Delegator guide (CLI)#

This document contains all the necessary information for delegators to interact with OKTC through the Command-Line Interface (CLI).

NOTE: Please assure that you follow the steps described hereinafter carefully, as negligence in this process could lead to an indefinite loss of your OKTs. Therefore, please read the following instructions carefully and entirely prior to proceeding and reach out to us in case you need support.

Please also note that you are about to interact with OKTC, a blockchain technology containing highly experimental software. While the blockchain has been developed in accordance with state of the art methods and audited with utmost care, we can nevertheless expect to have issues, updates and bugs. Furthermore, interaction with blockchain technology requires advanced technical skills and always entails risks that are outside our control. By using the software, you confirm that you understand the inherent risks associated with cryptographic s oftwares. Any use of this open source software released under the Apache 2.0 license is done at your own risk and on a “AS IS” basis, without warranties or conditions of any kind.

Please exercise extreme caution!

Table of contents#

• Installing exchaincli
• OKTC Accounts
  • Creating an Account
• Accessing the OKTC Network
  • Running Your Own Full-Node
  • Connecting to a Remote Full-Node
• Setting Up exchaincli
• Querying the State
• Sending Transactions
  • A Note on Gas and Fees
  • Staking okts and Earn Rewards
  • Participating in Governance
  • Signing Transactions from an Offline Computer

Installing exchaincli#

exchaincli: This is the command-line interface to interact with a exchaind full-node.

NOTE: Please check that you download the latest stable release of exchaincli that is available

[Download the binaries] Not available yet.

Install from source

exchaincli is used from a terminal. To open the terminal, follow these steps:

• Windows: Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt
• MacOS: Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal
• Linux: Ctrl + Alt + T

OKTC Accounts#

At the core of every OKTC account, there is a seed, which takes the form of a 12-words mnemonic. From this mnemonic, it is possible to create any number of OKTC accounts, i.e. pairs of private key/public key. This is called an HD wallet (see BIP32 for more information on the HD wallet specification).

     Account 0                         Account 1                         Account 2

+------------------+              +------------------+               +------------------+
|                  |              |                  |               |                  |
|    Address 0     |              |    Address 1     |               |    Address 2     |
|        ^         |              |        ^         |               |        ^         |
|        |         |              |        |         |               |        |         |
|        |         |              |        |         |               |        |         |
|        |         |              |        |         |               |        |         |
|        +         |              |        +         |               |        +         |
|  Public key 0    |              |  Public key 1    |               |  Public key 2    |
|        ^         |              |        ^         |               |        ^         |
|        |         |              |        |         |               |        |         |
|        |         |              |        |         |               |        |         |
|        |         |              |        |         |               |        |         |
|        +         |              |        +         |               |        +         |
|  Private key 0   |              |  Private key 1   |               |  Private key 2   |
|        ^         |              |        ^         |               |        ^         |
+------------------+              +------------------+               +------------------+
         |                                 |                                  |
         |                                 |                                  |
         |                                 |                                  |
         +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
                                           |
                                           |
                                 +---------+---------+
                                 |                   |
                                 |  Mnemonic (Seed)  |
                                 |                   |
                                 +-------------------+

The funds stored in an account are controlled by the private key. This private key is generated using a one-way function from the mnemonic. If you lose the private key, you can retrieve it using the mnemonic. However, if you lose the mnemonic, you will lose access to all the derived private keys. Likewise, if someone gains access to your mnemonic, they gain access to all the associated accounts.

NOTE: Do not lose or share your 12 words with anyone. To prevent theft or loss of funds, it is best to ensure that you keep multiple copies of your mnemonic, and store it in a safe, secure place and that only you know how to access it. If someone is able to gain access to your mnemonic, they will be able to gain access to your private keys and control the accounts associated with them.

