BEP131: Introducing Candidate Validators Onto BNB Smart Chain

BNB Chain Developer Community heard the voices of validators and proposed a new BEP131 proposal that brings more decentralization and incentives for validator candidates on BNB Smart Chain.

In this article, we explain the changes introduced by BEP131.

BNB Smart Chain Validator Set

Now

BNB Smart Chain's Proof-of-Stake Authority (PoSA) algorithm currently operates on 41 validators. Out of them, 21 are elected (active) validators. These validators are selected on a few criteria, but the key is their voting power, i.e., the amount of staked BNB. This means that the validators with the highest amount of staked BNB get elected every 24 hours to operate and secure the network, resulting in the same set of elected validators.

The 20 validator candidates (inactive) that didn't reach the limit to get into the top 21 do not receive any rewards and do not actively participate in the network's operation. They have no financial incentive to provide high-quality service and upgrade their hardware. User delegators (stakers) thus have no reason to delegate (stake) their BNB with these validators.

After BEP131

BNB Smart Chain will introduce a different approach to both the election period and the elected validators. After BEP131, the elections will occur every 200 blocks instead of 24 hours. The elected validator set (21) will consist of 19 validators randomly selected from the top 21 validators with the highest voting power and 2 validators randomly selected out of the validator candidates.

This will benefit the network in many ways, but to name a few:

1. Further decentralization and increased censorship-resistance
2. Increased robustness and availability of the network
3. An incentive for validators with lower voting power to keep their nodes active and attract user delegators
4. Increased network resilience; if more than half of the validator set were censored or taken down, the network would remain operable.

Through this upgraded reward mechanism, validators will be more motivated to maintain their nodes actively. Slash rules will ensure that network will punish validators for malicious or harmful behavior.

BNB Smart Chain will no longer have only 21 validators but will provide more candidates to choose from through the new mechanism. When any active validators encounter instability problems, they can be quickly replaced by candidates in just 200 blocks after the previous election, improving the overall robustness of the network.

If you want to get the details about BEP131 or voice your opinion, please visit BNB Chain Github.

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