Fantom Slashes Validator Staking Requirements by 90%, FTM Prices Unchanged

Fantom (FTM) slashed validator requirements for running a self-staking node on the network by 90%, stating the move will help buffer network security, the developers said on Monday.

The staking requirement was cut to 50,000 FTM, currently worth just under $20,000 at current prices, from 500,000 FTM.

Validators are entities that lock a certain amount of tokens to process network transactions and maintain network security. On Fantom, validators confirm transactions on their own and bundle them to share with other validators, as opposed to all validators confirming the same transactions, like on Ethereum.

A relatively lower cost of running a validator node can make the network more distributed, thus improving network security. “By having more validators, a network makes it increasingly challenging for malicious actors to launch an attack,” developers said in an X post early Tuesday.

FTM prices remain unchanged as of early European trading hours, CoinGecko data shows.