Register validator

This guide walks through submitting MsgCreateValidator on Autheo Chain.

Prerequisites

Before registering a validator, make sure you have completed:

Acquired a Sovereign license.
Transferred the license to your Autheo Chain address using the bridge.
Bound the Sovereign license and confirmed that its status is BOUND.
Completed the required node and infrastructure setup.
Prepared your validator/operator key according to the node setup instructions.

Important: Prime and Core licenses are not used to register validators. They are delegation licenses and are handled through the delegation flow.

Pre-flight checklist

autheod version returns 1.0.8
Sovereign NFT license is in LICENSE_STATUS_BOUND
Node is fully synchronized (catching_up: false)
Operator account has sufficient aauth balance

Registration flow

The validator registration process is:

Prepare the validator node and infrastructure.
Confirm that your Sovereign license is bound.
Generate or load the required validator keys.
Submit the validator registration transaction.
Verify that the validator appears in the Validator Portal.
Confirm that the validator is bonded and active.

Step 1: Confirm your Sovereign license is BOUND

autheod query license licenses-by-owner <cosmos-address>

Must show status: BOUND. If showing ISSUED, bind it first:

autheod tx license bind <license-id> \
  --from mykey \
  --chain-id autheo_2127-1 \
  --keyring-backend file

If binding fails with ErrCooldownNotElapsed, query the cooldown: autheod query license category-policy 1

Step 2: Get your consensus public key

autheod tendermint show-validator --home /path/to/node-home

Copy the full JSON output — you need it in the next step.

Sovereign license requirement: A Sovereign license authorizes the wallet to operate a validator. Registering a validator does not apply to Prime or Core licenses.

Step 3: Submit MsgCreateValidator

Important: MsgCreateValidator is only for Sovereign validators. Prime and Core licenses are used for delegation and cannot be used to create a validator.

autheod tx staking create-validator \
  --amount 1000000000000000000aauth \
  --pubkey $(autheod tendermint show-validator --home /path/to/node-home) \
  --moniker "your-validator-name" \
  --commission-rate "0.10" \
  --commission-max-rate "0.20" \
  --commission-max-change-rate "0.01" \
  --min-self-delegation "1" \
  --from mykey \
  --chain-id autheo_2127-1 \
  --keyring-backend file \
  --home /path/to/node-home \
  --gas auto \
  --gas-adjustment 1.5 \
  --fees 5000000aauth \
  --yes

--amount 1000000000000000000aauth = 1 THEO. Adjust to your desired self-delegation.

THEO uses 18 decimal places. 1 THEO = 10¹⁸ aauth. See Token overview for the denomination details.

Step 4: Verify activation

After the transaction succeeds, verify that the validator is bonded and that the Sovereign license has transitioned to ACTIVE.

# Check bonded status
autheod query staking validator <autheovaloper-address>

# Check license transitioned to ACTIVE
autheod query license license <license-id>

# Check signing info
autheod query slashing signing-info \
  $(autheod tendermint show-validator --home /path/to/node-home)

Look for BOND_STATUS_BONDED, LICENSE_STATUS_ACTIVE, and tombstoned: false.

Post-creation operations

Edit validator details

autheod tx staking edit-validator \
  --moniker "new-name" \
  --website "https://your-site.com" \
  --from mykey \
  --chain-id autheo_2127-1 \
  --keyring-backend file

Unjail after downtime

autheod tx slashing unjail \
  --from mykey \
  --chain-id autheo_2127-1 \
  --keyring-backend file

If your validator was tombstoned from double-signing, unjail is not possible. You must create a new validator with a new consensus key.

Day-to-day commands

# Check validator status
autheod query staking validator <autheovaloper-address>

# Withdraw staking rewards
autheod tx distribution withdraw-all-rewards \
  --from mykey --chain-id autheo_2127-1 --keyring-backend file

# Check NFT emission rewards
autheod query emissions nft-rewards <cosmos-address>

# Claim NFT emission rewards
autheod tx licensedistribution claim-nft-rewards <license-id> \
  --from mykey --chain-id autheo_2127-1 --keyring-backend file

Start Here

Getting Started

Web Apps

Developers

APIs

Node operations

SDKs

Papers

Prerequisites

Pre-flight checklist

Registration flow

Step 1: Confirm your Sovereign license is BOUND

Step 2: Get your consensus public key

Step 3: Submit MsgCreateValidator

Step 4: Verify activation

Post-creation operations

Edit validator details

Unjail after downtime

Day-to-day commands

​Prerequisites

​Pre-flight checklist

​Registration flow

​Step 1: Confirm your Sovereign license is BOUND

​Step 2: Get your consensus public key

​Step 3: Submit MsgCreateValidator

​Step 4: Verify activation

​Post-creation operations

​Edit validator details

​Unjail after downtime

​Day-to-day commands

Prerequisites

Pre-flight checklist

Registration flow

Step 1: Confirm your Sovereign license is BOUND

Step 2: Get your consensus public key

Step 3: Submit MsgCreateValidator

Step 4: Verify activation

Post-creation operations

Edit validator details

Unjail after downtime

Day-to-day commands