Fantom Beefs Up Security By Cutting Staking Requirement By 90%

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The Fantom Foundation has made a significant move to enhance the security of its Layer-1 blockchain, Fantom, by slashing the self-staking requirement from 500,000 FTM to 50,000 FTM. 

Fantom Community Voted For Lowering Staking 

The Fantom Foundation has announced that it has cut down self-staking requirements on its Layer-1 blockchain Fantom by a significant 90%. This decision was taken to make validation more accessible for users and strengthen the overall network security with numbers.

The Fantom team announced the news on January 15 on the social media platform X, where it tweeted, 

“Based on a governance vote, we recently reduced the validator self-stake requirement from 500k to 50k FTM, making it more accessible than ever to run a Fantom validator.”

According to the announcement, the changes were incorporated recently after a successful self-governance vote gave it the green light back in June 2023.  

More Validators, More Security

The team claims that cutting the staking requirement will make it easier than ever to run validator programs and, as a result, improve security levels on the platform significantly.

The team wrote, 

“It's important to know that a key priority for any decentralized network is to increase the number of validators running the network. By having more validators, a network makes it increasingly challenging for malicious actors to launch an attack.” 

Impact on Network Performance

Fantom validators play a key role in the network by bundling transactions and reaching consensus. The foundation outlined that increasing the number of validators would expedite transaction validation, as there would be a broader pool of validators to choose from. 

Despite concerns about potential network slowdowns, Fantom assured users that the quality of hardware running the validators would ensure consistent performance, maintaining the network's 1–2 second time to finality.

Long-Term Network Development

The decision to cut the staking requirement aligns with Fantom's vision for the future. The foundation envisions smaller validators growing in size and becoming integral to the Fantom ecosystem. Currently armed with 58 validators securing its network, Fantom aims to encourage further growth in this number.

Security Measures and Validator Power

Addressing concerns regarding a potential compromise in security due to the increased number of validators, Fantom clarified that a validator's power to confirm transactions is directly proportional to its staking amount. In essence, a validator with 1 million staked FTM holds an equivalent level of power as twenty smaller validators, each with 50,000 FTM staked. This ensures that the network's security remains robust despite the lower staking requirements.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.