Docs Xyz — Running an Ethereum proof-of-stake | docs.zstake.xyz
One validator costs exactly 32 ETH to activate, and it runs on two pieces of software — an execution client and a consensus client — that must both be healthy before the deposit ever matters.
The deposit is fixed: 32 ETH activates one validator, no more and no less. After Pectra the same validator can grow an effective balance up to 2,048 ETH under EIP-7251, but the entry ticket is still counted in thirty-two.
The credential decision happens at key generation. A 0x02 BLS withdrawal credential marks a validator on the compounding layer introduced by EIP-7251; it is the difference between rewards that are skimmed off and rewards that compound toward the 2,048 ETH ceiling.
Plan for the deposit to sit unpublished for most of a day. The network works in epochs of 8,192 twelve-second slots — 98,304 seconds, about 27.3 hours — and activation waits on that schedule, not on the operator's impatience.
On narrow screens, swipe or scroll the plate sideways.
Two programs run under every validator: an execution client and a consensus client. Both must be synced before the first attestation is due, because the validator attests once per epoch and a missed duty is a missed reward from the very first epoch.
Keep the pair healthy past the weak subjectivity window. A client offline longer than about 27 hours — one epoch — cannot resolve the canonical chain from the fork choice alone and must resynchronise from a checkpoint before it can attest safely again.
Watch the effective balance rather than the wallet balance. Rewards credit in whole-ETH steps because the balance rounds down to an integer — 32 ETH at a 10% annual yield is 3.2 ETH a year before rounding — and if the effective balance falls to 32 ETH the validator is queued for exit automatically.
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