Introduction
Validator performance is the foundation of network security. Currently, Terra Classic enforces very lenient requirements for both block signing and oracle voting. Validatorscan miss up to 95% of blocks or oracle votes within a window and still avoid penalties. This undermines chain security and creates unfair conditions, as poorly performing validators face no consequences.
Other Cosmos chains, such as Osmosis, have established stricter standards (a minimum of 80% signed blocks) to ensure validators fulfil their responsibilities.
Current Situation
Block signing parameters
- min_signed_per_window: 5%
- signed_blocks_window: 10,000 (~16.7 hours)
- downtime_jail_duration: 600s (10 minutes)
This means: a validator can sign as few as 500 blocks out of 10,000 (~16.7 hours) and remain active.
Oracle voting parameters
- min_valid_per_window: 5%
- slash_window: 432,000 blocks (~30 days)
- vote_period: 5 blocks
This means: a validator can submit as little as 5% of oracle votes over a 30-day window and still avoid penalties.
Issues Identified
- Security risk: The current low thresholds allow validators with unreliable infrastructure or weak commitment to remain in the active set.
- Unfair rewards: Validators maintaining robust uptime and infrastructure share the same benefits as those with minimal participation, particularly in oracle voting.
- Oracle imbalance: The 30-day slash window is excessively long, enabling validators to remain idle for weeks while still avoiding penalties.
Proposal
1. Increase block signing requirement
- Raise min_signed_per_window from 5% → 85%
- Extend the signed_blocks_window from 10,000 → 100,800 blocks (~7 days)
This means: a validator who misses ~24 hours of blocks within a 7-day window will be jailed.
2. Tighten Oracle voting accountability
- Reduce slash_window from 432,000 → 100,800 blocks (~7 days)
- Raise min_valid_per_window from 5% → 75% within the shorter window.
This means: a validator who fails to provide oracle votes for ~24 hours within a 7-day window will be slashed when the 7-day window closes…
3. Increase downtime penalty
- Raise downtime_jail_duration from 600s → 1800s (30 minutes)
Expected Impact
- Strengthens the reliability of both block production and oracle participation.
- Brings Terra Classic closer to the best practices of other Cosmos chains.
- Poor-performing validators will no longer be subsidised by those investing in robust infrastructure.
**Footnote (informational only)**This section is for clarification only and is not part of the formal proposal.
Block signing: Checked continuously, on every block, within the sliding window. If a validator falls below the threshold (e.g. misses ~24h of blocks in a 7-day window), they are immediately slashed and jailed.
- Oracle voting: Misses are tracked during each vote period (~30s), but penalties are applied only at the **end of the slash window.**Under the new parameters, validators falling below 75% in a 7-day window will be slashed and jailed when the window closes.
