Creating a new validator helps the network to be more decentralized and resilient. On this page we will show you how to create a validator to prepare it for the staking process.
1. Prepare your keypair
Let's imagine that you have a pair of ed25519 keys that you will use to control your validator. To generate such a pair - use the tutorial here:
2. Create the transaction to call staking system smart contract
Use the Web1337 SDK to create a call to system smart contract
import Web1337 from'web1337';constweb1337=newWeb1337({ chainID:'aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa', workflowVersion:0, nodeURL:'http://localhost:7332'// set the URL to your own node});constkeypair= { pub:"3JAeBnsMedzxjCMNWQYcAXtwGVE9A5DBQyXgWBujtL9R", prv:"MC4CAQAwBQYDK2VwBCIEIDteWfNev7NOlNmwP8Irwg5miWKoErYGV+UU5VrFgYev"};constshardID="shard_0";constfee=2;let payload = { shard:'shard_0', contractID:'system/staking', method:'createStakingPool', gasLimit:0, params:{ percentage:0.3, poolURL:'http://localhost:7335',// set your own domain/ip wssPoolURL:'ws://localhost:9335'// set your own domain/ip }, imports:[]};constnonce=awaitweb1337.getAccount(shardID,keypair.pub).then(account=>account.nonce+1);consttxType="WVM_CALL";let tx =web1337.createEd25519Transaction(shardID,txType,keypair.pub,keypair.prv,nonce,fee,payload);console.log(tx);web1337.sendTransaction(tx).then(()=>{console.log('Sent status => ok')console.log(`TX ID is => `,web1337.blake3(tx.sig))}).catch(err=>console.error('Error during pool creation: ',err))
Output example:
{
v: 0,
creator: '3JAeBnsMedzxjCMNWQYcAXtwGVE9A5DBQyXgWBujtL9R',
type: 'WVM_CALL',
nonce: 1,
fee: 2,
payload: {
shard: 'shard_0',
contractID: 'system/staking',
method: 'createStakingPool',
gasLimit: 0,
params: {
percentage: 0.3,
poolURL: 'http://localhost:7335',
wssPoolURL: 'ws://localhost:9335'
},
imports: []
},
sigType: 'D',
sig: 'T9uU7l58HEPgzcQMUObvZYxLKb28WRN2F21ec5Bt++wAJTZynUh1ofI0Pi98SMjLxOqQqmyLuFimJNaV7zCNDg=='
}
Sent status => ok
TX ID is => 731c5f2ca6e1690b447da956c1a306692232e2101e8f89e8813be5bee3c5c37e
Check the transaction status
Go to explorer, choose the filter and paste the transaction ID to searchbar
Yes, as expected the pool creation process was successful
Please note that this transaction was in a block that was in epoch 89 (see the first part of the block identifier before the colon sign)
3. Wait untill the next epoches
So as soon as 3 epochs have passed, you can go and check whether your pool has appeared in the state
Great, as you can see the pool was indeed added to the state
Staking points called UNO(unobtanium)(so see Multistaking)
Also, when creating a pool, the address of the pool owner is automatically added to the list of stakers, although the initial stake values are zero
Now everything is ready to move on to the most interesting part - staking
4. How much do you need to launch a validator
Just visit the main page of explorer and check the section Network Parameters > Validator Stake Size
This amount of coins is required to make your validator eligible to be elected to a quorum and/or to generate blocks
Also, on the validator page you can see how many coins are already staked on it
As you can see here validator has 55 000 staked coins while required minimum is 50 000. So this validator is eligible to generate blocks and take part in approvement.
5. Start staking
Go to the next sections to learn more about staking and multistaking. How to do it via user interface or via SDK - details are in the next sections ☺️