Unstaking

Unstaking process

If a validator wishes to unstake, they will initiate a transaction that indicates that they want to unstake a number of nodes, including the BLS public key of each node. The transaction is generated by the validator and sent to the Sovereign Chain.

At the end of the epoch, when nodes are re-shuffled, those who unstaked during the just-completed epoch will be shuffled out first.

- If the node cannot be shuffled out, then the node must “stay and work.” If the node decides to go offline, then their rating decreases and at some point they will be under ratingThreshold making it ineligible to participate in the next selection or auction process. A node below ratingThreshold cannot be un-staked until the rating is above ratingThreshold (see resetRating transaction).

- If there are more unstaking nodes on a shard than the number of nodes in the waiting list the Sovereign Chain computes an order for shuffling out and just the first waiting nodes from the list are removed.

If a validator initiates unstaking, and then in the same epoch, decides not to proceed, he can send a re-stake transaction and his unstaking will be canceled.

The unstaking information is saved in the validator staking smart contract. The re-stake transaction is the same as submitting an initial stake, the only difference is that the validator does not need to send the value again.

Unbonding process

The unbond period is set at 10 days, after which the node will be able to retrieve its previously staked funds.

During the unbonding period:

- It is theoretically possible for a node’s unbonding period to never end if all the nodes of the system have left, and there are not enough nodes to run the shard. However, this cannot practically happen, as OneFinity will provide nodes for at least the shard, at the minimum reserve node price. In this way, we ensure a fail-safe mechanism where OneFinity is the node operator of last resort.

At the end of the unbond period, the validator sends a transaction requesting the unstaked money for each of the nodes that he is choosing to unstake.

The unbond request is processed by the Sovereign Chain nodes only if the unbond period has concluded for each respective node. If the unbond period has not concluded, then all gas is consumed.