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Automated Slashing

Overview of Slashing​

Slashing is a crucial mechanism in decentralized networks, designed to ensure that nodes behave honestly and contribute effectively. In Centive Network, automated slashing plays a vital role in maintaining network integrity by punishing nodes that violate protocol rules, fail to meet contribution standards, or act maliciously. Slashing ensures that the network remains secure, reliable, and trustworthy.

Purpose of Slashing​

  1. Preventing Dishonest Behavior: Nodes that misreport their performance, fail to meet their commitments, or attempt to cheat the system face penalties.
  2. Maintaining Network Integrity: Automated slashing deters nodes from acting maliciously, ensuring that all participants follow the rules and contribute to the network's stability.
  3. Incentivizing High-Quality Contributions: By penalizing faulty nodes, Centive Network incentivizes only the highest-quality contributions from participating nodes, ensuring that the DePIN service remains reliable and efficient.

Slashing Thresholds and Rules​

Centive Network sets slashing thresholds to determine when a node should be penalized. These thresholds are configurable, allowing DePIN services to set the parameters for slashing based on their specific requirements. Once a node crosses a threshold for bad behavior or poor contribution, the automated slashing mechanism is triggered.

Key Slashing Rules​

  1. Misreporting or Dishonesty: Nodes that submit incorrect data, false performance reports, or fail to provide promised resources face immediate penalties.
  2. Performance Failure: Nodes that drop below a minimum threshold for uptime, storage reliability, or compute availability are penalized to maintain service quality.
  3. Consensus Violation: Validators and nodes that consistently vote incorrectly or fail to follow consensus protocols will face slashing penalties, ensuring that consensus is reached fairly.

Example Slashing Triggers​

  • Uptime Drop: If a node in a CDN service falls below 90% uptime for a sustained period, it may be subject to slashing.
  • Incorrect Voting: Validators that vote incorrectly more than a specified number of times (e.g., three strikes) may be slashed.

Fault Reporting and Penalties​

Faults in a decentralized network, whether they are performance issues, security violations, or misreporting, are detected and reported by validators. When a fault is reported, the slashing mechanism is initiated to penalize the faulty node, discouraging bad behavior.

Fault Detection Process​

  1. Validator Reports: When a validator detects a fault in a node’s performance or contribution, it submits a report to the network.
  2. Consensus Voting: Other validators review the report, and through the commit-reveal voting process, decide whether the fault is legitimate.
  3. Slashing Execution: If consensus is reached that the node is at fault, the slashing penalty is applied.

Types of Penalties​

  • Stake Slashing: A portion of the node’s staked tokens is deducted as a penalty.
  • Ejection from the Network: In severe cases, nodes may be temporarily or permanently ejected from the network, preventing further contributions.
  • Reduction of Rewards: Nodes that perform poorly may see their rewards reduced in proportion to their misbehavior or performance issues.

Slashing Equation​

To calculate the slashing amount, Centive Network uses the following formula:

Slashing Amount=min⁡(Secured Amount,Penalty Amount)\text{Slashing Amount} = \min \left(\text{Secured Amount}, \text{Penalty Amount}\right)

Where:

  • Secured Amount is the amount of tokens the node has staked as collateral for its contribution.
  • Penalty Amount is the predefined penalty applied to nodes that violate the rules.

Example of Slashing in Action​

  1. Node Misreporting: If a node submits falsified contribution data, a validator detects the discrepancy and submits a report.
  2. Voting and Consensus: Other validators vote on whether the report is valid. If consensus is reached, the node’s stake is slashed.
  3. Penalty: The node’s staked amount is reduced by the Penalty Amount (e.g., 10% of the staked value). If the node does not have enough tokens to cover the penalty, it is removed from the network.

Slashing plays a vital role in ensuring trust and reliability within the Centive Network. By automating the process and allowing for dynamic penalty configurations, Centive provides an efficient and secure way to maintain network integrity while incentivizing honest, high-quality contributions.