Nominators are token holders in a nominated proof-of-stake (NPoS) blockchain who help secure the network by assigning, or “nominating,” their stake to one or more validators. Rather than running validator infrastructure themselves, nominators participate in consensus indirectly by backing validators they believe will behave reliably and honestly.
How nominators work in NPoS
In NPoS systems, validators are responsible for producing blocks and participating in consensus. Nominators support them by staking tokens and selecting which validators should represent their stake. The protocol uses these nominations, along with stake weight and other rules, to decide which validators are active in a given period.
This structure broadens participation. A user who cannot meet technical requirements, uptime expectations, or operational complexity of validating can still contribute economically to network security by staking through nominations. In practice, nominating often involves choosing validators based on factors like performance history, commission or fee rate, and perceived trustworthiness.
Rewards, slashing, and shared responsibility
Nominators typically earn a portion of the staking rewards generated by the validators they back, usually after the validator’s commission is deducted. However, nominating also comes with risk. Many NPoS designs include slashing, which penalizes misbehavior or severe downtime by reducing staked funds. Because a nominator’s stake is tied to a validator’s actions, nominators may share in these penalties.
A practical example is a user delegating tokens to several validators to avoid reliance on a single operator. Diversifying nominations can reduce exposure to the operational failures or misconduct of any one validator.
Nominators matter because they distribute stake and influence across the network, strengthening decentralization, shaping validator sets, and aligning incentives between token holders and the operators who keep the blockchain running.