Validator Node
A node that actively participates in a proof-of-stake blockchain's consensus process, proposing and attesting to blocks, as distinct from a node that only verifies and relays data.
A validator node is a node on a proof-of-stake blockchain that actively participates in the consensus process itself — proposing new blocks when selected, and attesting to or voting on the validity of blocks proposed by others — rather than only passively verifying the chain's state and relaying transactions and blocks to other nodes. Operating a validator node typically requires staking a minimum amount of the network's native token and carries a direct economic stake in behaving honestly, since misbehavior can result in slashing.
A validator node is distinguished from a full node (see Kaavon's "Full Node" glossary definition), which independently verifies and stores the complete blockchain but doesn't participate in proposing or attesting to new blocks; every validator node is effectively also running full-node functionality to do its job, but not every full node is a validator. This distinction matters for understanding a network's decentralization, since the total number of full nodes and the total number of active validator nodes can differ substantially, with each metric capturing a different dimension of the network's resilience.
Examples
- A validator node earns staking rewards for actively proposing and attesting to blocks, while an ordinary full node that only verifies and relays data doesn't participate in consensus or earn these rewards.
- A network's total number of full nodes and its total number of active validator nodes are different metrics, each reflecting a different aspect of the network's overall decentralization.