8 Things You Should Know Before Participating in Eth2 Staking

Editor's Note: This article comes fromUnitimes（ID：Uni-times）Editor's Note: This article comes from

, by Cayman Nava, published with permission.

With Eth2 expected to launch in a few months, we wanted to share some key details about staking that every validator should know before staking.

1. If you’re running vetted validator software, you probably don’t have to worry about being “slashed”

Obviously, no one wants to be forfeited. The Eth2 protocol includes a mechanism called slashing to punish validators who submit malicious data to the network. If you're running untampered validator software written by the Eth2 implementers team, you probably don't have to worry: unmodified validator software should ensure validators don't perform slashable behavior.

Slashing can result from modifications to these software, or from running multiple validator clients simultaneously using the same key. Remember to never use the same private key on multiple validator clients. Therefore, if someone is forfeited, he will likely know that he has performed a "malicious act". Necessary caveat: you should read the documentation for any validator software you run.

2. Rewards and penalties will be calculated every epoch (about 6 minutes)

If you've participated in the Prysmatic Labs or any other client team's testnet, you've probably seen a satisfying growth graph 📈🤑. At the Eth2 protocol layer, time is divided into 6.4-minute increments, and every 6.4 minutes is called an epoch. During each epoch, the protocol algorithmically assigns tasks to each participating validator.

At the end of each epoch, validators' participation will be scored, and each validator performing a task will be given a certain micro-reward or penalty based on their participation.

3. You don’t have to be perfect

While running a validator node uptime for long periods of time will help maximize your profits, you don’t have to run it like a data center or have perfect uptime in order to make a profit. The Eth2 protocol does not "slash" inactive validators, but simply subtracts any incremental rewards as an incremental penalty.

This means that as long as your verifier node is online for more than 2/3 of the time (that is, after becoming a verifier, more than 2/3 of the time is online), you can still make a profit. but...

4. Offline validators are subject to additional micro-penalties in some cases

Validators perform the task of advancing and finalizing the blockchain. If the chain stops being finalized (i.e. blocks stop being finalized), for example because a large number of validators go offline at the same time, the protocol will react by attempting to clear the offline validators and bring the chain back to finality .

When the Eth2 chain has not been finalized for more than 4 epochs (ie 25.6 minutes), those offline validators will be subject to "inactivity penalties". If your validator node still performs its duties during this period, it will not be penalized.

5. After the validator node is activated, you can choose to quit

If after you start participating in the verification, you feel that the verification is not suitable for you, then you can choose to withdraw voluntarily. This exit process will tell the protocol to stop assigning tasks to your validator node, stopping you from receiving any additional rewards or penalties. Remember that even if you have "exited" and are no longer an active validator, it does not mean that your staked ETH can be withdrawn.

One subtlety of this exit process is that once the validator is activated, it needs to exit at least 256 epochs later. This ensures that each active validator is assigned some small amount of work.

6. Once you are logged out, you cannot rejoin

If you have already voluntarily withdrawn, or been forcefully withdrawn due to slashing, you will not be able to rejoin. This means that if you want to become a validator again, you will need to re-stake 32 ETH and a new validator account.

7. The ETH you pledged (yet) cannot flow at the protocol layer

Regardless of whether you have exited or not, the funds used to participate in staking (including staked ETH and any earned rewards) will be locked in the protocol layer until at least Eth2 Phase 1 rolls out.

You should not expect to get your staked funds within a few years. Early stakers are participating from a long-term perspective. Of course, once the feature finally rolls out, you will be able to withdraw/trade the ETH you previously staked and earned.

8. If you are staking early, you need to plan for future stages

The beacon chain will be launched in Eth2 phase 0, and the beacon chain has been designed as a lightweight chain. We will even be able to run the beacon chain on a Raspberry Pi 4 device.

If you decide to participate in staking during phase 0, you need to be aware that future Eth2 phases will add additional validator tasks, which means that additional computing requirements will be accompanied, and in particular, larger storage and bandwidth requirements are expected .