Polygon

Time factors

Protocol timeHuman readable time

Protocol time 1

Block

2 seconds

Protocol time 2

Checkpoint

40 minutes

First reward delay

1 checkpoint

40 minutes

Reward frequency

Every checkpoint

40 minutes

Unbonding period

80 checkpoints

2 days

  • A checkpoint is a snapshot of Polygon blocks committed to Ethereum. The frequency of a checkpoint is not hard enforced and therefore the time between each check point can be anywhere from 20 minutes to 3 hours.

  • Rewards are not earned during the unbonding period.

Lifecycle

Must know before staking

Minimum stake amount

❌

Partial stake changes

✅

Partial reward withdrawals

❌

Compounding

❌

Penalties

⚠️

Offline

Slashing

❌

  • The protocol enforces a soft penalty mechanism. If a validator is offline (fails to sign) for 1,400 consecutive checkpoints, the protocol will force exit the validator. Staked tokens are not deducted as part of this process.

Advanced topics

General

  • MATIC staking happens on Ethereum. Polygon’s Proof of Stake sidechain has three components working in tandem.

    • Bor is the layer where execution happens.

    • Heimdall is the layer where a set of validators form consensus on Bor blocks to commit to Ethereum.

    • Ethereum is where the smart contracts that dictate Heimdall validators exist. MATIC staking happens on these smart contracts.

  • Checkpoints are not fixed. Polygon does not have a fixed duration for checkpoints. This creates volatility on how long it could take for tokens to become staked or to be unstaked.

Rewards

  • Rewards come from newly issued tokens and transaction fees.

    • Fixed emission per checkpoint. While the total maximum rewards per checkpoint is fixed, the actual distributed rewards will slightly vary depending on the length of each checkpoint.

    • Transaction fees. The protocol’s Bor layer implements a similar gas fee model as Ethereum’s EIP-1559. The base fees paid by Bor transactions are burned and priority fees are distributed to validators. Transaction fees are not distributed to delegators.

  • Factors that impact realized rewards.

    • Validator performance. Validators who do not sign a checkpoint will not receive any rewards for that checkpoint.

    • Proposing validator bonus. Validators who collect validator votes and commit the checkpoint receive a 10% of rewards for that checkpoint.

Risk

  • The protocol does not have any penalties or slashing.

Validators

Total validator cap

✅

100

Validator requirements

✅

10,000 MATIC

Resources

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