Delegation Guide

Contract-level, step-by-step guide to bonding, delegating, unbonding, rebonding, and verifying LPT delegation on-chain.

Network: LPT staking operates on Arbitrum One. If your LPT is on Ethereum mainnet, you must bridge it before staking. Use the Arbitrum Bridge or the Livepeer L2 Migration Tool.

Executive Summary

This guide provides a protocol-accurate, contract-aware walkthrough of delegating LPT. It focuses strictly on-chain mechanics: bonding, stake attribution, reward checkpointing, unbonding, and withdrawal.

Delegation modifies protocol state. It does not modify network routing or execution directly.

1. Preconditions

Before delegating, a participant must:

1. Hold LPT in a self-custodied wallet.
2. Be connected to the correct deployment network (see contract registry).
3. Understand the unbonding delay and liquidity constraints.

Canonical contract references: Contract Addresses

Delegation interacts primarily with the BondingManager contract.

2. Step 1 - Approve Token Transfer

If interacting directly with contracts, the LPT token contract must be approved to transfer the desired bonding amount.

Let be the amount to delegate.

Approval does not change bonding state; it only authorizes the staking contract to transfer tokens.

State impact: none (allowance update only).

3. Step 2 - Bond and Delegate

Call bond(x, O) where:

• = LPT amount
• = chosen orchestrator address

State transition:

Delegation immediately affects stake attribution for subsequent rounds (subject to protocol timing rules).

4. Step 3 - Verify On-Chain State

After bonding, verify:

1. Bonded amount for your address.
2. Delegate (orchestrator) address attribution.
3. Total stake attributed to orchestrator.

Verification methods:

• Block explorer read of BondingManager state.
• Livepeer Explorer or equivalent indexer.

Delegation must be verifiable via on-chain state, not UI display alone.

5. Reward Accrual and Checkpointing

Per round :

Orchestrator allocation:

Delegator net allocation with commission :

Rewards may require checkpointing before they are claimable or rebondable.

Checkpointing updates internal accounting but does not automatically transfer tokens unless explicitly claimed.

6. Step 4 - Rebond (Optional Compounding)

Instead of withdrawing rewards, a delegator may rebond.

If reward amount = :

Compounding increases future weight:

7. Step 5 - Initiate Unbonding

To exit delegation, call unbond(x).

State transition:

Stake enters an unbonding state.

During unbonding:

• Stake does not earn rewards.
• Stake cannot be immediately withdrawn.

8. Unbonding Delay

The protocol enforces a delay measured in rounds.

This delay:

• Prevents rapid stake rotation attacks.
• Stabilizes security participation.
• Introduces liquidity risk for delegators.

State model:

9. Step 6 - Withdraw Stake

After the unbonding period completes, call withdraw().

State impact:

• Bonded balance remains reduced.
• Liquid LPT balance increases.

Withdrawal finalizes the exit.

10. Risk Review Checklist

Before delegating, evaluate:

1. Commission rate
2. Orchestrator stake concentration
3. Historical checkpoint consistency
4. Governance alignment
5. Liquidity needs (given unbonding delay)

Delegation is a capital allocation decision under constrained liquidity.

11. Protocol vs Network Separation

Protocol (On-Chain):

• bond()
• unbond()
• withdraw()
• reward allocation
• governance voting weight

Network (Off-Chain):

• node uptime
• job execution
• fee generation

Delegation changes protocol state; it does not change routing behavior directly.

12. Sequence Diagram (End-to-End)

References

• Livepeer protocol repository
• Contract registry