Staking & Rewards
Orbinum will secure mainnet with Nominated Proof-of-Stake (NPoS): validators produce blocks, ORB holders nominate the validators they trust, and both share the rewards. Consensus runs on Aura for block production and GRANDPA for finality.
This page describes the target model for mainnet. It is not what the network runs today.
The current testnet uses a permissioned validator set: operators are evaluated off-chain and sudo adds them directly — there is no on-chain candidacy to submit. There is no bond, no nomination and no slashing yet; that single approval is the only gate into the active set.
See Running a Node for how to become a validator today.
Participants
Validators
Validators run full nodes, produce blocks, and validate transactions. They are paid in ORB for the infrastructure and security they provide.
- Bond ORB of their own — under NPoS this stake is at risk, not just a deposit.
- Earn block rewards plus a share of transaction fees.
- Must register Aura and GRANDPA session keys before they can author blocks.
Nominators
ORB holders who do not want to run a node can back validators they trust.
- Share in the rewards of the validators they nominate.
- Are exposed to slashing if a validator they back misbehaves.
Nomination means the security of the network does not depend on how many people can run infrastructure — anyone holding ORB can contribute to it.
Reward Model
30% of total supply (300,000,000 ORB) funds staking rewards. The pool is not pre-allocated: it is emitted per block as the network is secured, entering circulation gradually over roughly ten years.
Issuance
Rewards are distributed per era and split according to:
- Era points — earned for producing blocks and performing validation duties.
- Total stake — the ORB backing each validator, own bond plus nominations.
A validator's payout is therefore a function of both performance and the stake backing it, and each nominator receives a proportional share.
Transaction fees
Fees are split between validators and the Treasury. The split percentage is
not yet set. Today a user declares the fee inside the proof and the runtime
enforces a protocol-set minimum, MinSpendFee: a runtime constant of
0.001 ORB, set as an anti-spam floor and not derived from cost or value, and
changed only by a runtime upgrade. Each fee is credited to the validator that
authored the block, which claims it from the shielded pool. Whether mainnet uses a fixed
protocol fee or a floor with user discretion is one of the open questions below.
See the gasless fee mechanism for how the fee is
bound to the proof.
Whether fee revenue can carry network security once the staking pool is exhausted is an open economic question, not a settled property of the design. No privacy network has yet demonstrated fee revenue at that level, and Orbinum does not assume it will be the first without evidence. Fee levels, the split, and the relationship between fees and emission are being worked through before mainnet — see Open questions below.
The per-era issuance schedule for the 300M pool is not yet fixed. Neither are the decay curve, the target staking ratio, the minimum validator self-stake, the validator/Treasury fee split, or the relationship between emission and the fee revenue meant to succeed it. Each will be published here once set.
Open questions
The reward model above is a structure, not yet a parameterised schedule. Fee levels for shielded operations and EVM gas, whether that fee is fixed or a protocol floor, the per-era emission curve, and the validator/Treasury split are being worked through with external economic review before mainnet. Nothing in this section should be read as final until those parameters are published here.
Slashing & Security
Under NPoS, misbehaviour costs stake. Penalties will apply for:
- Equivocation — signing duplicate blocks or conflicting finality votes.
- Invalid block production — attempting an invalid state transition.
- Extended downtime — being offline long enough to harm liveness.
Slashed funds are removed from the validator and from the nominators backing it. That shared exposure is the point: it gives nominators a direct reason to research who they back, rather than chasing the highest advertised return.
Path to open validation
The permissioned set is a launch measure, not the destination. Opening it up is staged, so each step can be verified before the next:
| Stage | Who can validate | Nomination | Slashing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Today | Sudo adds each operator after off-chain review | — | — |
| Next | Governance approves; stake decides the active set | Yes | Yes |
| Then | Any candidate meeting objective requirements | Yes | Yes |
| Target | Fully open NPoS — stake alone decides | Yes | Yes |
Joining carries no bond today — a sudo addValidator call gates the set (see Becoming a Validator).
NPoS introduces a minimum self-stake: the capital a validator puts at risk
alongside their nominators, replacing governance approval as the entry gate.
Ready to participate? Running a Node covers hardware requirements and setup, and Public RPC Node covers day-to-day maintenance.
For how Orbinum reaches consensus and finality, see the Consensus Mechanism guide.