Anza Kickstarts Solana Slashing Discussion with Crucial SIMD-0204 Proposal

The Solana network draws one step closer to punishing malicious validators.

Published: Dec 18, 2024 at 13:50

Anza, a prominent Solana-based research and development firm, has opened discussion on how slashing can be implemented within the network to ensure good validator behavior.

Collaborating with partners and developers, Anza’s SIMD-0204 (Solana Improvement Document) aims to provide a clear and coherent set of guidelines for detecting malicious activity on the network.

What is slashing, and how can nefarious validators be identified?

What is Slashing?

Slashing is a common feature in Proof-of-Stake blockchains that penalizes malicious validators who compromise the network’s security. Poor validator behavior could include attempting to force fraudulent transactions, suffering downtime, or creating duplicate blocks.

When validators get caught acting against the network's best interests, their rewards are ‘slashed’ and effectively forfeited. Any delegators who commit to malicious validators that get slashed also risk losing some of their stake.

Slashing discourages validators from attempting to manipulate the blockchain for their own gain and helps to facilitate a safe and secure network for users.

Anza Floats SIMD-0204 Proposal

Anza’s SIMD-0204 represents the first step in a series of ongoing discussions and governance proposals that aims to outline a unified approach to introducing slashing on the Solana network.

SIMD-0204 is primarily concerned with implementing a program that effectively identifies malicious validators who operate outside of protocol rules. This first SIMD only discusses the detection and recording of violations. Penalties and slashing measures are expected to be covered in future SIMD discussions.

Anza’s document presents the firm’s proposed program for Slasher Event Verification or identifying and recording poor validator behavior. The program is designed to target “duplicate block verifications and confirms:

If the violation occurred.
If the identified validator signed duplicate blocks with their cryptographic signature.
Proof of the violation is submitted within one epoch, or set period in Solana’s timeline.

After confirming these events, the program creates a permanent, immutable record of the discretion in a special account on the Solana blockchain. This account stores important data, including the validator in question, the time of the violation, and evidence of the validators poor behavior.

Next Steps

Anza’s SIMD-0204 is the first step towards implementing slashing across the Solana network and facilitating a safer and more secure blockchain for everyone. Network participants and ecosystem builders are actively encouraged to contribute to ongoing discussions.

The wider Solana community expressed enthusiasm towards SIMD-0204, with GenesysGo team member Tracy looking forward to seeing slashing introduced on Solana.

Anza hopes that SIMD-0204 will set a clear precedent for logging violations and outlining what slashing actually constitutes. After aligning on these principles, Anza will move forward with future SIMDs on how slashing will be implemented.

Through decentralized governance, the wider Solana community will then be able to vote on these implementations. Upon approval, Anza will be able to work towards rolling out effective slashing practices and ensuring a more resilient environment for millions of Solana users worldwide.