Want to more actively participate in Betanet or earn some test tokens as you wait for new quests & features to roll out? This guide will tell you everything you need to know to start delegating for the LAMINA1 Betanet.
Welcome to Week 05 of the LAMINA1 Betanet. If you’ve been following along on our testing journey so far, you’ve likely signed up for and secured your LAMINA1 Hub account, received your first faucet drip from the L1 Betanet faucet, sent some test tokens to fellow L1 community members, and reserved your username using the L1 Identity Service.
Looking ahead at our roadmap, some exciting developments are on the horizon, including an upcoming community airdrop, new Unity/Unreal integrations for developers, the roll-out of Premium Usernames, and the launch of Items and Spaces on the LAMINA1 Hub.
In the meantime, you can do more than just hold your L1 test tokens in your wallet and wait for new features to roll out. You can also help support the LAMINA1 Betanet by delegating tokens for our one of validator nodes, many of which got up and running at the beginning of last week.
With delegation, your assets are essentially put to work to help secure the LAMINA1 Betanet and maintain an accurate ledger of its transactions. In exchange, you can earn L1 Betanet test tokens, which will open up future opportunities for testing upcoming features and experiences as we continue Beta testing.
To find out everything you need to know about delegating for the LAMINA1 Betanet, read the education post, directions, and quest explainers below.
Delegation 101
Delegation is a critical process that involves contributing tokens to a public validator node to aid in Proof-of-Stake (PoS) Validation. In PoS, validators play a pivotal role in supporting a blockchain by operating nodes on the network, validating transactions, and creating new blocks of transactions.
LAMINA1 is Proof-of-Stake for a number of reasons. For one thing, it reduces the amount of computational work needed to verify blocks and transactions to keep the network secure, making it significantly faster, less congested, and less environmentally damaging than Proof-of-Work chains like Bitcoin, Ethereum Classic, or Litecoin. It also makes getting started easier and significantly less expensive for node runners who want to support the network, as they do not need to invest in nearly as much processing equipment or incur hefty energy charges to power the machines attempting to solve a blockchain’s computations.
Instead, to become an active validator in a Proof-of-Stake network, a specific amount of value, known as a stake, must be locked up with the node. This stake acts as collateral to ensure the validator’s commitment to supporting the network’s security and integrity. In exchange for “locking” these tokens to help power the consensus mechanism that helps validate entries into a distributed database, and keeping that database secure, each validator receives transaction fees for rewards.
In the case of the LAMINA1 Betanet, Partner Validator nodes run by L1 community members are currently staking a minimum of 31,337 L1 Betanet tokens for the network, while bootstrap nodes run by the L1 core team are staking 5 million tokens each. When you delegate your tokens to a node, you are effectively adding your tokens to the pool of staked assets on that validator. At the end of the staking period, the validator and all delegators share the rewards earned by that validator node.
Increasing the amount of tokens staked to a node enhances its chances of being selected to perform work and earn rewards. Therefore, by delegating for a validator node on LAMINA1, you are directly supporting the earning potential of other members of the L1 community, while also helping yourself out, and the security of the entire blockchain in the process.
When choosing which validators to support on the network, you’ll next want to know/consider the following terms related to delegating, which you will be able to parse through easily using the L1 Staking Wallet when selecting a validator to delegate for on the LAMINA1 Betanet:
The Number of Delegators already helping out a validator node and the total Validator Stake amount can also help you identify opportunities to help decentralize the network. In general, delegating to a small or mid-sized validator with a decent number of coins, strong uptime performance, a higher fee, and an end time that fits your goals is what you should choose.
To assist in your decision-making process for selecting where and how to delegate, we’ve introduced a new #betanet-delegation channel on the LAMINA1 Discord where validators can campaign for delegators, share their node IDs and uptimes, and community members can ask questions and seek advice on how to delegate others.
We also have a new Delegation quick-start guide for Delegators in the L1 Users & Developers Guide, or in the blog section below.
Delegating is an excellent opportunity for those who applied to validate for the Betanet but weren’t selected in the initial cohort, L1 Betanet token holders lacking the time or resources to operate a node, and/or builders looking to accumulate more L1 Betanet tokens for upcoming testing initiatives.
It’s also an ideal way for newcomers to the L1 community to catch up with other L1 Betanet testers, especially after the airdrop rewards allocation coming up over the next few weeks.
Note that all partner validators for LAMINA1 Betanet are badged so they’re easy to confirm by fellow community members. These validators have been thoroughly vetted by the LAMINA1 core team for their experience, trustworthiness, long-term engagement with the network and performance.
L1 Betanet validator applications are still open, however we are not adding any additional members at this time. Stay tuned for updates on #node-discussion channel on the LAMINA1 Discord for upcoming opportunities.
How to Delegate for the LAMINA1 Betanet
Interested in delegating for the LAMINA1 Betanet? Follow the tutorial below to get started.
