be staked, how much, for how long and under which terms is not described.
Validators and participation
- Validators would take part in the network’s agreement on results, which is what would eventually allow a result to be treated as final. See Participants and roles and, for what finality would mean to an application, Agreement and finality status.
- Eligibility and the rules for taking part are not described.
- How validators would be trusted is covered on Trust assumptions and responsibilities by participant and Cryptographic foundations and trust roots.
Staking and penalties
- Misbehaviour is intended to be penalised. An experimental penalty library exists, and no penalties are enforced on any available network. See Penalties for misbehaviour.
- Layered defences against misbehaving validators are being explored; none is implemented. See Threat model and misbehaviour defences.
- How staking and penalties would interact is not described.
Staking and governed economic settings
- Economic settings are intended to be controlled through governance, and this is being explored. See Treasury and governed economic settings.
- No values or settings related to staking are published.
- How governance decisions would be proposed and taken is covered on Governance proposals and decisions.
What prospective validators can do now
- Nothing operational. There is no software to run and nothing to stake.
- Understand the role. Read the operator pages to understand the intended responsibilities, starting with Operating a node: intended roles and what exists today.
- Follow availability. Watch Networks and environments and the Documentation change log for any change.
Assumptions, trust and limitations
- The planned design may change. “Planned” is not a commitment that staking will be offered in any particular form.
- Staking would not by itself make a network secure. It would be one part of layered defences whose effectiveness is unproven.
- Statements on this page describe the state of development as of the page’s date.
Not yet available, and how this page will grow
Further technical reference is not yet available. If staking becomes available on a supported network, this page would describe it at the level approved for publication, together with the network and version it applies to. Terminology on this page is pending review and may change; status changes would be recorded in the Documentation change log.
What this page does not claim
This page does not claim:
- any amount, term, eligibility rule or timing for staking;
- any economic outcome for anyone who takes part;
- that staking is available on any network.
Nothing on this page is a financial or investment statement. Anything not stated here as available should be treated as unavailable.
Related pages
- Penalties for misbehaviour — the status of penalties for misbehaving participants.
- Treasury and governed economic settings — governance of economic settings.
- Participants and roles — the validator role among other roles.
- Operating a node: intended roles and what exists today — the operator overview.
- Threat model and misbehaviour defences — layered defences against misbehaving validators.
- Networks and environments — which networks exist (none publicly).
Glossary
References
No approved public references yet.