The address is a public string with a human-readable prefix (e.g. ex1hcngft7gfkhn8z8fnlajzh7agyt0az0v6ztmme) that identifies your account. When someone wants to send you funds, they send it to your address. It is computationally infeasible to find the private key associated with a given address.

Creating an Account#

To create an account, you just need to have exchaincli installed. Before creating it, you need to know where you intend to store and interact with your private keys. The best options are to store them in an offline dedicated computer or hardware wallet.Storing them on your regular online computer involves more risk, since anyone who infiltrates your computer through the internet could exfiltrate your private keys and steal your funds.

NOTE: It is more secure to perform this action on an offline computer

To generate an account, just use the following command:

exchaincli keys add <yourKeyName>

The command will generate a 12-words mnemonic and save the private and public keys for account 0 at the same time. Each time you want to send a transaction, you will need to unlock your system’s credentials store. If you lose access to your credentials storage, you can always recover the private key with the mnemonic.

NOTE:
You may not be required to provide your password each time you send a transaction since most operating systems unlock user’s credentials upon login by default. If you want to change your credentials security policies please refer to your operating system manual. Do not lose or share your 12 words with anyone. To prevent theft or loss of funds, it is best to ensure that you keep multiple copies of your mnemonic, and store it in a safe, secure place and that only you know how to access. If someone is able to gain access to your mnemonic, they will be able to gain access to your private keys and control the accounts associated with them.

After you have secured your mnemonic (triple check!), you can delete your bash history to ensure no one can retrieve it:

history -c
rm ~/.bash_history

• <yourKeyName> is the name of the account. It is a reference to the account number used to derive the key pair from the mnemonic. You will use this name to identify your account when you want to send a transaction.
• You can add the optional --account flag to specify the path (0, 1, 2, …) you want to use to generate your account. By default, account 0 is generated.

You can generate more accounts from the same mnemonic using the following command:

exchaincli keys add <yourKeyName> --recover --account 1 --mnemonic <mnemonicStrs>

This command will prompt you to input a passphrase as well as your mnemonic.

Accessing the OKTC Network#

In order to query the state and send transactions, you need a way to access the network. To do so, you can either run your own full-node, or connect to someone else’s.

NOTE: Do not share your mnemonic (12 words) with anyone. The only person who should ever need to know it is you. This is especially important if you are ever approached via email or direct message by someone requesting that you share your mnemonic for any kind of blockchain services or support. No one from OKTC, the Tendermint team or the Interchain Foundation will ever send an email that asks for you to share any kind of account credentials or your mnemonic.

Running Your Own Full-Node#

This is the most secure option, but comes with relatively high resource requirements. In order to run your own full-node, you need good bandwidth and at least 1TB of disk space.

You will find the tutorial on how to install exchaind here .

Connecting to a Remote Full-Node#

If you do not want or cannot run your own node, you can connect to someone else’s full-node. You should pick an operator you trust, because a malicious operator could return incorrect query results or censor your transactions. However, they will never be able to steal your funds, as your private keys are stored locally on your computer or hardware wallet. Possible options of full-node operators include validators, wallet providers or exchanges.

In order to connect to the full-node, you will need an address of the following form: https://exchaintmrpc.okex.org (Note: This is a placeholder). This address has to be communicated by the full-node operator you choose to trust. You will use this address in the following section.

Setting Up exchaincli#

Before setting up exchaincli, make sure you have set up a way to access the OKTC network

NOTE:
Please check that you are always using the latest stable release of exchaincli

exchaincli is the tool that enables you to interact with the node that runs on the OKTC network, whether you run it yourself or not. Let us set it up properly.

In order to set up exchaincli, use the following command:

exchaincli config <flag> <value>

It allows you to set a default value for each given flag.

First, set up the address of the full-node you want to connect to:

exchaincli config node <host>:<port

// example: exchaincli config node https://35.176.62.211:26657

The ip address is for reference only, please use https://exchaintmrpc.okex.org for actual access

If you run your own full-node, just use tcp://localhost:26657 as the address.