- To delegate your stake to a current validator, you’ll need to first log in or create an account on the LAMINA1 Staking Wallet. If you don’t have an account yet for the L1 Staking Wallet connected to Betanet, follow the directions provided here.
2. Next, make sure you have at least 1 L1 Betanet token on the P-Chain of your L1 Staking Wallet. To help facilitate delegator testing, we will be opening up a faucet drip of 2 more test tokens today on the #betanet-faucet channel on the LAMINA1 Discord, where all community members will be able to claim their second allocation of L1 Betanet test tokens.
3. You can transfer tokens between your LAMINA1 Hub and L1 Staking wallet by using the ‘Send’ Tab on the LAMINA1 Hub. Then, you’ll have to transfer tokens between chains on the L1 Staking Wallet using the ‘Cross Chain’ Tab on your Staking Wallet and pay a small gas/transaction fee.
4. From there, go to the ‘Earn’ Tab in the Staking Wallet and select ‘Add Delegator’ from the four options presented in the menu. You will then see a list of nodes currently validating on the LAMINA1 Betanet, along with information about the amount of their stake, their staking duration, and the number of delegators supporting each node.
5. When you’ve decided which node to delegate on (see advice above), hit the ‘SELECT’ button next to it, then enter the staking end date and amount of tokens you’d like to lock for staking. Confirm your choice, then click ‘Submit’ to start delegating.
6. If your delegation request is successful, you will get a confirmation message in the L1 Staking Wallet stating ‘Status: Committed.’ Congratulations! You are now delegating for the LAMINA1 Betanet.
Note: The minimum amount that a delegator must delegate is 1 L1 Betanet token. If you do not have 1 L1 Betanet token in your P-chain wallet, you will not be able to access the Delegator services shown above.
Once you issue the transaction to add your stake to a delegator, there is no way to change the parameters. You can’t remove your stake early or change the stake amount, node ID, or reward address. If you’re not sure what to do, ask for help on our Discord #betanet-delegation channel.
If the validator that you delegate tokens to is sufficiently correct and responsive, you will receive a reward when you are done delegating. Delegators are rewarded according to the same function as validators. However, the validator that you delegate keeps a portion of your reward specified by the validator’s delegation fee rate.
When you issue the transaction to delegate tokens, the staked tokens and transaction fees are deducted from the addresses you control. When you are done delegating, the staked tokens are returned to your address. If you earned a reward, it is sent to the address you specified when you delegated tokens.
Please also note L1 Staking Wallet has a few known bugs where users’ staking/rewards balances are sometimes not displaying properly in the L1 Staking Wallet. We will resolve the issue once staking capabilities are fully integrated into the LAMINA1 Hub.
In the meantime, if your delegation balance is not showing up properly in the L1 Staking Wallet (see what you should be seeing in an ideal use-case above), you can “force” the L1 Staking Wallet to show it by doing a couple of X to P export transactions.
For assistance or troubleshooting while using the L1 Staking Wallet or delegating your tokens, don’t hesitate to ask for help in our new #betanet-delegation channel.
Delegation Week Quests
Delegating on the LAMINA1 Betanet is entirely optional for L1 Betanet testers, so you won’t earn XP for completing one. However, as mentioned earlier, we are providing all community members with an additional 2 L1 Betanet tokens this week to help facilitate community delegation if you’re interested in participating.
You can also earn XP by sharing and promoting this educational post and our public call for community delegators on Twitter. Please note that the community airdrop for L1 Betanet test tokens is still undergoing delays, but we will deliver an update to the community on Friday, September 22 in lieu of an AMA to accommodate some heads-down time for our devs and product leads.
Note: We’d also like to remind people once again that these upcoming faucet drips and delegation/airdrop rewards are for L1 Betanet test tokens ONLY. They are to be used exclusively inside the LAMINA1 Betanet and should only be transferred among and between Lamina1 Betanet participants. None of these tokens will be carried over to Mainnet.
Additionally, over the next week, we will begin banning community discussion on the server around establishing an external market for L1 Betanet tokens that attributes any real-world value to them, and will begin actively flagging, warning, and eventually removing community members who do so. This is to help keep the community safe from scammers and to prevent any pre-emptive financialization of the network while we are still very much in testing.
Conclusion
By delegating to a validator node on the LAMINA1 Betanet, even holders with very limited amounts of test tokens or assets can help secure the network and make your assets work for you as we continue on in testing and development.
You can use this information to earn more test tokens for the LAMINA1 Betanet, keep it in mind for earning L1 tokens once we move to Mainnet over the next few months, or to earn crypto in the Web3 world at large.
To dive deeper into delegation, proof-of-stake, and the technical intricacies of validating, check out the additional resources below:
Additional Resources
- LAMINA1 Users & Developers Guide: Nodes, Validating & Staking
- Coinbase: Delegating Digital Assets
- Ledger Academy: What is Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS)?
- Binance Academy: Delegated Proof of Stake Explained
- CoinGuides: Validators, Delegators, and Staking
SECRET CODE: B3T4DELEGATION
