DELEGATORS
The Venom network is maintained by delegators and validators. Network maintainers help to maintain the availability, performance, and security of the Venom blockchain.
Delegators play a critical role in decentralizing the Venom network. Token delegators stake their $VENOM tokens to the network validators of their choice and in doing so, contribute towards maintaining the security of the network.
Each staked token of a delegator represents a vote for a given validator. These modes are then used as indicators for the Elector's algorithm (i.e. the selection process for validators).
The delegation process enables validators with a lower stake to participate as network validators if they are popular within the community.
Delegators are incentivized to stake their tokens by receiving a portion of the validator rewards based on their stake.
A validator's stake is subject to slashing in case of malicious behavior or being offline. The delegators of the penalized validator share this risk as their own stake will be reduced as well. For this reason, it is very important to conduct proper due diligence before delegating tokens.
$VENOM holders not interested in becoming a validator can participate in the validation process via delegated staking pools. These pools allow participants to delegate their tokens to specific validators of their choice. The weight of a delegator in the consensus voting process is based on the number of tokens they have staked to validators.
Delegated staking allows token holders to vote which validator candidates should become validators. Consequently, it is a mechanism to ensure the validator set represents the interests of the community.