Validators vs Nominators

If you are familiar with cryptocurrencies, you must have heard about validators and nominators. These words often appear in crypto-related channels (our channel isn't an exception). Now, the time has come to find out who they are – the two major actors ruling the blockchain.

First, let's speak about validators. A validator is a network node that helps keep the blockchain running by verifying (or validating) suggested blocks and allowing to record them in the blockchain. To become a validator, you must follow two requirements: have a high-performance server and obtain a serious amount of TON, 600,000, to make a stake. At the time of writing, there are 227 validators on TON.

It's evident that not everyone can afford to have hundreds of thousand Toncoin on their balance – that's why nominators come into play there. Simply put, the nominator is a user who lends his TON to validators. Every time the validator earns the reward by validating blocks, it is distributed between the involved participants.

Some time ago, Ton Whales ran the first staking pool on TON with the minimum deposit of 50 TON. Later, TON Foundation launched the first open nominator pool. Now, users may stake Toncoin in a fully-decentralized way, starting with 10,000 TON.