Validating on the Metal Blockchain

In the blockchain world, validating is a form of participation in a particular blockchain’s ecosystem.

See this previous post for some definitions: Delegating on the Metal Blockchain

What / Why

Validating is a form of participation in a blockchain ecosystem. A validator runs a piece of software, commonly referred to as a “node”. This node is one member of a distributed network of nodes. All nodes keeps some copy of the blockchain. A validator node does work to verify each transaction. It checks that a transaction is accurate and allowed.

Validators are incentivized to behave correctly by the potential of block rewards. If a validator does not behave according to the rules of the chain, it will receive no rewards. It costs money to run a node, so in essence, the validator will lose money. (In some blockchain ecosystems a validator could forfeit their stake for misbehaving, but not on Metal Blockchain.)

How do I go about becoming a validator?

Prerequisites

At least 2,000 METAL tokens (see Delegating on the Metal Blockchain) to see how you can get 2,000 METAL.
A place to host your validator node. This could be a cloud provider such as AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, or Hetzner; or it could be a computer you host yourself.

Steps

Follow the [docs], https://docs.metalblockchain.org/nodes to launch a node, making sure to open the recommended ports.
Ensure that you are able to backup and restore your node.
Add your node to the validator set