Slashing Incidence Process

1. Incident Detection and Reporting:

   • Block Not Accepted: When a block proposed by a validator is not accepted, it triggers a report node mechanism.

     • Validator Reporting: Validators report the invalid block (inv) or invalid transactions (inv) associated with the block.

     • Consensus Mechanism: The consensus mechanism processes the report and, if validated, the incident is escalated.

2. Increasing Distrust Level:

   • Consensus Decision: The consensus mechanism evaluates the report. If the block or transaction is rejected, the distrust level of the involved validator is increased.

   • Malicious Behavior Reporting: Validators can report any malicious actions observed from another validator.

   • Uptime Monitoring: Validators continuously monitor each other’s uptime. Lack of uptime or unavailability is also reported.

3. Validator Response and Exclusion:

   • Ping Mechanism: Validators and master nodes periodically ping each other to check for responsiveness.

     • No Reaction: If a validator does not respond or is unavailable, this is reported.

     • Exclusion Decision: Based on the reports, the consensus mechanism may decide to exclude the unresponsive validator from the current round.

4. Reaching Distrust Maximum:

   • Distrust Level Monitoring: The distrust level of each validator is continuously monitored.

   • Slashing Decision: If a validator’s distrust level reaches the maximum threshold, a slashing decision is made through the consensus mechanism.

5. Executing Slashing:

   • Consensus Approval: The consensus mechanism must approve the slashing decision. This involves validating the accumulated reports and ensuring that due process has been followed.

   • Validator Slashing: Once approved, the validator is slashed. This may involve:

     • Token Penalties: The validator’s staked tokens are partially or fully burnt.

     • Exclusion: The validator is excluded from the network. Every member of the chain won’t accept any information from the slashed validator. Validator’s address won’t be accepted anymore in a transaction validation process.