About Self Chain
Modular Intent-Centric Access Layer 1 Blockchain and Keyless Wallet Infrastructure Service That Uses MPC-TSS/AA for Multi-Chain WEB3 Access.
What is Self Chain?
Self Chain is the first Modular Intent-Centric Access Layer1 blockchain and keyless wallet infrastructure service using MPC-TSS/AA for multi-chain Web3 access. The innovative system simplifies the user experience with its intent-focused approach, using LLM to interpret user intent and discover the most efficient paths.
Self Chain ensures that onboarding and recovery are effortless with keyless wallets that grant users complete self-custody over their assets. In addition, it provides automated rewards to dApps when they efficiently resolve user intent, further enhancing the user experience. Moreover, Self Chain incorporates Account Abstraction with MPC-TSS to provide secure signing and reduce transaction fees. It's a platform that redefines blockchain interaction, making it more secure and user-friendly for everyone.
Self Chain uses proof-of-stake consensus and ground-breaking technologies of Cosmos SDK. Cosmos SDK's developer-friendly environment empowers the Self Chain team to create innovative solutions tailored to the needs of non-technical investors. The framework offers a comprehensive set of tools, libraries, and documentation, simplifying the development process and accelerating feature implementation.
Self Chain's Validators
Validators are the miners of the Self Chain. They are responsible for securing the Self Chain and ensuring its privacy. Validators run programs called full nodes which allow them to verify each transaction made on the Self Chain network. Validators propose blocks, vote on their validity, and add each new block to the chain in exchange for staking rewards from transaction fees.
User can stake their $SLF to validators in exchange for staking rewards. Validators also play an important role in the governance of Self Chain protocol.
Consensus
The Self Chain blockchain is a proof-of-stake blockchain, powered by the Cosmos SDK and secured by a system of verification called the Tedermint consensus.
The following process explains how Tendermint consensus works:
A validator called a proposer is chosen to submit a new block of transactions.
Validators vote in two rounds on whether they accept or reject the proposed block. If a block is rejected, a new proposer is selected and the process starts again.
If accepted, the block is signed and added to the chain.
The transaction fees from the block are distributed as staking rewards to validators and delegators. Proposers get rewarded extra for their participation.
The process repeats, adding new blocks of transactions to the chain. Each validator has a copy of all transactions made on the network, which they compare against the proposed block of transactions before voting. Because multiple independent validators take place in consensus voting, it is infeasible for any false block to be accepted. In this way, validators protect the integrity of the Self Chain blockchain and ensure the validity of each transaction.
Staking
Staking is the process of bonding $SLF to a validator in exchange for staking rewards.
The Self Chain protocol only allows the top 100 validators to participate in consensus. A validator's rank is determined by their stake or the total amount of $SLF bonded to them. Although validators can bond $SLF to themselves, they mainly amass larger stakes from delegators. Validators with larger stakes get chosen more often to propose new blocks and earn proportionally more rewards.
Delegators
Delegators are users who want to receive rewards from consensus without running a full node. Any user that stakes $SLF is a delegator. Delegator stakes their $SLF to a validator, adding to the validator's weight, or total stake.
In return, delegators receive a portion of transaction fees as staking rewards.
Phrases of $SLF tokens
To start receiving rewards, delegators bond their $SLF to a validator. The bonding process adds a delegator's $SLF to a validator's stake, which helps validators to participate in consensus.
Unbonded: $SLF that can be freely traded and is not staked to a validator.
Bonded: $SLF that is staked to a validator. Bonded $SLF accrues staking rewards. $SLF bonded to validators in Self Chain can't be traded freely.
Unbonding: $SLF that is in the process of becoming unbonded from a validator and does not accrue rewards. This process takes 21 days to complete.
Bonding, staking, and delegating
Generally, the terms bonding, staking, and delegating can be used interchangeably, as they happen in the same step. A delegator delegates $SLF to a validator, the $SLF tokens get bonded to the validator, and bonded $SLF gets added to the validator's stake.
Delegators can bond $SLF to any validator in the active set using the delegate function on the staking application. Delegators start earning staking rewards the moment they bond or stake to a validator.
Unbonding
Delegators can unbond or unstake their $SLF using undelegation function in the staking application. The unbonding process takes 21 days to complete. During this period, the unbonding $SLF can't be traded, and no staking rewards accrue.
The 21-day unbonding period assists in the long-term stability of Self Chain. The unbonding period discourages volatility by locking staked $SLF in the system for at least 21 days. In exchange, delegators receive staking rewards, further incentivizing network stability.
Redelegation
Redelegating instantly sends staked $SLF from one validator to another. Instead of waiting for the 21-day unstaking period. Validators receiving redelegations are barred from future redelegating any amount of $SLF to any validator for 21 days. Follow Redelegating guide to learn how to redelegate.
Rewards
The Self Chain protocol incentivizes validators and delegators with staking rewards from gas fees and inflation rewards:
Gas: Compute fees added to each transaction to avoid spamming. Validators set minimum gas prices and reject transactions that have implied gas prices below this threshold.
Inflation rewards: Every block, a new $SLF token is minted and released to validators and delegators as staking rewards. The rate for the minting of this new $SLF is fixed at 5% per year.
At the end of every block, transaction fees and inflation rewards are distributed to each validator and their delegators proportional to their staked amount. Validators can keep a portion of rewards to pay for their services. This portion is called commission. The rest of the rewards are distributed to delegators according to their staked amounts.
Slashing
Running a validator is a big responsibility. Validators must meet strict standards and constantly monitor and participate in the consensus process. Slashing is the penalty for misbehaving validators. When a validator gets slashed, they lose a small portion of their stake as well as a small portion of their delegator's stake. Slashed validators also get jailed, or excluded, from consensus for a period of time.
Slashing occurs under the following conditions:
Double signing: When a validator signs two different blocks with the same chain ID at the same height.
Downtime: When a validator is unresponsive or can't be reached for a period of time.
Missed votes: When a validator misses votes in consensus.
Validators monitor each other closely and can submit evidence of misbehavior. Once discovered, the misbehaving validator will have a small portion of their funds slashed. Offending validators will also be jailed or excluded from consensus for a period of time. Even simple issues such as malfunctions or downtimes from upgrading can lead to slashing.
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