> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.x402layer.cc/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Slashing > What slashing is, the one thing it penalizes, and the hard limits that bound it. Slashing is the penalty mechanism that gives staking its teeth. It exists so that bonded operators and validators have something real at risk — but it is **narrowly scoped and strictly bounded**. ## What can be slashed — tampering only Slashing penalizes **proven protocol violations** — specifically, **tampering** with confidential-compute results. It is not a general-purpose lever: * **Honest downtime is never slashed.** A node going offline simply stops receiving jobs; its stake is untouched. * **Maintenance / being unavailable is not a violation.** Only provable tampering is. ## Hard limits the program enforces * **Yield positions are never slashable** — a hard guard rejects it outright. See [What's Never Slashed](/staking/safety/protections). * **Can't slash a position that's already unstaking** — once you've begun exiting, you can't be slashed. * **Capped, and routed to a penalty vault.** Slashed `$SGL` moves to a separate penalty vault (and can later be burned). It is **not** paid to the platform as profit. * **Performed by a dedicated slasher key** with no other powers — it can only slash, it can never move or steal your principal. ## What this means for you * If you stake **Yield**, slashing simply does not apply to you. * If you run a **Compute node** or act as a **Validator**, behave honestly and you have nothing to fear — only tampering is penalized, and downtime never is. Slashing is reserved for provable misbehavior that harms the network's integrity. It is deliberately limited so honest participants are never at risk of losing principal for ordinary operational issues.