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V2 is out = Validator Registration is Possible
It is now possible to become a validator and to delegate your PLS to your favourite validators!
On December 10, 2021, PulseChain testnet V2 was released and validator staking, delegation, registration and rotation is enabled on the HowToPulse staking website: https://stake.howtopulse.com/
Keep reading to find out more about what it means to be a validator and how to become one!
What consensus mechanism does PulseChain use?
PulseChain is the new kid on the block. A faster, more energy-efficient and more affordable version of the well-known Ethereum blockchain. PulseChain relies on a Proof of Staked Authority (PoSA) consensus mechanism, which is a combination of Delegate Proof of Stake (DPoS) and Proof of Authority (PoA). Also known as the Parlia consensus engine.
The PoSA enables 33 validators to verify transactions and validate blocks. PoSA takes the principles of democracy such as voting and using an election process and brings it to the blockchain. The biggest Pulse (PLS) holders can lock up their PLS to become a validator and all other PLS token holders can delegate their tokens to their favourite validators. It gives power to the people in order to protect PulseChain from malicious attacks and centralization.
What is a validator?
Validators are PulseChain nodes that check the validity of each transaction and generate new blocks. The 33 validators who have staked the most Pulse (PLS) will be validating or denying transactions. When they validate a transaction and generate a new block they receive a financial reward.
The gas fees you have to pay on PulseChain (or any other blockchain for that matter) to make a transaction are paid partly to the validators. 75% of all gas fees on PulseChain go to the validators and their delegators. We pay them to verify the legitimacy of each transaction and keep PulseChain healthy and alive by producing new blocks. The remaining 25% are burnt to reduce circulating PLS supply, which encourages deflation of PLS.
If a validator starts acting against a healthy PulseChain by violating security principles, the validator rules or if the validator node experiences downtime it will get slashed. I.e. it will get punished by having a part of its stake cut. This enables the finality of the chain. It’s simple, act bad and lose money. Act right, and make money and keep the chain alive.
How do you become a validator on PulseChain?
First, you’ll need to launch a PulseChain full node with enough storage and compute power to be able to verify transactions and produce new blocks. High availability of this node is essential, otherwise, you risk getting slashed and losing money.
When the chain is up and running you have to register by staking 500K PLS. Depending on the blockchain this can either be done on a website (easy) or through the command-line interface (hard). On PulseChain it can be done via the HowToPulse staking website: https://stake.howtopulse.com/
In order to become a validator, one has to stake a substantial amount of the native token, in this case, 500K Pulse (PLS). Note, that this will be a NON-REFUNDABLE AMOUNT. The high cost is meant to avoid spam and to attract only serious validators. Once this entry fee is staked, the user is now part of the validator pool. In order to start validating new blocks and start receiving their share from the transaction fees, the validator has to be among the top 33 stakers in the validator pool. These are called bonded validators. Note that the stake size does not affect the reward amount. The stake size only helps getting a validator into rotation. Once in rotation the validators take turns in processing transactions and are rewarded approximately equally.
Validator Rotation
Validators can unregister at any time, but they will be removed from the pool only at the next validator rotation. Validator rotation happens every 28,000 blocks, that is approximately every 24h around 9:05 pm UTC. This is called an Era. After each Era a validator is rewarded its due amount and validators are rotated by removing those who decided to quit or replacing the lower stake validators with those who have now higher stakes.
Interesting note for validators: when registering you can specify the revenue share that’ll go to the delegators. A higher share will potentially attract more delegators since they can earn more by delegating their PLS. A lower share will mean more PLS to the validator himself.
Let’s talk about delegators now!
PulseChain is democratic!
This is where democracy comes in because anyone holding PLS can vote for its favourite validator and earn money from the transactions they validate. People can delegate their PLS to their favourite validators to pump the validator’s stakes and push them up in the ranks. Why? Simply, because the more a validator has staked in the validator pool, the more transactions it’ll verify, thus the more its pockets will get filled. The delegators, in return, will get their share of the transaction. Choose your validator wisely and earn money!
Isn’t it wonderful? PulseChain is a world where you get paid for voting for your favourite leaders. By giving the ability to anyone to delegate their PLS, people have the opportunity to say: “This validator is who I believe can keep PulseChain thriving!”
How do you vote?
Proof of Staked Authority (PoSA) ensures that PulseChain remains a self-sovereign blockchain. It is an on-chain decentralized governance that gives power to the people and keeps the validators behaving uprightly.
Any PLS holder on PulseChain can participate in the governance of the chain by delegating their PLS to registered validators. In other words, you vote by locking up your PLS on one of the validator’s stakes and earn a yield from it.
Ths can be done on the HowToPulse staking & validator website. You can follow the steps shown in the screenshot below by following these steps:
- First choose your validator
- Then click on the icon in the “My Stake” column
- Enter the amount you’d like to delegate to that validator
- Click “ADD”
- Confirm transactions in your crypto wallet (a minimal amount of gas fees will have to be paid)
- Afterwards, you’ll see a confirmation on the top of the website and the % of your reward will show in the “My Revenue Share” column
Go and try it out! There is no minimum amount for this! If you want some testnet v2 PLS request some here, on our faucet.
For anyone wanting a more technical deep dive, we advise you to go to the official PulseChain GitLab.
Or let us know if you have any questions on our Telegram chat! Happy validating and delegating!
