Staking & Validators

RougeChain uses Proof of Stake (PoS) for consensus. Validators stake XRGE tokens to participate in block production and earn rewards.

How It Works

1. Stake tokens - Lock XRGE to become a validator
2. Propose and vote - The designated proposer (the validator with the most stake) proposes blocks; staked validators vote to finalize them
3. Earn rewards - Every staked validator earns a stake-weighted share of the fees in every block
4. Unstake - Wait for unbonding period to withdraw

Requirements

Become a Validator

Via Web UI

1. Go to the Validators page
2. Click Stake
3. Enter amount (min 10,000 XRGE)
4. Confirm transaction

Via SDK (Recommended)

import { RougeChain, Wallet } from '@rougechain/sdk';

const rc = new RougeChain('https://testnet.rougechain.io/api');
const wallet = Wallet.fromKeys(publicKey, privateKey);

await rc.stake(wallet, { amount: 10000 });

Via API (v2 Signed Request)

All write operations require ML-DSA-65 client-side signing. See Staking API for the full request format.

# The payload must be signed client-side with your ML-DSA-65 private key.
# Use the SDK or build the signed request manually:
curl -X POST https://testnet.rougechain.io/api/v2/stake \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "payload": {
      "amount": 10000,
      "from": "your-public-key-hex",
      "timestamp": 1706745600000,
      "nonce": "random-hex"
    },
    "signature": "ml-dsa65-signature-hex",
    "public_key": "your-public-key-hex"
  }'

Check Your Stake

curl "https://testnet.rougechain.io/api/validators?publicKey=your-public-key"

Response:

{
  "validators": [
    {
      "publicKey": "your-public-key",
      "stake": 10000.0,
      "status": "active",
      "blocksProposed": 42
    }
  ]
}

Unstake

Via SDK

await rc.unstake(wallet, { amount: 5000 });

Via API (v2 Signed Request)

curl -X POST https://testnet.rougechain.io/api/v2/unstake \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "payload": {
      "amount": 5000,
      "from": "your-public-key-hex",
      "timestamp": 1706745600000,
      "nonce": "random-hex"
    },
    "signature": "ml-dsa65-signature-hex",
    "public_key": "your-public-key-hex"
  }'

Validator Selection

Since mainnet height 100, each block has exactly one designated proposer: the eligible validator (stake > 0, not jailed) with the most stake, ties going to the lowest raw public-key bytes. Selection is deterministic — no randomness and no rotation — and there is no fallback proposer yet. Blocks from any other validator are rejected. See Becoming a Validator → Proposer selection.

GET /api/selection reports this designated proposer for the next height (rule: "designated_max_stake").

Rewards

Validators earn from an EIP-1559-inspired fee model:

Fees are credited when a block is applied to state. The validator share goes to every validator in the set by stake, with no check that the validator took part in finality. There is no block subsidy: with today's activity, rewards are small (about 541 XRGE of fees were collected over the whole chain up to 2026-10-06, before burning and splitting). See Validator Economics for detailed reward calculations.

PQC Security

All validator operations use ML-DSA-65 signatures:

• Block proposals are signed
• Stake/unstake transactions are signed
• Signatures are verified by all nodes

Block production and staking are therefore signed with quantum-resistant keys.

Finality: verified BFT finality (FINALITY_V2 — verified ML-DSA-65 votes, recomputed quorum, anti-equivocation journals) is active on mainnet since height 150. Every block from 151 carries a ⅔-stake commit certificate for its parent. See Finality.

Planned, not built: a consensus redesign decided on 2026-10-06 — rotating stake-weighted proposers, Tendermint-style rounds, an active set capped at 32, a consensus-enforced minimum of 100,000 XRGE (30-day grace for existing validators), 21-day unbonding and evidence-based slashing. Heights will be announced in advance; see Status & Roadmap. Until then, everything on this page describes the rules as they run today.