How Does a “Dispute Mechanism” Interact with the Staking Process?

A dispute mechanism is a process that allows any network participant to challenge the data reported by an oracle node. If a dispute is raised, the staking process is temporarily halted for the contested data.

The challenger usually posts a bond, and the node's stake is locked. If the dispute is upheld by a decentralized arbitration system, the dishonest node is slashed, and the challenger is rewarded.

If the dispute fails, the challenger's bond is penalized.