Slashing On Ethereum

A functioning Ethereum validator continuously signs attestations, or votes, for its view of the chain. If a validator’s view of the chain (state) is in agreement with others, their attestations will match and be included in a block (attestations with invalid head votes may be included; however, they are not rewarded). In addition to regular attestations, validators are randomly assigned additional responsibilities: block proposals and participation in the sync committee. However, when a validator fails to fulfil its duties for an extended period, it is considered offline.

On Ethereum, being offline is not considered to be a major offence. Since Ethereum is designed with decentralisation in mind, being offline is treated leniently, and validators incur negligible downtime penalties. Any behaviour that acts against the security of the network and its decentralization, however, is treated harshly with slashing. We will dive deeper into that.

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