What Is the Concept of ‘Slashing’ in PoS and Why Is It Necessary?

Slashing is a punitive mechanism in Proof-of-Stake where a validator's staked collateral is partially or fully confiscated by the protocol. It is necessary to enforce honest behavior and prevent malicious actions, such as double-signing (signing two conflicting blocks) or extended periods of validator downtime.

Slashing provides a strong economic disincentive against actions that threaten network integrity and consensus.