Becoming a Validator

Validators produce blocks and earn transaction fees on RougeChain. This guide walks you through the full process.

Prerequisites

Step 1: Get XRGE

If you're on testnet, use the faucet:

1. Visit rougechain.io
2. Go to Wallet and click Request from Faucet
3. Repeat until you have at least 10,000 XRGE

Step 2: Stake Tokens

Via Web UI

1. Navigate to the Validators page
2. Click Stake
3. Enter your stake amount (minimum 10,000 XRGE)
4. Confirm the transaction
5. Your wallet signs the stake transaction with ML-DSA-65

Via v2 API (Client-Side Signing)

curl -X POST https://testnet.rougechain.io/api/v2/stake \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "publicKey": "your-public-key-hex",
    "amount": 1000,
    "nonce": 1706745600000,
    "signature": "your-ml-dsa65-signature-hex"
  }'

Step 3: Verify Your Validator Status

curl "https://testnet.rougechain.io/api/validators"

Look for your public key in the response:

{
  "validators": [
    {
      "publicKey": "your-public-key",
      "stake": 1000.0,
      "status": "active",
      "blocksProposed": 0
    }
  ]
}

Step 4: Run a Mining Node (Recommended)

While staking alone makes you a validator, running a node ensures you're online to produce blocks when selected:

./quantum-vault-daemon \
  --mine \
  --api-port 5100 \
  --peers "https://testnet.rougechain.io/api" \
  --public-url "https://mynode.example.com"

Increasing Your Stake

You can add more XRGE to increase your block proposal probability:

# Stake additional 500 XRGE
curl -X POST https://testnet.rougechain.io/api/v2/stake \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "publicKey": "your-public-key-hex",
    "amount": 500,
    "nonce": 1706745600001,
    "signature": "your-signature-hex"
  }'

Your total stake accumulates.

Validator Selection Algorithm

Proposer selection uses three factors:

1. Stake weight — Higher stake gives proportionally higher probability
2. Quantum entropy — Sourced from ANU QRNG (quantum vacuum fluctuations); falls back to local CSPRNG if unavailable
3. Block context — Previous block hash and height are mixed into the seed for deterministic verifiability

This means even validators with the minimum stake will produce blocks, just less frequently. The entropy source ("quantum" or "local") is visible on the validator dashboard.

Leaving the Validator Set

See Unstaking — after unstaking below the minimum, you're removed from the active validator set.