Validator Types & States
This page is intended to explain what the different states of a Validator are possible in the Chainflip system, and what each of them means.
It is important to note that a Validator does not refer to just any node on the Chainflip State Chain network. In contrast to State Chain Client operators, who may be using them for liquidity management, running a Broker, or simply monitoring the State Chain for data, a Validator, a node must also run the Chainflip Engine (CFE) sidecar module and have configured endpoints for all external chains, as well as set their State Chain account type to Validator.
This page should help operators understand how to set their Validator state to participate in auctions and manage their system accordingly.
| Status Tag | Description | Criteria |
|---|---|---|
| Qualified | A Qualified validator can participate in Auctions. | A validator node is considered Qualified if all of the following conditions are fulfilled:
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| Bidding | A bidding node is indicating its intention to participate in auction. Validators that wish to participate should set their bidding intention to true | Outside of auction periods, Validators can set their bidding status freely. During Auctions:
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| Retiring | A retiring validator is indicating its intention to retire from the next auction. Validators that wish to retire should set their bidding intention to false (non-bidding). | Outside of auction periods, Validators can set their bidding status freely. During Auctions:
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| Backup | A Backup validator earns FLIP rewards but does not participate in block authorship. See Backup Rewards section. May be a keyholder. |
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| Keyholder | A Keyholder holds a fragment of an unexpired threshold signing key from a previous Authority Set. |
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| Authority | Authorities are responsible for block authorship and consensus, witnessing, threshold signing and transaction broadcasting. In return they earn Authority Rewards
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