Owners of a cryptocurrency stake (lock up) their coins in a contract and set up validator nodes by installing all necessary software in Proof of Stake. When transactions are ready for validation, the PoS algorithm chooses a validator at random to confirm that the transactions match previous blocks in the network. Following confirmation, the validator distributes the block to other network nodes for validation. The validator receives the block reward and transaction fees upon successful validation.
When validators commit fraud, they forfeit a portion of their stake and are barred from participating as validators in future transactions.

The number of coins staked, the length of the stake, and a random element all contribute to a validator's chance of being chosen. Validators who stake fewer coins have a lower chance of being chosen.

Depending on the network, the barrier to entry for users with a small number of coins may be high. As a result, they can participate in staking pools to increase their chances of validating blocks and earning rewards in the network. Pool providers are compensated for their services by deducting a fee from the staking rewards.