7. Consensus & Validator Design
7.1 CometBFT (Tendermint) Consensus
Nonterritorial uses CometBFT, the production-ready implementation of Tendermint consensus:
Properties
Instant Finality: Transactions are final once included in a block (no confirmations needed)
Byzantine Fault Tolerance: Tolerates up to 1/3 malicious validators
Deterministic: Same inputs always produce same outputs across validators
Parameters
Block Time
5s
Balance between throughput and global latency
Max Validators
100
Sufficient decentralization
Min Stake
10,000 UNT
Meaningful commitment
Unbonding
21 days
Security against long-range attacks
7.2 Validator Requirements
Nonterritorial validators are not generic infrastructure providers but mission-aligned participants:
Technical Requirements
99.9% uptime commitment
Secure key management (HSM recommended)
Geographic distribution (no more than 20% in single jurisdiction)
Minimum hardware: 4 CPU, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD, 100Mbps
Mission Alignment Requirements
Demonstrated interest in cultural infrastructure
Agreement to governance participation
Commitment to long-term operation (minimum 2-year)
No conflict of interest with speculative art markets
Validator Categories
Cultural Institutions
20
Museums, foundations, universities
Technology Partners
20
Web3 infrastructure companies
Geographic Representatives
30
Regional cultural advocates
Artist Collectives
15
Artist-run organizations
Individual Stakeholders
15
Major contributors
7.3 Slashing Conditions
Double Signing
5% stake
Critical security violation
Downtime (>24h)
0.01% stake
Operational reliability
Governance Absence
Warning
Participation expected
Mission Violation
Removal
Community decision
7.4 Validator Economics
Validators earn through:
Block Rewards: Portion of operations fund (30% of licenses)
Transaction Fees: Small fees for non-license transactions
Governance Participation: Reputation and network influence
Expected annual return: 8-15% of staked amount (variable with network activity).
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