Delegation

1. What Is Delegation

Delegation is the practice of transferring voting power or staking rights to another party — a validator, a representative, or a delegate — while retaining the underlying assets and some control.

2. How It Works

In proof-of-stake, token holders delegate their stake to validators, who run nodes and earn rewards; delegators share rewards (minus fees) and can unbond later. In governance, holders delegate voting power to representatives who vote on proposals. Delegation is expressed on-chain via contract calls (e.g., delegate(), or validator selection) and can be revoked.

3. Why It Matters

Delegation solves the participation problem: not everyone has the time or expertise to run a node or evaluate every proposal, yet stake should still be secure and votes cast. It concentrates power into professional validators and delegates, trading decentralization for participation — a key governance and security design question.

4. Key Facts

• PoS chains (Ethereum, Solana, Cosmos) all support delegation
• Validator fees typically range 0-10% of rewards
• Slashing risk is shared with delegators on some chains
• Delegation is revocable after an unbonding period

5. Related Concepts

• delegation-voting
• proof-of-stake
• validator
• staking-reward