Seiya is live! Stafi is inviting validators to join its first testnet.
Tags: Staking, Defi, Staking Derivative, Proof Of Stake, Blockchain

NPoS Mechanism

Drawing experience from Polkadot, Stafi’s consensus also adopts the NPoS mechanism. NPoS is an improved version of DPoS, which solves the problem of Stake’s tendency to be over-centralized. In the NPoS mechanism, stakers are divided in two roles: a nominator and a validator.

Unlike DPoS, the block-producing reward is distributed to all the validators of the current validator group, while in DPoS, it is done by the propotions of Staking Tokens delegated. In this way, the nominators will automatically balance the delegation among multiple validators, avoiding the Matthew effect. For more about NPoS, please check here.

For more about Nominator and Validator, please check here.

The Incumbent Validators

The Stafi chain — Seiya — starts with 50 open validator positions, and plans to gradually increases the number of validators. The top 50 validators with heaviest Staking weight can be elected. The upper limit of the number of validators has not been determined yet.The final decision must strike a balance between network security and consensus efficiency. Stay tuned for our technical-economic series as we develop the model further.

Rewards & Slashing

Anyone can apply to become a validator candidate. As for the rewards, all incumbent validators have the same weight to produce blocks and under random algorithms, all of them have almost the same chance to be rewarded. That means validators with a lesser FIS stake can earn more FIS rewards.

The inflation rate of FIS is 10% in the first year. The rewards for a validator are determined by Staking rate. Initially, 50% will be set as a benchmark. For validators with a staking rate below 50%, an 10% annual interest rate will be set up. For those higher than 50%, the rewards will be below 10%. In general, the rewards are in reverse proportion to the staking weight.

The slashing mechanism in NPoS is similar to other PoS projects. For those who are offline (or unresponsive) too often, or do such evil as double-signing, their collateral will be confiscated — slashed. The slashed amount will include FIS belonging to the nominators and the Slash severity is determined by the exact case. Check here for the detailed Slash ratio. The validators with a high staking rate can attract nominators by their strength to earn higher delegation.

Lockup Period for FIS: 14 days

Users can engage in NPoS by Staking FIS on Stafi. They can earn inflationary rewards for their “work”. However, in order to prevent malicious activity, staked FIS must be locked for a period of time. It takes 14 days from the initiation of unlocking to redeem FIS back. Unlike other PoS chains, Stafi Protocol will create SC to unlock Staked FIS so that users can trade rFIS directly to obtain liquidity even within the lock period of FIS.

Hardware Requirements

We recommend that validators adhere to the standard hardware requirements at least, to ensure that they can process all blocks in a timely manner. This is not a total minimum requirement, but if you decide to run with a hardware standard lower than this, you may encounter performance issues, such as slashing due to unresponsive cases.

Recommended configuration

System: Ubuntu 18.04

CPU: 4 cores, Intel Core

Memory: 8G

Hard disk: 500G

Basic configuration standard

System: Linux or Macos, Ubuntu 18.04 is recommended

CPU: At least 2 cores, Intel Core

Memory: 8G

Hard disk: at least 200G, regularly evaluated

How to run a validator node?

Please check the Stafi node operation document if you want to join the Stafi as a node operator. When the open testnet is stable, we will enter the phase of the incentivized testnet. It is recommended to familiarize yourself with the public testnet first to get a lead in the subsequent incentive testnet.

Service providers that have provided validation services on various PoS networks are recommended to join Stafi’s network to help all Stakers with the issuance of Staking derivatives! In addition to the original PoS chain incentives, Stakers will also be rewarded by Stafi.

If you want to learn more about running a validator node on Stafi network, you should join our validator community, and we’d love to hear your thoughts about the testnet. There are many intricacies and balances in the design of the validator incentive mechanism, and we look forward to iterating the system with the help of the community. Join us on Telegram: t.me/stafi_protocol