The Open Network (TON)
Validators
Kiln offers both Pooled and Single Nominator Pool contracts for TON staking. Below are the specifics of each solution.
If you plan to stake through Single Nominator, please contact your Kiln CSM to set up your dedicated contracts.
Maximum Nominators
No limit
1
Minimum stake
10 TON
700k - 1m TON
Vesting Contract Support
✅
✅
Partial Withdraw Support
✅*
✅
Commission
Onchain
Off Chain
In-protocol validator balancing
✅
n/a
Auto-compounding
✅
✅
* partial withdrawal is not supported for vesting contracts
Staking mechanics
Stake activation time
Next Epoch (~18 hours)
Stake lock-up time
One Epoch (~18 hours) + 9 hours
Rewards frequency
TON has a continuous validation mechanism that is split across 2 overlapping epochs (best visualised here) each lasting approximately 36 hours.
First rewards: Upon completion of first epoch where funds were actively elected for validation. Rewards frequency: ~18 hours when staked across both epochs else ~36 hours. Single Nominator Pool automatically allocate across epochs when there is enough balance to ensure elected to active set
Auto-compounding
Yes
Minimum requirement
Pooled: 10 TON
Single Nominator Pool: 700k TON
Maximal optimal stake per pool
The optimal stake is correlated to how the elector smart contract selects the validators and their effective stake. It currently works the following way:
For each epoch, the elector selects all the candidates of more than 300k TON
For each epoch, the elector selects all the candidates of more than 300k TON
The elector orders all those candidates in descending order
If there are more candidates than the maximum possible (Currently 400) the elector trims the candidates in the lower end
All those 400 or fewer candidates will then enter the active set
A parameter called the
max_factoroutlines that the maximum effective stake can only be as high as the minimum stake that entered the active set multiplied by themax_factor. Currently, thismax_factoris 3 and the minimum active stake for each epoch is usually seating around 400k-500k TON making the maximum effective stake around 1.2M-1.5M TON
Depending on the staking solution the maximum per pool varies:
Pooled contract: The pool automatically balances the total pool amount across the optimal number of validators, with no limit on validators per pool. This makes it the easiest "stake and forget" solution, as it eliminates the need to manually balance funds across pools
Single Nominator pool: Each pool can accommodate a maximum of two validators—one for even epochs and another for odd epochs. Assuming 400k TON as the minimum active stake, a pool with two validators can hold up to 2.4M TON while still maintaining optimal rewards
Active set
Yes (400 validators)
Slashing
Yes, if validator is idle or behaves maliciously can get slashed (detailed below).
Relationship between validator stake balance and rewards
Linear. The more stake balance there is on the validator, the more rewards it will earn, until max_factor (detailed above).
Staking workflow
What is the staking process?
Pooled contract: Using the Kiln dashboard simply specify the staking amount, and the pool automatically handles the epoch allocation and validation processes
Single Nominator pool: Once your dedicated contract is deployed, you can stake funds directly to it
Do funds move out to another wallet?
Funds move to the contract (single nominator contract or pooled contract) which the user owns and can withdraw at any time
Can I keep staking/unstaking from/to the same wallet?
Yes / Required for Single Nominator Pool
Can I select how much of my wallet balance I want to stake?
Yes
How does auto-compounding work?
After every epoch the additional TON earned is used to generate additional rewards
How do I unstake?
You can unstake by requesting a withdrawal from the contract (Single Nominator Pool or Pooled contract). The funds will become available to complete the withdrawal step at the end of the epoch being used for validation
Can I unstake part of the staked balance?
Yes, you can select the amount you want to unstake Exception: partial withdrawals with vesting contracts is not supported on Pooled contract
What is the slashing risk?
Downtime: During an epoch if a validator signed less than a certain threshold of the blocks, it will get slashed for 101 TON Double signing: Validator won't be able to validate for the epoch so it will get the downtime slashing
How is commission paid?
Pooled contract: Commissions are taken onchain
Single Nominator Pool: Commissions are invoiced to the customer as there is no commission dispatching on chain for the single nominator contract
Is the single nominator smart contract custodial?
No, this staking is 100% non custodial as the user holds the private key of the wallet that can withdraw from the single nominator contract. The validator can only "Borrow" the TON in order to validate and gives it back at the end of the epoch. At a protocol level there's no way a validator can use the funds for any other task
Staking guide
The Open Network (TON)Last updated
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