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Validator Leaderboard

This document explains how the rewards performance for validator nodes are calculated and displayed on the Aptos Validator Leaderboard.

Calculating validator rewards​

Validators are rewarded for participating in consensus. The rewards are calculated based on the number of successful proposals made by the validator, and the rewards performance is the percentage of rewards earned by the validator out of the maximum reward earning opportunity.

During an epoch, only the validators in the validator set can propose and vote. The duration of each epoch is set by governance and validators are selected as leaders (in rounds) to make proposals. This occurs multiple times in each epoch, meaning that validators can be selected as leaders multiple times in a single epoch.

On each successful proposal, the proposing validator earns rewards based on their stake and on the reward rate that is configured on-chain. The reward rate is the same for every validator. If all the proposals in an epoch achieve quorum consensus, a validator earns the maximum reward for the epoch. If all the proposals in an epoch fail, a validator earns zero rewards for that epoch. The reward performance is calculated as a percentage of the rewards earned by the validator out of the maximum reward earning opportunity.

Validators are only rewarded for proposing, and not for voting. Rewards are given only at the end of the epoch, not on every block.

Reward calculation example​

The reward a leader receives is calculated by multiplying the maximum possible reward with the leader's proposal success rate. For example:

  • A leader with 8 successful and 2 failed proposals will receive 80% of maximum reward in the epoch.
  • Similarly, another leader with 80 successful and 20 failed proposal will also receive 80% of maximum reward.
  • Also, two leaders with no failures but one with 10 and another with 100 successful proposals will get the same % of the maximum reward.
Rewards rate

Note also that the rewards rate is the same for every validator. Hence, the maximum reward is directly proportional to the staking amount, i.e., the more a validator stakes, the more the validator can earn in absolute terms.

Rewards performance​

The REWARDS PERFORMANCE column on the Aptos Validator Leaderboard shows the rewards performance of a validator. It is calculated as a percentage of the rewards earned by the validator out of the maximum reward earning opportunity. This is a cumulative metric across all the epochs, i.e., (rewards earned across all epochs)/(maximum reward opportunity across all epochs)

A validator can improve their rewards performance by improving their proposal success rate.

Last epoch performance​

The LAST EPOCH PERFORMANCE column on the Aptos Validator Leaderboard shows the rewards performance of a validator in the last epoch. It is calculated as a percentage of the rewards earned by the validator in the last epoch out of the maximum reward earning opportunity in the last epoch, i.e., (rewards earned in the last epoch)/(maximum reward opportunity in the last epoch).

This metric provides an early indicator to see if a validator is improving their reward performance.