Crypto glossary
Validator commission
Validator commission is the share of staking rewards that a validator or staking service keeps before passing the rest on to its delegators.
When token holders delegate or deposit their stake with someone else, the operator running the infrastructure takes a cut of the rewards. On delegated proof-of-stake networks such as Solana or Cosmos chains, each validator publishes a commission rate on-chain, and in Cosmos it also sets a maximum rate and how fast it can change. Liquid staking protocols and exchanges apply a fee on rewards in the same way.
Commission is one of the main drivers of the net yield a staker actually receives, alongside the network's reward rate and the validator's uptime. It also shapes competition: validators with zero commission can attract delegations quickly, while others charge more to fund reliable hardware, monitoring and community work. On some chains a separate commission applies to MEV or priority-fee income.
The lowest commission is not automatically the best choice. A validator that misses blocks or gets slashed can cost more than the fee saved, and some operators advertise zero commission then raise it once they have attracted stake. Concentrating delegation on a few cheap validators also weakens decentralisation.
Example
A delegator compares two Cosmos validators with similar uptime and picks the one charging a lower commission whose on-chain maximum rate prevents a sudden jump.