Validators

Validators secure the Orbinum blockchain through block production and transaction finalization. Top validators by stake also evaluate AI miner quality, earning additional rewards.

Dual Role System

Role	Description	Who
Consensus	Produce blocks, finalize transactions, secure network	All active validators (297)
Quality Evaluation	Assess AI miner performance and quality	Top validators with Permits

1. Blockchain Consensus (All Validators)

Block Production:

• Propose new blocks every ~6 seconds via BABE
• Include transactions and collect fees
• Earn era points for participation

Finalization:

• Vote on block finality via GRANDPA
• Achieve deterministic finality in 12-18 seconds
• Critical for network security

Network Security:

• Maintain 99.9%+ uptime
• Detect and prevent attacks
• Participate in governance

2. Quality Evaluation (Permit Holders Only)

Top validators by stake earn Permits to evaluate miners:

• Assess miner output quality, latency, and availability
• Submit stake-weighted scores to quality consensus
• Earn 17.64% of user fees + evaluation bonuses

The permit system ensures only the most economically committed validators participate in quality assessment, aligning incentives with network security.

→ Learn more about Quality Consensus & Permits

Requirements

Economic Requirements

Requirement	Amount	Purpose
Minimum Self-Stake	10,000 $ON	Economic security deposit
Total Backing	Competitive	Must be in top 297 by total stake
Commission Rate	0-100%	Set your rate (5-15% recommended)

Hardware Requirements

Component	Minimum	Recommended (Production)
CPU	8 cores @ 3.0 GHz	16 cores @ 3.5 GHz
RAM	16 GB DDR4	32 GB DDR4/DDR5
Storage	1 TB NVMe SSD	2 TB NVMe SSD (RAID 1)
Network	1 Gbps symmetric	10 Gbps with redundancy
Uptime	99.9%+	99.99%+ with UPS/backup power

Network Ports

Port	Protocol	Purpose
30333	TCP	P2P networking (public)
9933	TCP	RPC interface (localhost)
9944	TCP	WebSocket (localhost)
9615	TCP	Prometheus metrics (localhost)

Getting Started

Step 1: Install & Start Node

# Download validator binary
wget https://github.com/orbinum-network/orbinum/releases/download/v1.0.0/orbinum-node
chmod +x orbinum-node && sudo mv orbinum-node /usr/local/bin/

# Start validator node
orbinum-node \
  --base-path /data/orbinum \
  --chain mainnet \
  --validator \
  --name "My Validator" \
  --port 30333

Note: Orbinum node software is not yet publicly available. Installation instructions will be provided upon release.

Step 2: Generate Session Keys

# Generate session keys (node must be running)
curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"id":1, "jsonrpc":"2.0", "method": "author_rotateKeys"}' \
  http://localhost:9933

# Save the returned keys securely

Step 3: Bond Stake & Validate

Using Orbinum dashboard or CLI:

# Bond tokens (minimum 10,000 $ON)
orbinum-cli staking bond --amount 10000

# Set session keys
orbinum-cli staking set-keys --keys <YOUR_SESSION_KEYS>

# Validate with commission rate
orbinum-cli staking validate --commission 10

Step 4: Attract Nominators

To enter the active set (top 297), you need nominations:

Attract nominators with:

• ✅ Competitive commission (5-15%)
• ✅ Strong on-chain identity
• ✅ High uptime history
• ✅ Active community engagement

Immunity Period: New validators get 12-hour protection (7,200 blocks) from minor slashing when first entering active set. Major offenses (equivocation, double-signing) are not protected.

Rewards

Reward Sources

Source	Amount	Who	Notes
Block Emissions	20% of total	All validators	Distributed by stake weight
Transaction Fees	Variable	Block producers	From blocks you produce
Quality Evaluation	17.64% of user fees	Permit holders	Top validators only

Expected Returns

Validator Type	Annual APR	Requirements
Standard Validator	15-20%	Active set (top 297)
Permit Holder	20-25%	Top validators by stake

Commission Strategy

Commission	Validator Take	Nominator Appeal	When to Use
0-5%	Lower	Very High	Building reputation
5-15%	Balanced	High	Recommended
15-30%	Higher	Medium	Established validators
30%+	Highest	Low	Premium/specialized service

How Rewards Work

Era Structure: 24 hours = 6 sessions × 4 hours

1. Earn era points - Block production, finalization, quality evaluation
2. Era ends - Rewards calculated proportional to your era points
3. Distribution - Claimable immediately or auto-compound

Slashing & Penalties

See the Slashing (Negative Incentives) section for a complete and up-to-date table of validator penalties, offenses, and prevention strategies.

Prevent Slashing

Infrastructure:

• ✅ Run only ONE validator per key pair (CRITICAL)
• ✅ Monitor uptime with alerts
• ✅ Setup automated failover
• ✅ Test disaster recovery quarterly

Key Security:

• ✅ Store keys in HSM (hardware security module)
• ✅ Never duplicate or share keys
• ✅ Rotate keys periodically
• ✅ Keep offline backups

Monitoring

Key Metrics

Category	Metrics	Target
Block Production	Blocks per era, success rate	>95% success
Finalization	Vote participation	>99%
Network	Peer count, sync status	50+ peers
Resources	CPU, RAM, disk I/O	<80% usage

Setup Monitoring

Prometheus + Grafana:

# Block production rate
rate(substrate_proposer_block_constructed_total[5m])

# Peer count
substrate_sub_libp2p_peers_count

# Finalization lag
substrate_finality_grandpa_round - substrate_finality_grandpa_finalized_round

Alerts:

• 🚨 Validator offline, missed blocks, slashing
• ⚠️ Low peers (<25), high resource usage (>90%)

Troubleshooting

Issue	Check	Solution
Not in active set	Total stake vs top 297	Lower commission, attract nominators
Missed blocks	Sync status, connectivity	Verify network, enable NTP sync
Low era points	Block production rate	Optimize infrastructure, check logs
Slashing	Duplicate nodes, key mgmt	Stop duplicates immediately

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Next Steps

• Staking Guide - Back validators and earn rewards
• Miners - Provide AI inference compute
• Quality Consensus - Quality evaluation mechanics
• Running Nodes - Node types and configuration