Polkadot Shifts Slashing Risk to Validators in Staking Overhaul

Polkadot is making significant changes to its staking mechanism through a governance vote. The referendum, known as Referendum 1890, requires every validator to lock at least 10,000 DOT of their own funds as self-stake by May 31. This move will shift the slashing risk away from ordinary stakers and towards validators themselves.

The change is aimed at removing two major barriers to staking on Polkadot: the fear of being slashed and the lengthy unbonding period. Once enacted, nominators will become unslashable, and the unbonding period will shrink from 28 days to 24-48 hours.

Polkadot's team has called this shift 'simple', as validators will directly carry slashing exposure through their large self-bond, while nominators keep earning rewards without putting their principal at risk. The redesign goes beyond a single tweak and is part of a broader rewrite of Polkadot's economics.