Slashing & Protection Policy

Overview

Slashing is a penalty mechanism on Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchains designed to maintain network security and integrity. By penalizing violating validators, slashing ensures they have a strong financial incentive to act in the network’s best interests.

However, it’s important to understand that slashing can result from both intentional and unintentional violations. The system operates automatically and impartially, not considering the reasons behind the violation; the network’s benefit is the core of this mechanism. Therefore, not all validators who are slashed are “dishonest.”

OriginStake never intends to act dishonestly causing slashing, which would also impact our delegators. We commit to establishing an insurance fund in the near future by allocating a portion of our revenues.

OriginStake Commitments

OriginStake is committed to protecting the interests of its delegators by ensuring high uptime and minimizing slashing risks through the following measures:

  • Professional technical team: We have an experienced and highly skilled DevOps team, always ready to address technical issues promptly and effectively.
  • Advanced monitoring system: We utilize modern tools and monitoring systems to track validator activity 24/7, ensuring timely detection and resolution of any issues.
  • Regular checks and optimizations: OriginStake performs regular checks and optimizations to ensure the system operates stably and efficiently.
  • Risk mitigation measures: We apply risk mitigation measures, including software updates, security configurations, and standard operating procedures to minimize the risk of system failures and network rule violations.

Downtime Slashing Protection

We proudly commit to protecting our delegators from downtime slashing incidents. This protection will be effective in the event of downtime slashing, when the validator fails to provide the required number of block signatures dictated by the on-chain parameters of the blockchain, leading to a potential slashing event. The reimbursement amount will be determined by multiplying the delegator’s stake by the slashing rate imposed by the blockchain and, where possible, covered by OriginStake’s future insurance fund.

OriginStake Insurance Fund

OriginStake is committed to establishing an insurance fund soon by allocating a portion of its revenues. This fund will be used to protect delegators in the event of a slashing incident. The insurance fund will be pre-funded based on the current slashing risk that OriginStake faces and will be stored in a stable currency wallet.

OriginStake will continuously evaluate (at least once a month) if the amount in the insurance wallet is sufficient to cover the current slashing risk and will adjust the coverage accordingly.

Up to 80% of the amount in the insurance wallet will be used to reimburse lost funds in the event of a slashing incident for OriginStake’s delegators. This reimbursement may be made in stable currency or the affected validator’s currency. OriginStake will have sole discretion in making the final decision.

Eligible Validators

This program applies to OriginStake validators with fees equal to or greater than 1% and have operated with this fee for at least 30 days before a slashing incident occurs to be covered. This program does not apply to validators with separate slashing insurance. This program does not apply to validators with currencies that are unlisted or have no market value.

Eligible Delegators

This program will cover delegators with losses valued over $10. To calculate losses due to a slashing incident, OriginStake will take the USD value of the validator’s currency on the day of the slashing, as indicated on Coingecko.

Affected Balance

The affected balance is the balance deducted from the delegator’s account due to a slashing incident, provided it exceeds $10.

Enforcement Procedure

When a slashing incident is detected in an OriginStake validator and meets the criteria to be accepted under OriginStake’s insurance fund, we will prepare reimbursement details for each affected account, publishing this information and the means of reimbursement within a maximum period of 30 calendar days. This communication will be sent through OriginStake’s official media: Twitter and Telegram or via personal messages.

In the event that the reimbursement is made in the same affected currency, any user who wishes to validate or claim any discrepancy found in the list presented by OriginStake will have a period of 5 days from the publication of the announcement. In the event that the reimbursement is made in a stable currency, users will have a period of 15 days to follow the procedure that OriginStake will announce, where the account in which they wish to receive the reimbursement will be provided and where they can validate or claim any discrepancy with respect to the list presented by OriginStake.

At the end of the period for claims and rectifications, no claims or modifications will be accepted and the reimbursement will be made at the end of the slashing incident.

Exemptions

No slashing protection or insurance fund protection coverage:

  • Widespread slashing incidents where more than 25% of the network has been affected, calculated by total stake or number of validators; in either case, not covered by OriginStake’s insurance guarantee.
  • Slashing incidents not caused by OriginStake errors, but by code development from the official validator software development teams.
  • Slashing incidents caused by lack of network consensus resulting from sybil-type network attacks.

Further Exemptions

  • Blockchains: None
  • Delegator Types:
    • Foundation delegation wallets
    • Blockchain delegation program wallets

This policy does not automatically cover other types of slashing, including but not limited to:

  • Double sign (tombstone)
  • Oracle vote misses
  • Bridge orchestrator vote misses