As the number of proof-of-stake blockchains grows exponentially, it increases the need for professional validators. However, empowering people to become validators can be challenging due to several roadblocks, such as the heavy lifting of staking node management, hardware/software requirements, and security risks. Node infrastructure providers are addressing these issues well, encouraging individuals with expertise in blockchain validation to become professional validators on any blockchain of their choice. Through this article, we delve into those important aspects that empower anyone to become a validator on any blockchain. 

The Main entry barriers facing validators

Blockchain validator is certainly becoming the most sought-after profession across individuals that have expertise in validation and are familiar with the exciting opportunities that the future holds for the blockchain industry. But, there are some entry barriers which can cause disinterest among people. Let’s discuss main barriers:

1. Technical knowledge: Blockchain validators must have a firm understanding of the blockchain’s end-to-end technical aspects. This mainly includes in-depth knowledge of node deployment, management, consensus mechanisms, and cryptography.
   
2. Hardware and software requirements: To run a validator node and maintain its optimal performance, validators need system setup with powerful hardware specifications, such as high-performance RAM, multi-core CPU, SSD storage, and fast bi-directional internet connection.
   Likewise, you will need essential software to run staking nodes, which can include cloud server Linux, VPS provider, updated version of operating system (OS), and more.
   
3. Cost aspect: From setting up node infrastructure to scaling as per demand and staking cryptocurrencies, you need a certain amount of investment to join the validator set on any blockchain.
   
4. Security & compliance regulations: Safeguarding validator nodes against malicious hacks and security threats is a vital aspect of running validators. This includes keeping the software up to date, implementing firewall protection, using encryption-enabled storage systems, and backup for sensitive keys.
   
5. Nodes scaling and management: Growth of any blockchain network entails the expansion of validator’s capabilities. For this, validators are required to scale their nodes’ underlying infrastructure by adding more power, expanding core processing units, or boosting overall security & performance.

Empowering anyone to become a validator on any blockchain: Key aspects to consider

The easy way to empower anyone to become a blockchain validator is to bypass all the challenges discussed in the previous section. When barriers are low, more individuals will be encouraged to become validators. Down below, we have discussed key points that will help you out:

1. Easy onboarding:

The process of validator onboarding is often cumbersome because of the complicated identification steps, manual authentication, updating information in smart contracts about the new validator, and so on. Blockchain networks can simplify this whole process by onboarding validators through automated node deployment platforms. Validators on such infrastructure only complete simple onboarding steps, such as:

• Seamless account creation or signup. 
• Identity authentication through mail or quick, two-step verification.
• Successful confirmation, and that’s it.

2. Offering production-ready infrastructure:

As discussed, setting up infrastructure for validator nodes is a herculean task. You need to gather hardware & software requisites, create backups, test load efficiency, and so on. Considering this, node infrastructure providers offer robust, production-ready infrastructure that largely offloads the DevOps work needed to create infrastructure for managing one or more nodes in various blockchain networks. As a validator, you will never have to worry about what’s going on in the backend or what update is required. All you have to do is deploy your nodes and start validating your desired blockchain. Here’s what you may need:

• Highly optimized and reliable node/network infrastructure designed to keep your node up and running despite the increasing load on the network. Further, the infrastructure should ensure nodes’ integrity against security attacks.
• Scalable nodes that are efficient enough to provide the processing power needed to validate transactions on blockchain and store all the data.
• Powerful, expandable cloud setup to cater the specific storage needs of your node which can vary on the architecture of blockchain validate. 

3. Efficient validator management:

Facilitating hands-on validator management is another important aspect of empowering anyone to become a blockchain validator. Whether it’s about offering them ready-to-use infrastructure, ensuring the performance of nodes, or identifying risks beforehand, efficient management reduces complexity for validators, freeing them up to focus on their profession of validating the network rather than thinking about node or infrastructure management. The following things briefly sum up validator management:

• Guaranteeing the battle-tested security of nodes.
• On-demand scaling of all the validator nodes and their underlying infrastructure in the long run.
• Identifying potential issues to eliminate performance-related issues.

