EOS Voting FAQ: Everything You Need to Know about the Block Producer Voting Process

Since the launch of the #EOS mainnet, questions have been flowing. This post aims to answer all the questions you have about the block producer election, the EOS voting process, and how you can participate in it.

Disclaimer: please see this tweet thread for more information and answers to FAQs. @BlockLiberty has released a tutorial on how to vote for block producers using Greymass, the current primary recommended voting method. These can also be found on our website at libertyblock.io/faq/

FAQ

What is a Block Producer and what is the significance of requiring 21 active Block Producers?
Block Producers (or BPs) are delegated, trusted parties responsible for maintaining the network and signing blocks in EOS’ blockchain. Once a block attains 15 of 21 signatures, it is deemed irreversible.

How do block producers get paid?
EOS uses part of its inflation rate to pay block producers. The inflation rate is split up into two pools, one of which is dedicated solely to block producers; the block producers will receive 20% of the inflation and worker proposals will earn the other 80%.

Within this 20%, the BP funds are split up even further: 25% goes to the 21 active block producers and 75% goes to the stand-by producers (those who are not in the 21 but are standby in case something happens to any of the 21 block producers).

In addition, EOS has an algorithm that divides block producer pay into two classes: per-block and per-vote. Every day, 318 EOS tokens are awarded to the 21 active block producers per day. 200 EOS per percentage of the vote per day are awarded to all standby block producers.

EOSTribe provides an infographic to help you understand this better.

What is voting?
EOS uses a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) consensus model. In EOS’ model, 21 primary Block Producers are continuously elected (more on this later) by token holders to validate transactions and secure the EOS public blockchain. This involves every EOS token holder in the governance of the EOS ecosystem and blockchain.

How do I vote?
Cleos (the Command Line EOS system) is the most technical and most secure method of voting. If you are less technical, LibertyBlock has put together a tutorial on how to vote using the Greymass voting tool. You can refer to that tutorial here.

How many votes do I have?
Each EOS token you hold entitles you to 30 mutually exclusive votes. This means you can vote for up to 30 different Block Producers with each token; however, you cannot cast multiple votes to the same Block Producer with the same token.

Is there anything I should know before voting?
Voting occurs via a staking mechanism in the EOS network in which your tokens are staked, or locked up, for a specific purpose. In this instance, staking your tokens to vote means the tokens used to vote will be locked for 3 days.

How should I choose which Block Producers to vote for?
Block Producers are required to follow a candidacy process that involves submitting informational documentation. In addition, refer to the Block Producer’s various communities like Telegram, Facebook, Meetup, and more to consider how actively they are involved in the EOS community.

Consider geographic distribution across the Block Producers you vote for as well as each team’s specific core competencies. Core to the value of blockchain is security. If a team doesn’t specifically have a network or security engineer, consider asking directly in their Telegram or Facebook.

What is the significance of early vote totals and ranking?
Early vote ranking is largely insignificant as many token holders holding a significant quantity of EOS are waiting to stake their votes until their contributions are marginally less obvious. We expect Block Producers to move in and out of the top 21 in the coming days as more votes are staked.

When does voting end?
Never. Voting is a continuous requirement to maintain selection top 21 active Block Producers with retallying occurring every 2 minutes. The delegated 21 block producers will be selected and the EOS network unlocked after 15% of the outstanding token votes have been cast, equalling 150 million votes.

How often do I need to vote?
The specific algorithmic details are currently unknown, but you should plan on renewing your vote for your favorite Block Producers at least every few weeks. Beyond this time frame, vote decay will begin wherein the value for your vote will decline over time.

Why is there vote decay?
The EOS ecosystem is designed to promote consistent involvement and improvement. Requiring EOS token holders to renew their votes is just one way to incentivize active community involvement.

Can I change my vote?
Yes, you can change your vote by simply re-voting.

What happens if I change my vote?
Every time you vote, the votes you cast will overwrite the old ones. Every time an account changes its choices, the votes are re-allocated to the newly chosen block producers.

I’ve voted but now my wallet is showing far fewer tokens — what happened?
Voting locks your tokens for 3 days. During this period you can’t sell your tokens; however, you can still leverage the utility of those tokens on the EOS network.

How can I check the progress of the voting process?
To find out how many votes have been cast, you can refer to the EOS block producer voting statistics on EOS Authority’s website. There, you will find out how many EOS tokens have been staked and used to vote. (15% is needed to validate and activate the chain.)

How can we keep up with the community and LibertyBlock?

LibertyBlock will be maintaining multiple traditional social channels, but will also be maintaining a Jogg station wherein you can view video updates from LibertyBlock leadership as well as participate in audience engagement prompts.

Additional Recommended Resources:

EOS MainNet Monitor: http://dev.cryptolions.io/mainnet/
Downloadable EOS Voting Tool: http://vote.liquideos.com/
Securely Sign Transactions with Scatter: https://scatter-eos.com/
EOS Project Directory: http://EOSindex.io
EOSGO Information: https://forums.eosgo.io/
Greymass EOS Voting Tool: https://github.com/greymass/eos-voter
EOS Explorer: https://explorer.eoseco.com/
Subreddit for EOS: https://www.reddit.com/r/eos/
LibertyBlock: https://www.libertyblock.io