Then, set the default value of the --trust-node flag:

exchaincli config trust-node false

// Set to true if you run a light-client node, false otherwise

Finally, set the chain-id of the blockchain you want to interact with:

exchaincli config chain-id exchain-66

Querying the State#

Before you can bond OKTs and withdraw rewards, you need to set up exchaincli

exchaincli lets you query all relevant information from the blockchain, like account balances, amount of bonded tokens (OKT that are deposited to add shares on one or more validators), outstanding rewards, governance proposals and more. Next is a list of the most useful commands for delegators.

// query account balances and other account-related information
exchaincli query account <yourAddress>

// query the list of validators
exchaincli query staking validators

// query the information of a validator given their address (e.g. okchainvaloper1alq9na49n9yycysh889rl90g9nhe58lcs50wu5)
exchaincli query staking validator <validatorAddress>

// query all information of delegations and all shares recently added by a delegator (e.g. ex19n6w5l0htdgn2zwet9rtgvrzuf4a3qp4znwfcn)
exchaincli query staking delegator <delegatorAddress>

// query the information of all shares recently added to a validator (e.g. okchainvaloper1alq9na49n9yycysh889rl90g9nhe58lcs50wu5) 
exchaincli query staking shares-added-to <validatorAddress>

// query the addresses of delegators by a specific proxy (e.g. ex19n6w5l0htdgn2zwet9rtgvrzuf4a3qp4znwfcn) 
exchaincli query staking proxy <proxyAddress> 

// query all proposals currently open for depositing
exchaincli query gov proposals --status deposit_period

// query all proposals currently open for voting
exchaincli query gov proposals --status voting_period

// query a proposal given its proposalID
exchaincli query gov proposal <proposalID>

For more commands, just type:

exchaincli query

For each command, you can use the -h or --help flag to get more information.

Sending Transactions#

A Note on Gas and Fees#

Transactions on the OKTC network need to include a transaction fee in order to be processed. This fee pays for the gas required to run the transaction. The formula is the following:

fees = ceil(gas * gasPrices)

The gas is dependent on the transaction. Different transactions require different amounts of gas. The gas amount for a transaction is calculated as it is being processed, but there is a way to estimate it beforehand by using the auto value for the gas flag. Of course, this only gives an estimate. You can adjust this estimate with the flag --gas-adjustment (default 1.0) if you want to be sure you provide enough gas for the transaction. For the remainder of this tutorial, we will use a --gas-adjustment of 1.5.

The gasPrice is the price of each unit of gas. Each validator sets a min-gas-price value, and will only include transactions that have a gasPrice greater than their min-gas-price.

The transaction fees are the product of gas and gasPrice. As a user, you have to input 2 out of 3. The higher the gasPrice/fees, the higher the chance that your transaction will get included in a block.

Sending Tokens#

Before you can send tokens, you need to set up exchaincli and create an account

// Send a certain amount of tokens to an address

// Ex value for parameters (do not actually use these values in your tx!!): <to_address>=ex19n6w5l0htdgn2zwet9rtgvrzuf4a3qp4znwfcn <amount>=1024okt 
// Ex value for flags: <gasPrice>=0.00000001okt

exchaincli tx send <from_key_or_address> <to_address> <amount> --from <yourKeyName> --gas auto --gas-adjustment 1.5 --gas-prices <gasPrice>

Staking okts and Earn Rewards#

Before you can staking okt and earn rewards, you need to set up exchaincli and create an account.

Use command-line interface (CLI) commands to staking okts and earn rewards as a validator or delegator, you can get it here.

Participating in Governance#

Primer on Governance#

The OKTC has a built-in governance system that lets bonded OKT holders vote on proposals. There are three types of proposal:

• Text Proposals: These are the most basic types of proposals. They can be used to get the opinion of the network on a given topic.
• Parameter Proposals: These are used to update the value of an existing parameter.
• Software Upgrade Proposal: These are used to propose an upgrade of the Hub’s software.

