My Validator Got Jailed - Should I Panic?
CdC (Crypto.com) began an upgrade on Jun 1, 2021, at 23:59 UTC or 7:59pm EST, at block 922362 (some information is based partly on messages in the mainnet channel on Discord). The chain would pause to allow validator pools to upgrade. When 66% of validators were back online, the chain would resume. 60% of the validators upgraded within about 20 minutes, but 29 validators experienced problems and could not proceed. This resulted in numerous additional validators being jailed, with a record high of 75 at the same time.
Why have so many validators been jailed?
When the upgrade was released, 29 validators missed blocks and could not sync the chain on time. Two primary reasons are behind this: 1) Some experienced technical issues, or 2) some did not upgrade on time. According to discussions on Discord, some affected nodes were operating in a so-called state sync, a rapid way of syncing the chain (because the entire chain does not need to be downloaded). This resulted in some validators being unable to catch up quickly, missed block signatures, and, ultimately, jail. When a node misses signing 50% of the last 5,000 blocks = 2500, CdC typically jails the validator for 24 hours. However, a sizable portion of jailed validators did not complete their upgrades on time.
What happens to my CRO when the validator is jailed?
After the jailing period has passed, the validator can broadcast an “unjail transaction” to resume normal operations – please see https://crypto.org/docs/chain-details/module_slashing.html for more information. During the jailing period, delegators earn no staking rewards, but delegated CROs are safe. Unless the validator node signs, e.g., twice on the block (so-called double signing), the validator will be punished by a “slashing” of 5% of its self-delegated and delegator CROs, which are essentially lost.
Should I redelegate my CROs when my validator is jailed?
If your validator is jailed, CdC offers an option to move staked CROs (redelegate) to another validator once every 28 days. Keeping your CROs with a jailed validator comes with the risk of losing substantial staking rewards during the jail time. We note that jailed validators must broadcast an unjail transaction in order to become active again after 24h. However, some validators missed that deadline, and instead waited several days – delegators should expect from their validators to at least resume staking as soon as possible after being jailed. This may be because the team running the validator was not aware of the jail time. Furthermore, high amounts of CRO redelegations from jailed validators can lead to a significant reduction in a validator’s total staking amount. If the declined staking amount is too low to be included in the Top 100 List (the 100 active validators with the highest delegation amounts), the jailed validator will not earn any further staking rewards for its delegators until re-joining the Top 100 List. Moreover, if the delegations remain permanently too low for inclusion in the Top 100 List, the validator risks never earning staking rewards again for its delegators.
Is a jailed validator operating unprofessionally?
Glitches are always a risk, even for the most professionally operated validators. However, given the high number (29) of validators that missed too many blocks and were jailed, there are valid concerns about whether they are operating at the upmost level of professionalism. We conduct some forensics on the upgrade and explore how validators responded to it. On May 29, 2021, all validators on the Top 100 List were invited to vote on the upgrade. According to discussion on Discord, a disappointing number, about 60, voted. This signals a clear lack of team interest in running the validator about the CdC project, or that at least many were not aware of it. Active participation by validators is essential to deriving the most favorable outcomes for the CdC community to secure the future of the CdC project. The 29 validators that missed too many blocks either experienced issues resulting from the upgrade, or simply did not upgrade on time. We would assume that validators experiencing problems could reach out to their peers on Discord to consult, but only a handful did. This suggests potential unawareness of the upgrade, in line with the observed low participation in the voting, or they are cutting corners by not storing the entire chain, and instead have only the minimum number required to operate the validator. Cutting corners is especially worrisome, because these validators failed to help secure the chain, which is part of their primary responsibilities. It seems the pool of CdC validators is divided into a dual-class society: those who take their responsibility seriously and professionally, and those who do not appear to have technical expertise to operate smoothly.