Slashing

Slashing is the penalty a proof-of-stake network applies when a validator breaks the protocol's rules: part of the staked bond is destroyed and the validator is usually ejected from the active set. It targets provable misbehaviour such as signing two different blocks for the same slot or making contradictory attestations, precisely the actions an attacker would need in order to fork the chain. Ordinary downtime is normally treated more leniently, with small missed-reward penalties rather than a slash. Slashing is the reason staking is not risk-free: delegators who stake through an operator can lose value if that operator is misconfigured, runs duplicate signing keys, or behaves dishonestly, even though they never signed anything themselves.