Any OKT holder can submit a proposal. In order for the proposal to be open for voting, it needs to come with a deposit that is greater than a parameter called minDeposit. The deposit needs not be provided in its entirety by the submitter. If the initial proposer’s deposit is not sufficient, the proposal enters the deposit_period status. Then, any OKT holder can increase the deposit by sending a depositTx.

Once the deposit reaches minDeposit, the proposal enters the voting_period, which lasts 2 weeks. Any bonded OKT holder can then cast a vote on this proposal. The options are Yes, No, NoWithVeto and Abstain. The weight of the vote is based on the amount of bonded OKTs of the sender. If they don’t vote, delegator inherits the vote of their validator. However, delegators can override their validator’s vote by sending a vote themselves.

At the end of the voting period, the proposal is accepted if there are more than 50% Yes votes (excluding Abstain votes) and less than 33.33% of NoWithVeto votes (excluding Abstain votes).

In Practice#

Before you can voting gov proposal , you need to Staking OKTs.

// Submit a Proposal
// <type>=text/parameter_change/software_upgrade
// ex value for flag: <gasPrice>=0.00000001okt

exchaincli tx gov submit-proposal --title "Test Proposal" --description "My awesome proposal" --type <type> --deposit=100okt --gas auto --gas-adjustment 1.5 --gas-prices <gasPrice> --from <delegatorKeyName>

// Increase deposit of a proposal
// Retrieve proposalID from $exchaincli query gov proposals --status deposit_period
// ex value for parameter: <deposit>=100okt

exchaincli tx gov deposit <proposalID> <deposit> --gas auto --gas-adjustment 1.5 --gas-prices <gasPrice> --from <delegatorKeyName>

// Vote on a proposal
// Retrieve proposalID from $exchaincli query gov proposals --status voting_period 
// <option>=yes/no/no_with_veto/abstain

exchaincli tx gov vote <proposalID> <option> --gas auto --gas-adjustment 1.5 --gas-prices <gasPrice> --from <delegatorKeyName>

Signing Transactions From an Offline Computer#

If you do not have a Hardware Wallet and want to interact with your private key on an offline computer, you can use the following procedure. First, generate an unsigned transaction on an online computer with the following command (example with a bonding transaction):

// Bond okts 
// ex value for flags: <amountToDeposit>=1024okt, <gasPrice>=0.00000001okt, <delegatorAddress>=ex19n6w5l0htdgn2zwet9rtgvrzuf4a3qp4znwfcn,<gasValue>=3000000 (suggest value)

exchaincli tx staking deposit <amountToDeposit> --from <delegatorAddress> --gas <gasValue> --gas-adjustment 1.5 --gas-prices <gasPrice> --generate-only > unsignedTX.json

In order to sign, you will also need the chain-id, account-number and sequence. The chain-id is a unique identifier for the blockchain on which you are submitting the transaction. The account-number is an identifier generated when your account first receives funds. The sequence number is used to keep track of the number of transactions you have sent and prevent replay attacks.

Get the chain-id from the genesis file (oktc), and the two other fields using the account query:

exchaincli query account <yourAddress> --chain-id exchain-66

Then, copy unsignedTx.json and transfer it (e.g. via USB) to the offline computer. If it is not done already, create an account on the offline computer. For additional security, you can double check the parameters of your transaction before signing it using the following command:

cat unsignedTx.json

Now, sign the transaction using the following command. You will need the chain-id, sequence and account-number obtained earlier:

exchaincli tx sign unsignedTx.json --from <delegatorKeyName> --offline --chain-id exchain-66 --sequence <sequence> --account-number <account-number> > signedTx.json

Copy signedTx.json and transfer it back to the online computer. Finally, use the following command to broadcast the transaction:

exchaincli tx broadcast signedTx.json