4. Cost optimization: 

With a tried and tested cost-optimized model, you enable validators to save significant costs, thus encouraging them to continue validation and become professional. By minimizing hardware & software requirements, provisioning reasonable staking eligibility, and offering a good amount of reward & commission will definitely reduce the cost burden on the validators, enabling them to become professional validators with no cost-based barrier:

• Less requirement of computational resources.
• Low-cost RPCs and APIs.
• Offering the option for shared hosting.
• Flexibility of using managed storage service.

5. Support for diverse blockchains:

It is possible that a single validator can be interested in validating multiple blockchains. While blockchain networks directly may not support this, they can achieve this flexibility by teaming up with node-as-a-service platforms. Validators on such platforms can run validator nodes for more than one blockchain network– be it a public blockchain, enterprise blockchain, appchain, or layer2 rollups. Additionally, they can manage all their nodes on a common dashboard, which shows crucial statistics related to performance, total validations, rewards, and everything that is important from a validator’s perspective. Following are the top networks that validators may prefer:

• Public blockchains- Ethereum, Near, Avalanche, Solana, Polkadot, Cosmos, Arbitrum, etc.
• Permissioned EVM blockchains- Hyperledger Fabric, R3 Corda, Polygon zkEVM, Energy Web Chain, Provenance, etc.
• Appchains & Rollup networks- Avalanche Subnets, Substrate chains, Cosmos, Polygon CDK chains, Polkadot Parachains, and more.

6. Guaranteeing Security of nodes: 

Security is paramount for validator nodes. Even a small breach can lead to drastic issues like slashing or removal of your stake from the ecosystem. This need for security becomes even more critical when you run multiple validator nodes on different blockchains. Ensuring such a high level of security is often challenging for validators. Hence, by offering them battle-tested security, you can easily empower them to become a professional validator and contribute better efforts toward their responsibilities. Following are the parameters to ensure robust security on validator nodes:

• Ensure high availability for all the validator nodes.
• Disabling RPC access from all the external machines.
• Updating the validators on real-time staking and delegation information.
• Powerful infrastructure to protect validators’ important keys, leaving no room for attackers to access the network or do any malicious activity. 
• Protection of reward wallets and private keys. 

7. 24/7 Monitoring: 

An in-built monitoring system is essential because it allows validators to track the performance of validator nodes and the entire system setup. Further, It saves validating professionals from investing costs and resources in setting up their own monitoring system to get crucial insights into your nodes & networks. Here are vital monitoring parameters that you should consider:

• Overview of all the nodes- active, inactive, or in-progress. 
• Summary of endpoints, cloud usage, or storage.
• Insights about validator node performance in real-time.
• Network’s activity logs and end-to-end description.
• Real-time alerts about potential issues.

8. Active support: 

Validators can come across a range of issues that need support assistance. By integrating responsive, 24/7 available support, you provide quick solutions to the problems, hence allowing the validators to perform seamlessly without any obstacles. Following are the signs of a reliable support service:

• 24/7 availability on multiple channels.
• Equal responsiveness for mail and chat-based queries.
• Option for both quick chat and one-to-one call discussion.
• Offering expert’s help.

9. Seamless Exit Scheme

Lastly, there’s the exit process. Validators feel empowered when they are allowed to withdraw their funds easily and discontinue their validator profession. For example, nodes-as-a-service platforms allow for a one-click exit from any blockchain and redeploy nodes again when required.

Onboard validators easily with Zeeve

Zeeve’s enterprise-grade web3 infrastructure is optimized to make validators effortless on all the leading public blockchains, appchains, and Layer2 rollups. With a secure, simple-to-use, and scalable node-as-a-service infrastructure, Zeeve empowers anyone to run their validator node for any blockchain without the hassle of managing infrastructure, scaling nodes, or making security arrangements. Zeeve allows validator nodes to be deployed in one click without the need for complex configurations & settings. 

On top of that, all the nodes are monitored on critical performance parameters, ensuring validators never face downtime issues and their nodes always remain up and running. For more information on how Zeeve is simplifying node deployment and management or to dive into our comprehensive blockchain services, contact us. You can send your queries via mail or schedule a one-on-one call for an in-depth discussion.