Questions before you delegate

Delegating is putting your USDT into a pool that funds a validator: a computer that helps run a proof-of-stake blockchain network. In exchange for helping secure the network, the validator earns rewards from the protocol. Your share of a pool earns a share of what its validator earns.

A claim on a share of whatever rewards the validator you’re pooled with actually earns, recorded period by period, plus the ability to withdraw what you delegated once the pool’s unbonding period ends. You do not receive the underlying network token directly and you do not hold a wallet key. Everything is tracked in USDT terms in your Sentinel account.

No delegation platform can promise that, and we won’t either. Two risks are built into this by design: it is a custodial service, so your funds depend on Sentinel operating honestly and staying solvent; and delegating itself can lose value through slashing or by simply earning less than expected. We reduce the risks we control: the ledger is double-entry and checked continuously, and every pool’s terms are disclosed before you deposit. But we cannot remove the risk that is inherent to delegating or to trusting any custodian. Read the transparency page and the risk disclosure before you deposit anything.

Unbonding is a delay the blockchain network itself imposes between asking to exit a validator and actually being free of it. It exists so the network can still penalise misbehaviour that happened just before you left. It is not something Sentinel adds or controls: each network sets its own period, from 14 to 28 days depending on the pool. During it, the amount you delegated earns nothing and cannot be withdrawn, moved, or cancelled.

Slashing is a penalty a proof-of-stake network applies to a validator for downtime or for signing conflicting blocks (double-signing): the network destroys a portion of that validator’s staked tokens. If it happened to a validator a pool delegates to, the loss would be shared proportionally by every delegator in that pool, including Sentinel’s own commission. We operate carefully to avoid it, but no validator operator can guarantee it will never happen.

The validator each pool delegates to is published, so you can look up its stake, uptime and voting record directly on a public block explorer instead of taking our word for it. See them on the validators page, alongside the rest of how we operate on the transparency page. If a network we’re launching on doesn’t have a validator live yet, that page says so plainly rather than showing a placeholder address.

Because this is a custodial platform, recovering your funds in that event would depend on an orderly wind-down at the time (returning client assets before anything else) rather than on a guarantee we can make today. This is a real risk of any custodial service, not one unique to us, and it is why we publish how our ledger actually works rather than asking you to simply trust a claim.

We take a commission (currently 5%–9%, depending on the pool) out of the rewards each validator earns, plus a share that funds the infrastructure for new networks. From the amount you delegate, the only charges are the conversion fee when you delegate and the fee when you withdraw, both shown before you confirm. Nothing is taken in a period a pool earns no rewards.

An email address and your basic details to register. Funding the account is a separate step. See the next question.

You send USDT on-chain to a deposit address we issue through our payment provider, on the network we show you. Withdrawals go out the same way, as USDT to an address you give us. If you do not already hold USDT, you will need to acquire it elsewhere (from an exchange, for example) before you can fund a Sentinel account.