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Vigilantes Operators

The Babylon network is monitored by Babylon Validators and Vigilantes. They are critical infrastructure participants in the Babylon network who play a crucial role in maintaining synchronization between Bitcoin and Babylon Genesis. They form a decentralized network that ensures reliability through active monitoring and reporting.

There is no centralized coordination of Vigilantes. Operators can also be running chain Validator nodes or Finality Providers.

Core Responsibilities

There are three main responsibilities of Vigilantes:

  1. Cross-chain relay - ensures data between Bitcoin and Babylon Genesis are accurate and synchronized in timely manner.
  2. Bitcoin Timestamping - helps record and verify Bitcoin block headers on Babylon Genesis.
  3. Monitor integrity - maintains reliable and trustless setup of the Babylon protocol.

Prerequisites

  • A synced Bitcoin full node
  • A synced Babylon full node
  • A system that satisfies minimum requirements

Economic Incentives

While Vigilantes are crucial to the network's operation, the current Babylon protocol is still developing its comprehensive incentive mechanism. Early participants contribute to the network's robustness and may be positioned advantageously for future reward structures.

Operational Considerations

To reliably run a Vigilante program, the following considerations are important:

  • Consistent uptime
  • Regular software updates
  • Secure key management
  • Network connectivity

Installation Guide

Follow the installation guide to install and run a vigilante program.