Stake POLYX

Polymesh uses a nominated proof-of-stake (NPoS) consensus mechanism to balance security, decentralization, and operational continuity. Participants commit their existing POLYX as collateral during the transaction validation process, earning additional POLYX for block rewards as compensation.

Staking on Polymesh involves two primary participant roles: Node Operators and nominators. Node Operators are permissioned entities responsible for producing and validating blocks, while nominators stake POLYX in support of selected Node Operators.

When selected to serve as validators, Node Operators gather transactions into blocks and vote on the validity of blocks produced by other Node Operators. . Selection occurs programmatically per era based on the amount of POLYX staked on each Node Operator.

Node Operators earn block rewards and may be penalized for malicious, dormant, or incorrect activity. Node Operators must be licensed and/or registered entities and are approved by the Polymesh Governing Council.

Nominators are POLYX holders who stake POLYX on chosen Node Operators as a signal of trust. In return, nominators share in block rewards earned by these Node Operators, in proportion to the amount of POLYX staked.

In the future, nominators may also face penalties when their nominated Node Operators fail to perform per protocol rules. As of the current protocol parameters, nominators may support up to 16 Node Operators.

Polymesh employs bonding and unbonding periods following changes to staking preferences. It may take until the next era for changes to be reflected and staking to begin. When unstaked, POLYX enters an unbonding period of approximately 28 days before it can be withdrawn. POLYX cannot be transferred while bonded or unbonding.

For each block created, authoring Node Operators are rewarded in POLYX along with their nominators. Rewards are paid from newly minted POLYX and distributed per era based on performance. Node Operators may be fined for failing to meet performance requirements. As of current protocol parameters, POLYX staked by nominators is not subject to slashing.