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Slashing information

Overview

A coordinated group of validators (maximum: 80) secure the Secret Network. Each validator uses Tendermint, a Byzantine fault-tolerant Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) consensus engine. Each validator stakes their SCRT coins and coins from delegators to earn rewards by successfully running the protocol, verifying transactions, and proposing blocks. If they fail to maintain a consistent (downtime) and honest node (double-signing), slashing penalties will occur, resulting in coins deducted from their account.

All SCRT holders can become a Secret Network validator or delegator and participate in staking and governance processes.

For information on running a node, delegating, staking, and voting, please see the validator guide below and visit our governance documentation.

Here is a list of Hardware Hardware Compliance for running a validator.

For detailed information on how to set up and run a validator, see the Becoming A Validatorsection.

Slashing For Downtime

Slashing for downtime is based on actual block times and NOT theoretical block times, such as SignedBlocksWindow and MinSignedPerWindow network parameters. Validators signing less than MinSignedPerWindow blocks out of every SignedBlocksWindow will experience a downtime slash.

Slashing Conditions For Downtime

Parameters: 11250 blocks out of every 22500-blocks

  • For a block time of 6.8 seconds, it roughly translates to being up for less than 21.25 hours out of every 42.5-hour window.

  • For a block time of 6.4 seconds, it roughly translates to being up for less than 20 hours out of every 40-hour window.

Penalties For Downtime

  • Slashing of 0.01% of the validator and its delegators' staked SCRT

  • Jailing of validators for 10 minutes. Validators do not earn block rewards for the jailing period and must manually unjail their node with:

secretd tx slashing unjail --from <key-alias>

Slashing For Double-Signing

Slashing for double-signing is when the validator signs the same block twice. This happens most commonly during migration, and the original validator node is not shut off appropriately, and their priv_validator_key.json is running on two machines at the same time. The best way to avoid double signing is by using a remote signer such as the TenderMint Key Management System (TMKMS) or Horcrux.

Conditions For Double-Signing

  • A validator signs the same block height twice

Penalties For Double-Signing

  • Slashing of 5% of the validator and its delegators' staked SCRT

  • Jailing forever (tombstoned) of the validator node

    • A tombstoned validator cannot earn block rewards anymore, and its delegators must re-delegate their SCRT to another validator

What Happens With Slashed SCRT

The Secret Network uses the same slashing penalties as Cosmos. Burning SCRT through slashing validators for downtime and/or double-signing discourages poor practices and dishonesty by protocol-recognized actors. If slashing occurs frequently, a validator may lose their ability to vote on future blocks for some time.

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