Polkadot (DOT), a “decentralized” Web 3.0 compatible, blockchain interoperability initiative, has announced the launch of a new project to support greater decentralization. The Polkadot team has invited developers to join its Thousand Validators Program.
The Web3 Foundation has established a Thousand Validators Program for Polkadot. Those interested in participating can apply and follow the validator setup instructions, and might qualify to receive nominations from Web3 Foundation to help kickstart their Polkadot (transaction validating) node.
By taking part in the program, users will be able to support “the strength of the network by contributing to the shared security of Polkadot and creating more decentralization,” the announcement noted.
The Polkadot project, whose DOT tokens currently have a market cap of almost $4.5 billion, describes itself as a “next-generation” sharded blockchain network that has been founded by Gavin Wood, who’s the co-founder and former CTO of Ethereum.
As mentioned in a blog post by Polkadot:
“Since the launch of its genesis block on May 26, 2020, the Polkadot network has seen a lot of developments. On July 20, it became fully decentralized when Sudo was removed and governance of the chain transitioned into the hands of the token (DOT) holders, with the network secured by 100 validators. This figure has since grown to over 230.”
Transaction validators taking part on the Polkadot network are computer nodes/servers that “verify that the information contained in an assigned set of parachain blocks is valid,” the Polkadot team explains. They added that validators also participate in consensus with other validators through a “hybrid” blockchain consensus protocol that “splits the finality gadget (GRANDPA) from the block production mechanism (BABE).”
While they’re incentivized for validating blocks of transactions, validators are “slashed” (or fined) if they behave “badly” or in a dishonest manner, Polkadot claims. They also note that “this economic incentive helps ensure ‘good behavior’ and adds to the security of the system.”
Everyone may apply to become a candidate for being “elected as validator,” Polkadot’s developers confirm. They also mentioned that the nominated proof of stake (NPoS) protocol selects “the set of active validators regularly based on how much stake is backing the candidates.” This stake may come from the candidate (“self-stake”) or backing from nominators. (Note: check here to learn about NPoS).
As noted in the announcement:
“Under the Polkadot 1,000 Validators Program, each validator candidate needs to have self-stake (currently, a minimum of 10,000 DOT) and fulfill a number of requirements to be eligible for nomination by Web3 Foundation.”
(Note: for more details on these updates, check here.)