How to become a PCHAIN Validator node?
PCHAIN is a multichain system composed of one main chain and multiple derived child chains. All these chains will have Validators sharing the same rules and incentive mechanisms.
We have designed a Dynamic Bid Mechanism which will be delivered with our mainnet. This system will rotate Validators automatically, based on their staking ranking at each bidding round, keeping the PCHAIN mainnet as decentralised as possible.
In the current Panda plan the 100th ranked holder owns 630k+ PI. In order to enable as many PCHAIN holders as possible to compete for a Validator role and maximise the decentralisation of the network we have set-up the two following paths to become eligible for a Validator node:
1) Validator bidders: PCHAIN holders with 100K+ PI tokens and the required configuration set-up are directly eligible to the final round of bidding. Their dynamic staking ranking at each voting round will then determine if / when selected for a Validator role.
2) Validator candidates: PCHAIN holders with a minimum of 10k PI and the required configuration can compete against Validator bidders with the support of delegators and the PCHAIN delegation mechanism.
The system requirement for Validator
PCHAIN Wallet Download：pchain.org
I. How to become a Validator candidate?
1) Prepare a wallet address holding at least 10,000 PI for the Validator candidate role and associated lock-up.
2) Send a transaction with your expected commission (% profit sharing expected from being a Validator) and your PI deposit (you can use the PCHAIN wallet or RPC).
3) Fill out the “Apply Candidate Form” and submit the following information to help Delegators choose their Validator candidates:
• Email address
• Wallet address
• Organisation / Personal description
• Official Website link (optional)
Important: Detailed information increases your chances of convincing Delegators to support your candidacy. The PCHAIN Team will validate submissions in 2 business days. During that time candidates can resubmit with the same email address and only the latest submission will be reviewed. Once your submission has been accepted and listed on the Candidate List, you cannot repeat your submission with the same email address.
II. How to revoke your Validator candidacy?
If you wish to terminate your candidacy, you need to send another transaction to cancel your prior submission. The canceling transaction needs to be processed before the on-going Epoch reaches 75% height（approx. 22 days).
1) Canceling your submission after being elected Validator: once the current Epoch reaches 100% height, your deposited PCHAIN tokens will be unlocked and all the delegated tokens you received will be automatically returned to each delegator. If you want to apply for Validator Candidate again, you have to wait until the next Epoch starts and re-apply before it reaches 75% height (approx. 22 days).
2) Canceling your submission after you failed being elected Validator: the cancelation will be effective immediately since there are no Validator duties to be completed, your deposited PCHAIN tokens will be unlocked, and all the delegated tokens you received automatically returned to each delegator. At the same time, you can apply for another candidate before this Epoch reaches 75% height.
III. How to delegate?
Before each Epoch reaches 75% height, you have to send a transaction to delegate tokens to one (or several) Validator candidates. A minimum of 1k PI tokens need to be delegated to each candidate.
You can use PCHAIN wallet or call for RPC to delegate tokens.
IV. How to cancel your “delegation”?
Once you have delegated tokens to one (or several) Validator candidate, your delegation is valid indefinitely unless you apply to cancel or one of your candidates applies to cancel their candidacy. To cancel a delegation for the next Epoch you need to send a transaction before the on-going Epoch reaches 75% height.
1) If you cancel your delegation after your candidate has been elected Validator, it will be effective immediately and your tokens automatically returned to your address when the Epoch reaches 100% height.
2) If you cancel your delegation when your candidate(s) has failed to become Validator, then the cancelation will take effect immediately and your tokens automatically returned to your address.
V. How to compete to be Validator?
The final stage to become a Validator node at a given Epoch.
In order to compete through PCHAIN Dynamic Bid Mechanism, we call this process “bidding”, including the vote and reveal vote, more details “here”.
For a Validator candidate: total staked tokens ≥ amount delegated token ; this is to ensure that no delegation is wasted. Also, you need to make sure that total staked tokens is equal or greater than 100K PI finally. Otherwise, you will be not eligible to participate in bidding.
— > The elected Validators will be announced between 95%-100% height of the on-going Epoch (days 28.5 to 30).
In order to “vote” and “reveal vote” please prepare the following: address, bls public key & bls private key, the amount of tokens and bls signature.
You can vote for Validator via PCHAIN wallet or call for RPC.
1) Vote:
you need to vote for Validator during 75%-85% height of each Epoch (days 22.5 to 25.5) with the following hash
(SHA3 hash of the 4 parameters: address, public key , the amount of tokens and salt).
2) Reveal vote:
you need to reveal your vote for Validator during 85%-95% height of each epoch (days 25.5 to 28.5) with your address, public key and the amount of tokens, bls signature and salt.
➔ Important: your staked tokens in reveal vote should always be equal to your staked tokens in vote, otherwise you will lose your chance to be a Validator. This is to ensure the fairness for early vote participants.
3) Rotation in order:
based on the result of revealing vote, all the Validators and new competitors will be ordered based on the amount of deposited tokens.
The number of Validators in next Epoch= the number of current Validators + 1/2* the number of new competitors (if it has decimal, it will be round down).
VI. POS mining and incentive mechanisms
1) POS mining:
315 million PCHAIN tokens are reserved for PoS mining, distributed over 24 years:
80% will be allocated to PCHAIN main chain. The remaining 20% will be distributed on PCHAIN official child chains. The first 6 months will be dedicated to the official child chain 1 while the further distribution on the official child chains will be ultimately determined and announced by the PCHAIN Foundation.
Important: please note that a portion of the 315m will also be distributed to the Panda plans participants.
2) Validators incentive mechanisms:
• The PoS mining reward of each block belongs to its proposal (the Validator who generates the block), your chance to be a proposal equals the weight of your staked tokens. Important: you need to be online for a maximum of blocks otherwise your chances will decline.
• The PoS mining reward of each block is locked until the Epoch reaches 100% height. (An Epoch is ~30 days on mainnet, 48 hours on testnet, based on block generations between two election rounds)
• After each Epoch reaches 100% height, the PCHAIN reward system calculates the actual PoS mining reward of the Validators. Distribution is made in 12 Epochs.
- When you are a Validator candidate and become Validator successfully, your PoS mining reward is automatically shared with all your delegators based on the percentage of delegation.
For reference:
PIscan: https://piscan.pchain.org/index.html
Monitor: https://monitor.pchain.org/?chain=0
You can follow PCHAIN below:
Telegram Public test group for testing discussion
Telegram 1, Telegram 2, Telegram(Chinese Community)
Telegram(Russian Community), Telegram(Spanish Community)
Telegram(Germany Community), Telegram (French Community)
Telegram (Vietnam Community), Telegram Announcement Channel
Twitter, Steemit, Reddit， Founder/CEO’s Twitter
