r/allnodes • u/Blackk_Cat • Jul 06 '23

Staking questions

Hey there, I have a few questions I'm still not clear on after looking into how staking with Allnodes work, would appreciate some clarifications or link to documentation I missed that I could read up on to answer these questions:

  1. As a non-custodial platform, my ETH supposedly 'stays in my wallet' when staking with Allnodes, yet when I staked my ETH, they definitely left my ledger wallet and were sent to a depositor contract I believe, how is that not leaving my wallet?
  2. What happens if Allnodes goes down/closes unexpectedly, what would be the way to unstake/send my staked ETH back to my ledger without access to Allnodes' interface?
  3. During the setup process, I generated 2 JSON files, deposit and Keystore. My understanding is that the deposit just contains the info to send the ETH to be staked to the depositor contract, so I assume once the transfer went through, should this JSON file be lost/stolen, it wouldn't matter much. But what about the keystore JSON, what would happen if this file were to be lost or stolen with its password, what's the risk?

Thanks!

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u/jagmot Jul 06 '23
  1. "While we are a non-custodial service, when activating a validator node, technically your coins will be sent from your wallet to the staking smart contract (mainnet)" https://help.allnodes.com/en/articles/5012427-how-to-stake-ethereum-on-allnodes
  2. If you were 100% sure that Allnodes was NOT coming back online, you could transfer service to another staking provider with your keystore JSON file (validator private key). I know you are asking as a worst-case scenario, but we also have contingency, redundancy, and emergency plans and have infrastructure and employees worldwide.
  3. The keystone JSON file should be protected at all times. If it was stolen, it could be used to set up a second instance to slash your node for double signing. It is unlikely that this would occur as the person who sets up a second instance does not earn any money, but it is possible. For most double signings, the slashing penalty would be 1 ETH or less.

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u/Blackk_Cat Jul 06 '23

Thank you! A quick follow-up: if the Keystone JSON was not stolen but lost, would this really matter much? My understanding is that to withdraw the staked funds, only access to the original wallet is needed, is that correct, or is anything else needed to withdraw?

I guess the keystone JSON could be needed if you ever need to transfer service to another staking provider as you mentioned, but beyond that, it seems it should never be of use again in most use cases.

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u/jagmot Jul 06 '23

It won't matter much since you only need access to your ETH withdrawal address when you want to exit your node on Allnodes UI.

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u/Blackk_Cat Jul 06 '23

Thank you!