Casper Network

Time factors

	Protocol time	Human readable time
Protocol time 1	Block	33 seconds
Protocol time 2	Era (= 220 blocks)	2 hours
First reward delay	2 eras	4 hours
Reward frequency	At the final block of every era	2 hours
Unbonding period	7 eras	14 hours

• Block times are not fixed.

Lifecycle

Must know before staking

Minimum stake amount	✅	500 CSPR
Partial stake changes	✅
Partial reward withdrawal	✅
Compounding	✅
Penalty	⚠️	Offline
Slashing	⚠️	Equivocation

• Delegator cap. A validator can have a maximum of 1,200 delegators.

• Delegation fee. When delegating for the first time, the protocol charges delegators a one-time fee of 3 CSPR.

• Rewards are directly added to the staking balance of stakers.

Advanced topics

Rewards

• Rewards come from newly issued tokens and transaction fees.

  • Fixed inflation rate applied to total token supply. The protocol issues 8% of total token supply as rewards for stakers.

  • Transaction fees. A block proposing validator receives all transaction fees from that block.

• Factors that impact realized rewards.

  • Block finalization. If a block was not finalized in a reasonable timeframe, rewards are reduced for that block.

  • Commissions.

Risks

• Penalty. A validator that is offline for an entire era is considered inactive. The validator will lose any rewards earned for that era and will be queued to exit in 2 eras. For example, if Alice is flagged inactive in era N, she will lose all rewards earned for era N. She will be required to perform regular validator duties in era N+1 before being exited in era N+2.

• Slashing. A validator that signs two conflicting messages at the same block height is considered faulty. The validator will lose any rewards earned for that era and will be immediately exited. For example, if Bob is flagged faulty in era N, he will lose all rewards earned for era N. He will not be part of the validator set from era N+1.

• A validator that is considered inactive or faulty can be reactivated anytime.

Validators

Total validator cap	✅	100
Validator requirements	❌

Resources

• Casper documentation: https://docs.casper.network/

• Casper explorer: https://cspr.live/