4. Setup a Validator Account

To become a validator on the Cifer Chain network, you'll need a dedicated account to stake your CIF tokens. This account will serve as your validator identity within the network.

This section will guide you through the process of creating a validator account and configuring it to participate in the consensus mechanism.

Note: Before starting the next step, please make sure your node is active as it shows in Terminal that you run your node similar to this example:

Blockchain is running
  
  ✔ Added account alice with address cife… and mnemonic:
  <24-word mnemonic phrase>
  
  ✔ Added account bob with address cife… and mnemonic:
  <24-word mnemonic phrase>

🌍 Tendermint node: http://0.0.0.0:26657
🌍 Blockchain API: http://0.0.0.0:1317
🌍 Token faucet: http://0.0.0.0:4500
  
  ⋆ Data directory: /Users/devname/.cifer
  ⋆ App binary: /Users/devname/go/bin/ciferd

4.1 Configure Your Validator Account

To streamline the setup process, we've included a placeholder validator account named "change_validators_name" in the config.yml file. You'll need to replace this placeholder with your desired validator name.

In config.yml file, locate the section labeled "change_validators_name" then rename to your desired validator name.

config.yml

version: 1
validation: sovereign
accounts: 
  - name: change_validators_name # Change validator keys name here
    coins:
    - 10000000ucif
    - 200000000stake
  - name: bob
    coins:
    - 10000000ucif
    - 100000000stake
client:
  openapi:
    path: docs/static/openapi.yml
faucet:
  name: bob
  coins:
  - 5token
  - 100000stake
validators:
  - name: change_validators_name # Change validator keys name here
    bonded: 10000000ucif 
    app:
      api:
        address: :1317
      grpc:
        address: :9090
      grpc-web:
        address: :9091
    config:
      p2p:
        laddr: :26656
        seeds: "0e8ff52fd093a99bd08b3c294d683761fbad7ca8@34.128.114.243:26656"
      rpc:
        laddr: :26657
        pprof_laddr: :6060
      moniker: "cifer-2"

In this case, we will rename validator keys name to “myvalidator”.

version: 1
validation: sovereign
accounts:
  - name: myvalidator # New validator keys name
…
validators:
  - name: myvalidator # New validator keys name
…

4.2 Obtain Your Validator Keys

To create a validator configuration file later, you'll need your validator's address and public key. To get them, run the following command in your terminal:

$ ciferd keys list

The output will look similar to this:

address: cife... # Your validator's address
name: myvalidator
pubkey: ‘{“
@type
”:”/cosmos.crypto.secp256k1.PubKey”,”key”:”....”}’ # Your validator's pubkey
type: local

Important Note:

• The address, name, and pubkey displayed is your validator's. You'll need them in the future steps.

• This address is your wallet address and account. You can deposit, withdraw, and transfer $CIF and other compatible cryptocurrencies using this address.

4.3 Fund Your Validator Account

Before your validator node can actively participate in the network, you must fund it with a sufficient amount of CIF tokens. The size of your stake directly influences your validator's voting power.

Staking Requirements

• Minimum Initial Stake: To become a validator, you must initially stake at least 1 CIF or 1,000,000 uCIF.

• Voting Power: The amount of CIF staked by a validator determines its voting power in the consensus mechanism. A higher stake translates to a greater influence on network decisions.

Funding Options

• Transfer Existing CIF: If you already hold CIF tokens, you can transfer them to your validator account address obtained in the previous step.

• CIF Airdrop: During this initial phase, you can request an airdrop of CIF tokens to test running a validator HERE.

Once your validator account is funded, you're ready to proceed with registering your validator node.