Join the Polkadot community

1. Set up your machine

In addition to any usual CLI parameters that you run polkadot with, you'll need to add an extra two:

• --validator This tells your node to try to validate when it sees itself as a listed authority on the network;
• --key <SEED> This provides your node with a secret key that lets it know whether it's a listed authority on the network, and, if it is, lets it sign statements to authorise the creation of new blocks.

2. Apply to validate

New validators will be chosen every 24 hours on mainnet. You’ll need to create separate accounts for Controller, Session, and Stash keys on the Polkadot UI (https://polkadot.js.org/apps/#/accounts/create). These accounts will be used to represent and control the validator node you just set up.

Next you will need to get some DOTs from the faucet or by asking on Riot. Assuming you have more DOTs than the lowest staked validator or there is an open validator slot, you can register to be staked. A step-by-step guide demonstrating how to set up your accounts and bond your DOTs is available on the wiki.