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🪤 What is Jailing?

🚫 What Is Jailing?

Jailing is a temporary suspension that removes a validator from the active validator set. When a validator is jailed:

  • They stop producing blocks

  • They do not receive any rewards

  • Delegators stop earning staking rewards from that validator


Why Does Jailing Happen?

Validators can be jailed due to:

  • Prolonged downtime — being offline for too long

  • ⚠️ Slashing offenses — committing serious protocol violations

  • ⚙️ Software misconfiguration — such as using the wrong chain ID or incorrect genesis file


What Happens After Jailing?

  • The validator remains jailed until they fix the issue and submit an unjail transaction

  • Once unjailed, the validator can resume participation and earn rewards again


Summary

Jailing protects the network by:

  • Temporarily removing validators who are misbehaving or offline

  • Ensuring only active, well-behaved validators secure the blockchain

  • Encouraging validators to maintain proper configuration and uptime

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