Become a Validator

Overview

MAP Protocol uses Proof of Stake (POS) consensus. Validators secure the network by:

• Staking at least 1,000,000 MAP tokens

• Running a validator node to produce and validate blocks

• Earning rewards based on votes received

Prerequisites

Hardware Requirements

Component	Requirement
CPU	Quad core 2.5 GHz (64-bit)
RAM	16 GB
Storage	256 GB SSD + secondary HDD
Network	100 Mb/s, fiber connection recommended

Software Requirements

• Go 1.14 or later

• Git

• C compiler

MAP Tokens

Your account needs at least 1,000,000 MAP for staking.

Build Tools

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/mapprotocol/atlas.git
cd atlas

# Build atlas and marker
make atlas
make marker

Prepare Accounts

You need two accounts:

Account	Purpose	File
Account	Staking, receives rewards	account.json
Signer	Signs blocks	signer.json

Generate Keystore

./atlas account new --keystore ./datadir/keystore

Or import existing private key:

./atlas --dataDir "./data" console
> web3.personal.importRawKey("your_private_key", "your_password")

Start Validator Node

./atlas --datadir ./node \
  --syncmode "full" \
  --port 30321 \
  --v5disc \
  --mine \
  --miner.validator <SIGNER_ADDRESS> \
  --unlock <SIGNER_ADDRESS>

Wait for the node to sync with the network.

Register as Validator

Step 1: Create Account

Register your account with the management contract:

./marker createAccount \
  --rpcaddr http://127.0.0.1:7445 \
  --keystore ./account.json \
  --name "validator"

Step 2: Authorize Signer

Authorize the signer address to sign blocks on behalf of your account:

./marker authorizeValidatorSigner \
  --rpcaddr http://127.0.0.1:7445 \
  --keystore ./account.json \
  --signerPriv <SIGNER_PRIVATE_KEY>

Step 3: Lock MAP

Lock at least 1,000,000 MAP:

./marker lockedMAP \
  --rpcaddr http://127.0.0.1:7445 \
  --keystore ./account.json \
  --lockedNum 1000000

Step 4: Register Validator

./marker register \
  --rpcaddr http://127.0.0.1:7445 \
  --keystore ./account.json \
  --signerPriv <SIGNER_PRIVATE_KEY> \
  --commission 150000

Step 5: Vote for Yourself

Validators need votes to be elected. Vote for yourself:

./marker vote \
  --rpcaddr http://127.0.0.1:7445 \
  --keystore ./account.json \
  --target <YOUR_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS> \
  --voteNum 1000000

Verify Registration

Check if you're registered as a validator:

./marker getTotalVotesForEligibleValidators --rpcaddr http://127.0.0.1:7445

Check if you're in the active validator set (after next epoch):

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"istanbul_getValidators","params":[],"id":1}' \
  http://127.0.0.1:7445

---

Advanced: Signature Separation

For enhanced security, you can separate the signing process from registration. This keeps your signer's private key more secure.

Generate ECDSA Signature

./marker makeECDSASignatureFromSigner \
  --target <ACCOUNT_ADDRESS> \
  --signerPriv <SIGNER_PRIVATE_KEY>

Save the output signature (e.g., 0x59dff185...32f0d700).

Authorize by Signature

./marker authorizeValidatorSignerBySignature \
  --rpcaddr http://127.0.0.1:7445 \
  --keystore ./account.json \
  --signer <SIGNER_ADDRESS> \
  --signature <SIGNATURE_FROM_ABOVE>

Generate Signer Proof

./marker generateSignerProof \
  --validator <ACCOUNT_ADDRESS> \
  --signerPriv <SIGNER_PRIVATE_KEY>

Save the output proof (e.g., 0xf90149b8...0e56f0ab1).

Register by Proof

./marker registerByProof \
  --rpcaddr http://127.0.0.1:7445 \
  --keystore ./account.json \
  --proof <PROOF_FROM_ABOVE> \
  --commission 150000

Related

• Voting & Withdrawal

• Marker Tool

• Network Info