# Independent Validators Support
**URL:** https://forum.polkadot.network/t/independent-validators-support/15136
**Category:** Ecosystem
**Tags:** validators, staking
**Created:** [September 30, 2025, 4:24pm UTC](https://forum.polkadot.network/t/independent-validators-support/15136 "2025-09-30T16:24:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@interweb](https://forum.polkadot.network/u/interweb)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2025, 4:24pm UTC](https://forum.polkadot.network/t/independent-validators-support/15136/1 "2025-09-30T16:24:11Z")
Currently, any validator with 7,000+ KSM nominations should be 50% active.
At today’s KSM price ($14.30), 7,000 KSM = $100k stake - which is outside reach of the average validator operator …
The larger validator operators (with 10+ validators) dominate the list of validators, and seem to attract all the nominations) - it’s hard for indie operators to get visibility.
The [Decentralised Nodes](https://nodes.web3.foundation/) (DN) program is operated by web3 foundation to “Help Make Polkadot the Most Decentralized and Secure Network”. And DN Cohort 3 supports 99 DOT & 194 KSM validators.
_Full disclosure: Interweb was selected for cohorts 1, 2 and 2a. I was not selected for cohort 3, and shortly after losing the DN nominations, most of my validators a now inactive. I plan to apply for the next cohort (each cohort lasts 4 months)._
As you can imagine, each cohort is over-subscribed and there are many independent operators that don’t get selected. These operators have to wait months - inactive - to apply for the next cohort.
I propose to start a fund (my own _small_ stash, contributions from other operators, and poss. a loan from treasury) to support nomination of indie validators. If successful, this initiative could morph into a community operated DAO.
This initiative will augment the DN program, with some differences.
- lead by the community
- require identity, not require KYC
- limit applicants who already have multiple active validators outside the program
- incentivise validators to be independent (i.e. lower commission is better, higher self-stake is better)
- round-robin selection algorithm / simple, rules-based scoring
- exclude VOps who are selected for the current DN cohort
How could it work technically?
To start with, starting on Kusama, I propose a combination of
**Nomination Pool:**
- INTERWEB POOL (50 on Kusama) will support this scheme
- Anyone can support by
- joining the pool, or
- Granting a Staking Proxy to the control account
**Nomination Proxy Control:**
- a nomination proxy account will manage the nominations for all participants
- according to a calculated rotation, the nominations will move to the next validator
**Joining** :
- VOps register a node and corresponding self-stake stash
- Self-stake has _Staking proxy_ granted to a Nomination Proxy Control account
- Nomination Proxy Control account manages nominations on a round-robin basis
- Higher stake = longer in the round-robin…
**Leaving** :
- Operators simply remove Staking proxy from stash - e.g. if they get selected for DN
- Nominators leave the pool or revoke Staking Proxy
What if the fund is not sufficient to support at least 1 validator? In this case I propose to nominate a selection of validators from DN to ensure continued staking rewards.
There are many finer details to work through, and I would love to hear from others about their opinion on this.
Thanks
---
### Author:  [@Megadot](https://forum.polkadot.network/u/Megadot)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2025, 4:37pm UTC](https://forum.polkadot.network/t/independent-validators-support/15136/2 "2025-09-30T16:37:06Z")
Your Polkadot validators were recently slashed for double signing which is a violation of the DN Program and this means that you should not be accepted anymore. Why should we support you to get in the active set?
---
### Author:  [@interweb](https://forum.polkadot.network/u/interweb)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2025, 7:12pm UTC](https://forum.polkadot.network/t/independent-validators-support/15136/3 "2025-09-30T19:12:16Z")
It’s a fair observation that one INTERWEB validator was slashed. I provided a full explanation why this happened in the DN channel, and the slash was refunded to the nominator.
I don’t believe a slash is a disqualification from all future cohorts, [the rules state](https://nodes.web3.foundation/rules): “Any slashing events in the previous 4 months.”
I have contributed to the ecosystem in various forms for some years - I built tools to help validators in 1KV and DN. This post is not about me specifically, but about the broader topic of supporting indie operators.
Yes, I could benefit as a participant, but I don’t plan to charge anything for my time. If anyone else would step forward to promote the idea, that would also be great! If not, then I have relevant skills to make it happen.
I have been contacted by other operators who support this idea, yet individually we all lack sufficient stash to make it happen.
To answer your question: Why should you support _ **indie** _ validators? Because it promotes network security, and rewards the people who invest substantial time and hardware to keep the network healthy.
---
### Author:  [@interweb](https://forum.polkadot.network/u/interweb)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2025, 5:11pm UTC](https://forum.polkadot.network/t/independent-validators-support/15136/4 "2025-10-02T17:11:13Z")
I also think it would be good to get feedback on what metrics should be used to evaluate possible candidates for nomination:
- 1KV had a detailed scoring system that was easy to understand, and technically straightforward to measure
- DN has rules that require offline response (eg KYC and proof of admin experience) and ‘scoring’ is done on a private backend
At the least, I would suggest:
- validator performance when active, as measured by the turboflakes app
- slashes
- identity - the goal is to support known indie operators. All nodes must be tied to a verified ID
- hardware - no hosting on prohibited providers
- updates - 24 hours grace to upgrade to latest release
- telemetry
Nice to have would be geographic location and operating system diversity.
---
### Author:  [@interweb](https://forum.polkadot.network/u/interweb)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2025, 11:00am UTC](https://forum.polkadot.network/t/independent-validators-support/15136/5 "2025-10-07T11:00:02Z")
The technical implementation for this algo present quite a challenge. Essentially, we need a combination of on-chain control and off-chain data.
The on-chain parts can come from existing features like proxy for Staking. A proxy account will set the nominations for all the stashes that participate.
The off-chain data needed depends on the rules we adopt
- performance - turboflakes api / other?
- identity - People chain
- rotation of nominations - some storage (on-chain in a smart contract/off chain in the oracle)
I envisage an external `oracle` service, trusted, open source that pushes data to a smart contract, which in turn makes calls to rotate nominations to the validators.
Quite a ‘fun’ project: smart contract, XCM, multi-chain, oracle/monitoring service
---
### Author:  [@SunshineAutosNodes](https://forum.polkadot.network/u/SunshineAutosNodes)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2025, 12:25pm UTC](https://forum.polkadot.network/t/independent-validators-support/15136/6 "2025-10-07T12:25:29Z")
Hello all,
first of all i wanna thank Derek for planning this and sharing it.
I appreciate someone outlining clearly the current challenges for independent Kusama validator operators, this environment ain’t easy for smaller indie guys.
I don’t wanna copy and paste everything Derek wrote down, I’m simply saying that i agree with this idea and i it would be nice to have some funds in order to implement it.
Also, i know i he got slashed recently, but i also know he always helped the community in different ways from tools to knowledge.