INTRODUCTION

The Cosmos ecosystem is partially known for its Proof-of-stake. In a Proof-of-Stake network, just as in a Proof-of-Work network, the blockchain is simultaneously maintained on a diverse and geographically distributed network of disparate computers or servers called "nodes." Validators, like staking facilities, are special nodes responsible for providing infrastructure as well as validating new blocks and adding them to the blockchain. Therefore, together with other validators, they ensure the security of the blockchain by controlling its accuracy, establishing its validity and guaranteeing its availability.

People who cannot or do not want to operate validator nodes can participate in the betting process as delegators. In fact, validators are not chosen based on their self-delegated stake, but based on their total stake, which is the sum of their self-delegated stake and the stake delegated to them. This is an important property, as it makes delegates a safeguard against validators who exhibit bad behavior. If a validator misbehaves, his delegators will move their Atoms away from him, thus reducing his participation. Finally, if a validator's participation falls below the 125 addresses with the highest participation, he will leave the set of validators.

Delegates share the income of their validators, but they also share the risks. In terms of income, validators and delegates differ in that validators can apply a commission on the income that goes to their delegate before it is distributed. This fee is known in advance by the delegators and can only vary based on predefined restrictions (see next section). In terms of risk, delegate Atoms can be trimmed if their validator misbehaves. For more information, see the section Risks.

To become delegators, Atom holders must submit a "delegation transaction" in which they specify how many Atoms they wish to link and to which validator. A list of validator candidates will appear in Cosmos Hub browsers. Later, if a delegate wishes to unbind part or all of their share, they must submit an "unbind transaction". Thereafter, the delegate will have to wait 3 weeks to retrieve their Atoms. Delegates can also submit a "Rebond Transaction" to switch from one validator to another, without having to go through the 3-week waiting period.

METHODS

Another important function inside the Cosmos staking program is the ability to redelegate. What “redelegation” means? It means that users that are staking to some validator can change their option to another validator by unstaking their ATOM from the current validator and redelegating to another.

This dashboard has been created to study how redelegations are working on Cosmos and see if there is some pattern on it. Are users redelegating to similar validators? Are users unstaking from some specific validators to enter others?

In these final charts it can be seen the current amounts by each validator. As it can be seen, the top 1 validatorhave received more than 140k redelegations by more than 70k redelegators, with more than 50M ATOM in volume.

There is a second validator tht also have good numbers, reaching more than 7k redelegations by more than 6k delegatos with almost 19M of ATOM received.

The rest of the validators have lower numbers and its dominance seems to not be too relevant.

If we split the numbers by each new validator selected, it can be seen that there are one validator that keeps the major of the attention where the major of redeegations and redelegators are coming to. In fact, it can be seen how the volume is going as well there. So, it seems that the pattern is clear, all users are changing to the same validator.

There are other 7 major validators but with numbers so lower than the top 1, where a poor number of validators are joining.

In these charts it can be seen how the amount of redelegations have persisted over time. Since January 2022, the amount increased to ATH, but since April 2022, the amount started to decrease until July. Now, since September its being quite similar at around 500 daily redelegations. Looking at stakers redelegating its ATOM, it can be seen how the structure is similar to the redelegations number. Now, the number of redelegators is fluctuating between 100 and 300 approximately.

Regarding the volume redelegated, it can be seen that there were 4 main days where more volume were redelegated, reaching almost 10M each time, and surpassing 20M the last peak.

CONCLUSIONS

• There were 4 main days where more volume were redelegated, reaching almost 10M each time, and surpassing 20M the last peak.
• There are one validator that keeps the major of the attention where the major of redeegations and redelegators are coming to. In fact, it can be seen how the volume is going as well there. So, it seems that the pattern is clear, all users are changing to the same validator.
• The top 1 validator have received more than 140k redelegations by more than 70k redelegators, with more than 50M ATOM in volume.
• There is a second validator tht also have good numbers, reaching more than 7k redelegations by more than 6k delegatos with almost 19M of ATOM received.

In this final approach, I have studied the evolution of redelegations and its behavior. In concrete, I have selected the Proposal 60 to see a pure evolution and to track what’s going on when some proposal appears and to see how redelegators are using the network. As it can be seen, the main activity i during the first days, or weeks, and then, the activity keep decreasing over time. However, the volume redelegated vary.

Main global redelegation activity

Common redelegators? Let’s see…

Evolution of redelegations over a concrete Proposal (Proposal 60 has been chosen)