Running a Validator node on Space and Time is a critical way to contribute to the protocol’s decentralization, security, and data integrity. Validators are responsible for securing the network’s tamperproof tables, processing data insertion commitments, and participating in zero-knowledge query verification checkpoints - they are the backbone of the Space and Time network and are rewarded for it.

For more details on mainnet validator ops: https://github.com/spaceandtimefdn/sxt-node-docs/blob/main/mainnet.md

Participating as a validator means:

Earning Block Rewards: Validators receive fees from:
- Insert-data gas payments (e.g., from clients or indexers)
- Query verification fees (ZK-proven or optimistic)
- Foundation staking subsidies (during bootstrap phase)
Participating in a Secure Data Economy: You help maintain tamperproof commitments for indexed data tables and ensure accurate data verification, which enables smart contracts to query complex, verifiable analytics.
Receiving Delegated Stake: Validators can attract delegated stakers who earn a share of validator rewards, boosting validator influence and earning potential.
Scaling the Future of Web3: By running a validator, you're part of a decentralized backend for thousands of dapps, smart contracts, and cross-chain apps that rely on secure data and ZK proofs.

What Validators Do

Validator nodes are the backbone of the Space and Time network, by providing:

Sign Table Commitments

After new rows are inserted into a table (e.g., via Indexer or client), validators compute a new table root (using Dory, HyperKZG, etc.) and threshold-sign it.

Verify Insert Transactions

Insertions may be client-submitted with zkTLS proofs, ECDSA user signatures, or proposed by Indexers. Validators check validity before updating table state.

Participate in BFT Consensus

Validators vote on block proposals and participate in finality for data insertions, fee distributions, and contract execution.

Support Query Verification

Verifier contracts rely on validator-published table commitments to verify ZK query proofs against the correct table state.

Economic Incentives and Rewards

Validators of SXT Chain earn from multiple streams:

Source	Description
Insert Data Fees	Collected when clients pay to insert data into tamperproof tables. 100% of this gas is routed into block rewards for validators.
Query Job Fees	ZK-proven and optimistic queries carry compute credit payments from clients. 50% of these go to validators; the other 50% goes to table owners.
Foundation Subsidies	Temporary incentives to bootstrap validator activity in the early network phase.
Delegated Staking Yield	Validators receive $SXT delegations from community members. A portion of validator rewards are automatically shared with those delegators.

Validators who perform poorly (e.g., go offline or sign incorrect commitments) may be slashed, losing a portion of their $SXT stake and delegated stake.

Node Hardware Requirements

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To run a validator node, check out the setup guide here: Validator Node Setup Guide

Minimum Hardware Requirements:

Component	Requirement
CPU Cores	16
CPU Architecture	amd64, with virtualization support
Memory (GiB)	64
Storage (GiB)	512
Storage Type	SSD
OS	Linux
Network Speed	500Mbps up/down
Network Addressing	Static IP
Deployment	Docker & Docker Compose installed
Staking	$SXT tokens

On Azure cloud, this is equivalent to SKU Standard_D8as_v5 with storage SKU of PremiumV2_SSD.

Once configured, your validator will:

Sync with the SXT Chain network
Start signing commitments
Receive real-time insert and query jobs
Begin earning block rewards and delegation incentives