Understanding Validator Delegation
What is Delegation?
When you freeze KLV, you create a "bucket" of staked tokens. By delegating this bucket to a validator, you help secure the network and earn staking rewards. The validator produces blocks and shares rewards with delegators based on their voter rewards percentage.
How Rewards Work
Your share of rewards depends on your percentage of the validator's total delegation. If you delegate 10,000 KLV to a validator with 1,000,000 total delegated, you get 1% of the rewards they distribute. Higher voter rewards percentage means more goes to delegators.
Key Factors for Choosing a Validator
Lower is better. Fewer delegators means less competition for rewards.
The percentage of block rewards shared with delegators.
Eligible and Elected validators actively produce blocks and rewards.
Your bucket as a percentage of total delegation determines reward share.
Ideal Validator Match
- Low max delegation (5-10M) with room for your bucket
- High voter rewards (80-100%)
- Eligible or Elected status (active block production)
- Your bucket is a significant share (1%+ of total delegation)
- High performance rating and uptime (95%+)
Poor Validator Match
- Unlimited or very high max delegation (200M+)
- Low voter rewards (10-30%)
- Waiting or Jailed status (not producing blocks)
- Your bucket is tiny share (0.001% of total delegation)
- Low performance or frequent downtime
Pro Tips
Small Buckets (under 10K KLV)
Look for validators with low max delegation. You'll have more impact on smaller validators and earn a higher percentage of rewards. Avoid "whale" validators where your stake would be insignificant.
Large Buckets (100K+ KLV)
You have more flexibility. Focus on voter rewards and validator reliability. Even with larger validators, your stake will be meaningful. Consider splitting between multiple validators for diversification.