Validators

What are validators and how are they used?

What are Validators?

Validators / Validator nodes are the servers that run a specific software to verify and produce blocks. After they successfully produce a block, these validators may then distribute their block rewards to those who voted for them. People can vote for a validator by staking/delegating CTK to that node.

More about staking and the rewards here : Staking and Rewards

How to choose a Validator to stake to?

Picking the right Validator is important for both the chain and yourself.

There are a couple of factors that need to be taken in account which will determine the health of the chain and the amount of rewards you will get. These factors are

• Validator uptime: The Validator uptime is important for both Staker and chain. If a validator goes offline often and misses many blocks the validator will get jailed. This means the validator won't be able to validate/produce any more blocks and won't get any rewards anymore. This means the Staker won't get any rewards anymore. This also has a negative effect on the chain itself as it is always better to have more nodes active. This can be checked on sites like Mintscan.

• Commission %: The commission is mainly important for the Validator and Staker. The commission is the % of block rewards the validator will hold for itself. So for a Staker the lower the commission the more staking rewards will be received. So the lower the commission the better for the staker.

• Voting power %: Voting power is mainly important for the chain itself. The more the voting power is distributed over all nodes the more decentralized the chain is. High voting power nodes can cause a threat to the chain

• Maximum Commission % & 24h change %: It is important to check the Maximum Commission and max 24h change %. The maximum commission states how high the validator can go in their commission for the staker, the lower the better. The 24h change % states how much a validator can change their commission (up & down) each 24h, if it is a small percentage it will take a longer time to increase or decrease their commission. These settings can only be changed during setup. Once the validator is running these can no longer be changed. A node with a high maximum, high 24h change% is a high risk. These settings can be checked on an explorer like Ping : https://ping.pub/shentu/staking/

• Restake: Some nodes offer the functionality to automatically restake your CTK. This could increase the amount of staking rewards over time. However keep in mind the undelegation period.

Want to understand on how to stake CTK using Deepwallet? Visit : Staking

Who can become a Validator?

Everyone can become a validator, however technical knowledge is required. Also don't underestimate that you'll need to get delegations to earn rewards from running a node.

Interested in becomming a Validator? Visit our Validator section: Validators.