NEAR uses a staking pool factory with a whitelisted staking contract to ensure delegators’ funds are safe. In order to run a validator on NEAR, a staking pool must be deployed to a NEAR account and integrated into a NEAR validator node. Delegators must use a UI or the command line to stake to the pool. A staking pool is a smart contract that is deployed to a NEAR account.
Run the following command in order to create your staking pool:
(Change “gateomega” with your validator Pool ID)
If there is a “True” at the End. Your pool is created.
From the example above, you need to replace:
- Pool ID: Staking pool name, the factory automatically adds its name to this parameter, creating {pool_id}.{staking_pool_factory} Examples: gateomega.factory.shardnet.near
- Owner ID: The SHARDNET account that will manage the staking pool.
- Public Key: The public key in your validator_key.json file.
- 5: The fee the pool will charge (e.g. in this case 5 over 100 is 5% of fees).
- Account Id: The SHARDNET account deploying the staking pool.
Check your pool is now visible on here
Important : Please ensure that your Staking Key is matching with your Validator_Key
Deposit and Stake NEAR
Replace your pool id (gateomega), account id (gateomega.shardnet.near) with your own IDs.
Ping
A ping issues a new proposal and updates the staking balances for your delegators. A ping should be issued each epoch to keep reported rewards current.
Auto-Ping Script
You have to ping the server every 5 minutes in order to actualize your rewards and keep your node in active set in case it is kicked-out.
Make sh file executable with the following command:
Schedule it via Crontab :
Select 1 to enter the crontab editor.
Add the following line to the bottom line of the crontab.
Becoming a Validator
In order to become a validator and enter the validator set, a minimum set of success criteria must be met.
- The node must be fully synced.
- The validator_key.json must be in place.
- The contract must be initialized with the public_key in validator_key.json.
- The account_id must be set to the staking pool contract id.
- There must be enough delegations to meet the minimum seat price. See the seat price here.
- A proposal must be submitted by pinging the contract.
- Once a proposal is accepted a validator must wait 2–3 epoch to enter the validator set.
- Once in the validator set the validator must produce great than 90% of assigned blocks.
Check running status of validator node. If “Validator” is showing up, your pool is selected in the current validators list.
Useful commands:
Well done! You have created your staking pool!
Now let’s proceed with the Step 5: Monitoring Your Node
