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What is slashing in proof of stake?

Published Sep 18, 2026Updated Sep 19, 2026Last verified Sep 18, 2026Requests recorded in this site’s own server logs, with the crawler identity checked by reverse DNS or IP range.Google12OpenAI7Anthropic1First collected Sep 18, 2026Recent requestsAnthropic · unverifiedSep 21, 2026GoogleSep 21, 2026GoogleSep 21, 2026GoogleSep 20, 2026GoogleSep 20, 2026GoogleSep 20, 2026GoogleSep 20, 2026GoogleSep 20, 2026GoogleSep 20, 2026GoogleSep 20, 2026OpenAISep 20, 2026OpenAISep 20, 2026
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Quick answer

Slashing is the penalty for provable misbehaviour by a validator in a proof-of-stake network. On Ethereum, a validator is slashed for proposing two blocks in the same slot or for casting contradictory votes. The penalty works in three steps. The validator loses part of its stake straight away. It then pays an extra penalty around day 18, which is larger if many validators were slashed at the same time. Finally, it is removed from the network on day 36.

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Answer

Slashing is separate from the smaller penalties for being offline. If the chain cannot finalize for more than four epochs, an inactivity leak also drains the stake of non-voting validators [1].

Sources

  1. officialProof-of-stake (PoS) — ethereum.org · accessed Sep 19, 2026 · Evidence page
  2. officialProof-of-stake vs proof-of-work — ethereum.org · accessed Sep 20, 2026 · Evidence page
  3. officialThe Merge — ethereum.org · accessed Sep 19, 2026 · Evidence page
  4. officialEthereum proof-of-stake attack and defense — ethereum.org · accessed Sep 20, 2026 · Evidence page
  5. officialProof-of-stake Frequently Asked Questions — ethereum.org · accessed Sep 20, 2026 · Evidence page
  6. officialPrague-Electra (Pectra) — ethereum.org · accessed Sep 19, 2026 · Evidence page
  7. newsEthereum Activates 'Pectra' Upgrade, Raising Max Stake to 2,048 ETH — CoinDesk · accessed Sep 20, 2026 · Evidence page
  8. officialEthereum's energy usage will soon decrease by ~99.95% — Ethereum Foundation Blog · accessed Sep 20, 2026 · Evidence page
  9. academicOuroboros: A Provably Secure Proof-of-Stake Blockchain Protocol (Advances in Cryptology – CRYPTO 2017, pp. 357–388, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-63688-7_12) — University of Edinburgh Research Explorer / Springer · accessed Sep 20, 2026 · Evidence page
  10. otherPeercoin — Wikipedia · accessed Sep 20, 2026 · Evidence page
  11. officialProof-of-stake — Octez & Protocol documentation — Tezos / Octez documentation · accessed Sep 20, 2026 · Evidence page
  12. governmentStatement on Certain Protocol Staking Activities — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Division of Corporation Finance · accessed Sep 20, 2026 · Evidence page