Staking

In order to become a Maintainer in Kinetex, one is required to stake a certain amount of tokens. This staking mechanism serves as a form of a security deposit and incentivizes Maintainers to act in the network's best interests. It ensures internal coordination and protects against possible misconduct or abuse.

In any distributed network, there is a risk that malicious actors could attempt to manipulate the system, for instance, by requesting more rewards than they are entitled to. The consensus algorithm and staking mechanism in Kinetex work together to mitigate these risks.

Kinetex employs a robust consensus algorithm to maintain cooperation among all system participants and safeguard against potential malicious actions. This consensus protocol facilitates secure and efficient coordination within the network, ensuring that all transactions and operations are carried out reliably and accurately.

If Maintainers fail to provide valid proof for the transactions they are responsible for or constantly refuse to execute assigned tasks, they are penalized accordingly based on their impact on the system's integrity. This fine is deducted from their staked tokens, providing a strong disincentive against malicious behavior and promoting the overall security and reliability of Kinetex.

It is worth noting that Maintainers are not responsible for validating transactions or verifying light client updates. The staking does not guarantee the correctness of proofs because they cannot be invalid by design. As the network's security is provided by ZK technology, a transaction fails when someone tries to provide an invalid proof. Therefore, the staking mechanism is designed primarily to distribute the work among the nodes fairly and maintain consensus between them, as well as to ensure the timely provision of proofs and, accordingly, keep the network up to date.